On 17th of August 2016, Indonesia celebrated her 71st Independence Day. It’s a remarkable day to commemorate the fight of our heroes to finally gain our country’s freedom from Dutch occupation (for 350 years) and Japanese occupation (for 3.5 years). Indonesia has been free for 71 years already, yet the people in Uetuwu never had a chance to hold a flag ceremony before.
The tribal people of Wana (the native people of Uetuwu) ran away deep to the jungles, and up the mountains, when the Dutch took over Indonesia in the past few centuries. For generations, they have been staying there, away from modern civilization, afraid of being occupied. And now, for the first time ever, we held flag ceremony in Uetuwu. Teachers and students of Anugrah School gathered in the grass field, and rose up the Red-and-White flag, giving salute and honor.
After the flag ceremony, we had some match among the students. The most interesting would be climbing up the palm trees. It’s because our children are really good at climbing trees. Even young children aged five or six are not afraid to climb tall trees. It’s one of their favorite hobbies, actually, since they have no man-made playground around this area. They are physically very capable of doing natural exploration.
Happy Independence Day, Indonesia. May all your children be free indeed from slavery of sin, from darkness, illiteracy, backwardness, and underdevelopment. Thank You, God for blessing Indonesia.
This post is also available in: Indonesian
