The 21st of April 2019, marked the beginning of Kartini Day, a special day commemorating the life and pioneer ideals of Raden Adjeng Kartini.

To begin the celebration, stools from all class were set up in the courtyard of the school. There was live music, food and social interactions from students, teachers and even parents – who came to see the efforts of the students. The bazaar most notably featured Nasi Tumpeng – a yellow cone of rice from Java (quite the spectacle), as well as other culinary delights from Java. The music performed by our talented students, also had origins from the west of Indonesia. Finally, there were games for the students and parents to take part in, to help burn off the energy from the delicious food.

After about two hours of festivities, the students were escorted to the hall of the school, to watch a documentary Indonesian film called “Keindahan alam dan kearifan suku Badui”. Sadly the whole film was in Bahasa with no English subtitles, so us English teachers had no idea what was being discussed. However, we could enjoy the visuals of what appeared to be a very humble existence of the Badui people. Once the film had finished, the students returned to their respective classrooms to continue the remainder of day, and so marked another yearly celebration of Kartini Day.

by Richard D. Booth, M.A.