Puskopditben
February 3, 2008•385 words
Back in October 2006 my dad went of to Flores, an island at the southern end of the Indonesian archipelago (not sure if that is the correct term for the Indonesian islands). He's been blogging about his time over there. In November of 2007 my mum went out and joined him there.
They are there working by virtue of the VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas). Whenever I have mentioned this to people I'm not surprisingly asked about what they are doing. Up until now I've spoken vaguely about my dad having some expertise in computers and such like and that he was helping out local farming cooperatives on the Island sort out some IT based systems to better track and coordinate their work. I kind of made the rest up loosely based on what I thought they might make do with such systems.
Well now I can be much more definitive. Over the last goodness knows how long my dad has been working on putting together a website that explains exactly what the cooperatives are all about. The website is obviously the best place to find out more so I will refrain from making up anymore and just give the link - www.puskopditben.com
As for my mum. Well I knew that once she was there it would take about two minutes for her to find a role and about 10 minutes before she became indispensable. That is pretty much how things have panned out. The latest is she's been running customer service sessions of all the local managers and trying to raise money to improve the training facilities available.
I'm very proud of them both. Not especially for the work that they are doing although that is of course a good thing. I'm proud of them for having the get and up and go and for having got up and gone. They are both retired and I thinks it's great there of on the other side of the world writing a new chapter in their lives. That they are doing this together is fantastic. Though my dad is very well traveled this is the first prolonged excursion abroad for my mum and the first time she has been any further than Europe (I think). Good luck to them both and all they are endeavoring to achieve.