Farewell, Yogyakarta!

At our farewell party on Friday, host families, teachers, language buddies, university administrators, coordinators and friends of the Indonesia SST program gathered at UKDW for a program put together by our amazing students. 

The students sang, played guess-who games, and shared stories about all they have learned these last 6 weeks. 

They expressed gratitude to all who made this experience possible.

To host families who generously provided homes, food, and fun throughout our time in Yogya:

To language teachers who helped them strengthen their Bahasa Indonesia skills:

To university administrators who nurture the relationships that sustain the SST program:

And to local coordinators and program leaders who have made it all possible:

The students performed a traditional dance they had been practicing all week. It included dance segments from different cultures and islands across Indonesia.

Finally, we said difficult goodbyes to one another and wished each other well on the next part of the journey. 

On Saturday, all eleven Indonesia SSTers reached their service locations: some via DayTrans bus to Central Java, some caught trains and airplanes to Sumba and Kupang, some were dropped off by host parents in Salatiga, and one simply called a GoCar across town. 

We enter into the second half of SST with deep gratitude for all we have learned, for the people we have met, and for all that is still to come.