|
 |
Llewelyns take skills to tropics of Indonesia
|
| By Bobbi Patterson |
January 20, 2005 |
|
Dr. Richard (Rich) Llewelyn, along with his wife Linda and sons 9-year-old Andy and 6-year-old Matt, are making a difference in a world that most of us will never experience.
They live south of the equator on the island of Java in the city of Surabaya, Indonesia, a city of 4 million people, the second largest on the island, where they teach ag economics and English.
It is tropical--the mean temperature is 85 degrees. It is rainy from October through June, and the bug population reflects those facts. Java has both dormant and active volcanoes, with fertile plains in between where a lot of rice production takes place.
Rich began life in the Bala area of Clay County, and is still a member of the Countryside Methodist Church on the Broughton road.
"He grew up in the church," said Cathy Haney, Director of the Clay County Museum and one of Rich's Sunday school teachers. "He was involved in all the youth projects and work camps even then."
"I had planned to be a farmer like my dad," Rich said. "I went to Kansas State University (KSU) to study crops and soils. It was while at KSU that I became involved with the Navigators, an interdenominational Christian group.
"That last semester before I graduated, I sensed that God might be leading me somewhere else. I had a number of friends at K State that were from Asia (Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia) and I began to consider going there.
"So in 1985 after graduation, I took a trip to the Philippines and saw first-hand some of the needs...and also how I could play a role and help."
Rich returned to KSU for a master's degree in agricultural economy and more training with the Navigators, and through a friend living in Java, found an opportunity to teach at a small university in Madiun, a little town about three hours west of Surabaya. It took him six months to learn the language, then he stayed for another three years, teaching.
He decided to return to K-State and get his doctorate degree to further equip himself for teaching in Indonesia.
"Along the way I met Linda, who had spent a summer in Zambia and was considering returning there. I remember thinking that if she could handle Zambia, then Indonesia would be pretty easy!" Rich said, smiling.
They were married in Lincoln, Nebr., (Linda's home town) in 1993. Son, Andy, was born in Manhattan, Kans., in 1995 while Rich was working on his doctorate. The family left for Indonesia in 1996, and son, Matt, was born over there in 1998.
"Matt was born in an international hospital about 15 minutes from our house. It is operated by a health company in Australia and has good international standards. It was also quite a bit cheaper (than hospitals in the United States)," Rich said.
They live in a medium-sized, three-bedroom house with a small back yard containing a mango tree. Their neighbors are all Indonesian, a mix of Javanese and Chinese ethnicity; the expatriate (American) community is on the other side of the city. They employ an Indonesian couple who has worked for them for eight years; she does the cleaning and washing and some cooking, he takes care of the yard and house, and also drives Andy to school in a becak (a three-wheeled pedal-powered rickshaw-like vehicle).
"Everyday dress here is pretty much like in Kansas, though generally a little more modest (no bare midriffs for the gals)," Rich said. "Shorts are worn by adults at home, but you put on slacks or jeans or a dress when you leave the house.
"Western food is available (Wendy's McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC) but relatively expensive. Most people, including us, eat rice every day accompanied most often with vegetables and some type of sauce, such as a peanut sauce. Beef and chicken are expensive; most people with lower incomes eat soybean protein, i.e., tofu or tempe. We eat a lot of fruits including pineapples, papayas, mangoes, apples, bananas, oranges, and more exotic fruits like rambutan and durian."
Andy goes to a national school about 25 minutes from their home in which part of the curriculum is taught in English and the rest in Indonesian.
"Matt goes to a local kindergarten that is taught entirely in Indonesian," Rich said. "Next year he will go to the same school as Andy.
"Schools are quite similar to those in Kansas with kindergarten, six years of elementary followed by three years of junior high and three years of high school."
"I teach economics in the business management department of Petra Christian University. All of the students are in the bachelors program in business and range in age between 18 and 22 years old. The university has 11,000 students.
"I teach about half my classes in Indonesian, the other half in English. Indonesian is a relatively easy language for westerners to learn, but still requires nine months of full-time study to learn well. Even then, you make mistakes and still need to add vocabulary. Linda and I, as well as our boys, speak Indonesian fluently."
Rich and Linda also work with a team of Indonesian Christians among factory workers in the south part of Surabaya near a large industrial estate.
"Our work includes teaching English, workshops and training in practical things like handling money, dental hygiene (Linda's field), family relationships, and helping with unexpected needs like a health emergency," Rich said. "It's all relational and we have some great relationships!"
When asked how one gets to his Indonesian home from Kansas, Rich replied, "Fly a long, long time! The common route for us is to take off from Lincoln, Omaha or Kansas City and fly to Minneapolis. From there you fly to Singapore by way of Tokyo and then on to Surabaya. It is about 25 hours of actual in-air flying time."
Wes Llewelyn, Rich's dad, laughed. "I flew over to visit Rich in 1990. If you can't sleep on the plane, you're a zombie by the time you get there! Interestingly, there's not as much jet lag going over as there is coming back."
Rich and his family have been blessed in that they were not impacted by the tsunami that hit Indonesia on December 26th. He has friends, though, who have gone into the affected areas to work and he has sent financial aid.
Anyone interested in sending tsunami relief monies to Indonesia through the Navigator organization, can visit www.home.navigators.org/us/
|
|
©Clay Center Dispatch 2010
|
|
|
