Manly vs Manado in the Spice Challenge!

I have recently left the beautiful surf and sunrises of Manly for the stunning scuba diving and sunsets of Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia to work as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development. This assignment is a part of the Manly-Manado Community Partnership, which aims to improve the well-being of both communities in a mutually beneficial way.

I moved to Manado in March and since then have settled into life in Manado, and teaching English primarily at the rubbish tip where partner organization Bridge of Hope has built a Community Education Resource Centre, due to be officially opened on June 27, 2008.

Manado is well-known as the spice city of Indonesia, situated besides the famous spice islands of Maluku. Settling into Manado very much concerned getting used to spices. After a few months, I was ready for the cultural challenge set forth by my colleagues. I was to challenge a colleague in a food eating contest over who could eat the most spices. It was a contest between Manly and Manado. It was to be ‘The Spice Challenge’.

Sambal is a mixture of chilies, tomatoes, onions, garlic, palm sugar, and terasi, a condiment made from pounded and fermented shrimp and small fish. The sambal was made by Operations Manager Dony Rahardja. Secretary Venny Manorek officialised proceedings by reading out the rules for the contest, so all was ready to begin.

I began at a crashing pace. Adding handfuls of sambal to rice I stuffed myself until half his bowl was finished in the first 5 minutes. Truly, in contrast, began slowly, taking a little bit of sambal, eating delicately, and then adding some plain rice. Ten minutes later, things looked different. The spice had got to my stomach, and the evidence was all over my face. I was in a hot sweat. At this point I was forced to slow down. Truly kept eating, little by little.

It looked as though the story of ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’ was coming to fruition, until in a final burst of energy, and motivated by a faceless crowd of 40 000 Manly supporters, I finished the remaining remnants of spicy sambal, and licked my fingers clean to erase any doubt of complete victory. All staff present for this spectacle were astonished, remarking that I have now been initiated as truly Manadonese! As due punishment for her defeat, Truly has to sweep and mop the office of Bridge of Hope for two weeks, and is not allowed to have her favourite drink Gohu (Papaya with a spicy and sour sauce) for three months.

When asked Dony said that one bag of chilies was used for the sambal, of which he estimated included 200 chilies. I was overwhelmed by this prospect, and thus after the event went to investigate. It turns out that on average 100? chilies are included in each bag. Thus, I ate around 50 chilies in one meal!! Who knows what the next challenge might be? Symbolic to this community partnership, I thought it might have to be ‘the Vegemite Challenge!’

First Day Teaching at Rubbish Dump

The sun was shining at 3:00pm on Tuesday 13th May, as Will left the office of Bridge of Hope to start his first English class at Sumompo, the rubbish dump of Manado. Riding on his little Suzuki motorbike with Whiteboard on his back, he went over the key words in Indonesian he had to remember for this class. Arriving at Sumompo, he was welcomed by several eager students, sitting in trees next to the house of the village head, the place he was to teach. Sharing some fruit, they exchanged names and smiles. At the strike of 4:00pm all was ready as Will to begin.

There were 16 eager faces before him, aged between 6 and 16. He tried to remember their names – Ockly, Santi, Titin, Aldo, Ezra….remembering all but one! Typical to Indonesian culture the children were initially shy, however, through using games as the way to teach introductions and greetings, everyone got involved. At the end of the class, Will brought out a big gold box to the children’s great surprise. Yet it wasn’t a gift. This box was an opportunity for each child to suggest a name for the Community Education Resource Centre that Bridge of Hope is providing for Sumompo. The building begins on Thursday 15th May, and should take 2-3 weeks. Who knows what name will be chosen?

It is exciting that it will be a name coined by the children of Sumompo, giving them ownership of this centre. This centre hopes to plant seeds of motivation and hope to the children of Sumompo through education. To date, there are 54 children who are working on the rubbish dump instead of being at school. Will remains hopeful in the belief that this education centre will provide an impetus toward broader horizons for the children and people of Sumompo.