Messa island, Indonesia

I was on the way to Labuan Bajo, a fishing town located at the western end of the large island of Flores in Indonesia. I heard about Flores from my friends Michael and Karina from Germany, whom I met just the first day I arrived in Indonesia. They advised me to come here and to try diving, it should be one of the best spots in the entire world.

As always I checked Couch Surfing website if would be any options to find a host there, and to my surprise, a family living on the tiny island close to Flores approved me and I got a message that they will pick me up from Labuan Bajo port. In Couch Surfing profile it was described as it‘s a remote fishing island and had only one and very good review. So I was very excited, and during the journey to Labuan Bajo was keep thinking about it and guessing how it will be. I thought it would be interesting to see it, their daily life, which is definitely different than in an ordinary village.

At the port, I was greeted by my host Ahmad who told me that since I arrived in the evening, there are no boats to take us to his house. He was still trying to find a fishing boat to return, but unluckily, so I just sat on the shore of the harbor, watched the setting sun and waited for him to arrange something. Eventually, he found a tourist/party boat that could drop us. We sailed for around an hour, only us and two of the staff members. Along the way, I saw a perfect sunset over the sea, when the sky looked like it‘s painted in very soft pastel watercolors. I saw that we are surrounded by dozens of beautiful islands, some boats are returning home from fishing or going to stay overnight in the waters. I watched one of the most beautiful sunsets in my life, so the journey didn’t last long and we arrived.

It was already dark when I arrived, so I couldn‘t see much, saw only the dark streets around me, no lights, just a few candle lights inside the houses. But after a long trip, I didn‘t bother much about it, I was only thinking about taking a shower and laying in a soft bed. When we reached Ahmad‘s home, I understood that I have to forget my dreams about a nice soft bed and especially about a shower!!!

This Messa Island is a fishermen island, where almost all families are engaged in fishing, men are catching fish at night, which is later sold in Labuan Bajo market. Most families live very poorly, although there are some richer families whose houses stand out. These richer families either have sold islands they used to have or are engaged in larger fishing businesses. Such an inhabited island is one of few in the whole archipelago, people are living here for a long time, although the living conditions are very difficult, they still do not leave the island cause of traditions. With the same amount of money, they could live more freely on the mainland without having to worry about many things.

It is an island, surrounded by water, so everything is different, electricity is only 5h a day from 6 pm to 11pm, there are few large generators that are operated by private people, so one day of electricity cost around 1 EUR, but depends on what electrical appliances family has. For example, if someone has a fridge, will pay more – 1.5 EUR. As a result, several families have their own generators, but in my opinion, it is not worth, because they need to buy fuel which cost a lot (no need to forget that they need to pay for a boat to bring it from the mainland) and at the end, they overpay. The only plus having their own generator is that they can turn it on or off whenever they want.

Another problem is water. The island is surrounded by the sea, so only saltwater, the only way to get fresh water is to transport it by boat from the mainland. So one family saw a great chance to do business here, they bring a tank of water by boat and sells it, it costs 0.50 EUR per 10-liter bucket, not so much, but still money, which many villagers don‘t have. Villagers buy water to cook, wash dishes, do laundry, or to bath. However, most locals take a bath or do the laundry in the seawater and only rinse with good water. My family with which I have lived is very poor, so they couldn‘t spend money on electricity, the rooms were lit by an old oil lamp or a torchlight. If I wanted to charge my phone, I had to ask the neighbors for help.

There are plenty of other problems on the island like mobile connection, children who have never been outside of the island, boredom, no hospitals and etcetera… And here I‘m, arrived dreaming about a soft bed and a shower… Surely it will not happen here.

Coming back to the arrival day, I was greeted by my host family, but I couldn’t see them well because it was so dark everywhere, I could see only their faces which were lit by candlelight. While Ahmed‘s wife Epa was preparing food for me, I was listening to Ahmad‘s stories about living here and was feeling very upset about it, but at the same time very curious to experience all of this. Ahmad is the only one in the family and one of few on the island who could speak English, so all communication was only through him or I tried to use my Bahasa with others.

Quite a few families (mine too) have opened small shops with the necessary goods, but there are so many of them everywhere that usually only nearly located family members or relatives come to buy something. My family has this business only because there is nothing else to do 😀 I think other small shop owners have it for the same reason.

Epa and Ahmed have 5 children, two of them study in the city school which is 400 km away, it is not cheap, so all the savings go to the children’s education fund, every cent, all the money saved on electricity and so on. As Ahmed said, “I don’t want my children to live like me, doing some random individual jobs and counting every cent.” Ahmed himself doesn’t have a steady job, he grabs the first job that occurs first, whether it’s a porter or a conductor or just a helper in any kind of work. He used to work with tourists, was standing on the streets and offering tours, this is where his English improved. But he stopped doing it, cause the pay is very little and he wanted to spend more time at home and to look after the children. According to Ahmed, his wife did not take care of them…

Ahmed and his wife Epa met on the wedding day, it was an arranged marriage by their parents. There is no love anymore, if it was ever been… The only thing that keeps them together is kids. So it’s not surprising that they do not agree on many things. Ahmed has said, „I lived separately for a year, cause I couldn‘t live together, but I came back because of the children, I want to take care of them“.

Epa is a housewife, as the majority of all Indonesian women. She opened a small shop just for the sake of doing something, she makes almost no profit from it, it’s visited by only two or three shoppers per day from a neighboring house. So that’s how she spends her days at the shop, just sitting and waiting. As Epa said, „there is nothing else we can do on the island, so the shop is just to occupy us with something“. Sometimes she orders ice-cream from the city and sells it to the whole village. Her sister and family live very nearby on the same island, so she spends a lot of time there, watching TV in the evenings or just chatting… A few years ago the whole family was living in the city, Epa had her own business, a fabric store, Ahmed was working with tours, but one day that house with the store and where they lived burned down and the family was left with nothing… There was only one place to stay – Messa Island, where everyone lives until now. Epa grew up on this island, had a house there (Achmed always mentions that it is her fault that they live in this hole), her family is nearby, so to move to the island was the only option they had after they lost their house in the city.

Together with Ahmed and Epa live their other 3 kids, two daughters and a little boy, all are attending the local school on the island. I didn’t interact with them too much because they don’t speak English, and my Bahasa knowledge is too narrow. But there is a lot what to learn from these children. The girls are around 10-12 years old, and they are already turning into real entrepreneurs. The mother doesn‘t give them any money or a treat, she says “if you want, make money by yourself”. At the end of the classes, they come back home, quickly grab bags with the snacks from the home shop and sell to other children by walking around with it and shouting. They can keep the profits of their sold sweets and snacks, and most probably these girls are buying treats for themselves also from the earned money.  The father is quite angry that the children cannot buy candy when their friends do, so he gives to them some money when the wife doesn’t see. This is how everyone lives there…

My „bed“ was on the floor with a mosquito net, new bedding and a mattress, when the whole family was sleeping just on the floor without anything. But here it‘s so normal, people in Southeast Asia live very simply. Instead of a proper shower, I had to satisfy with only a few cups of water which I bought from Ahmed. My phone I handed over to Epa to bring to the neighbors to charge. All settled, time to sleep and wait for an exciting next day.

The day I started sitting at the small village port and waiting for Epa‘s ordered few boxes of ice cream to help her carry it. While waiting, I enjoyed the time playing with the children of the village, they were very excited to see a foreigner, they were climbing on my back, tried secretly to steal the bracelets which I collected thought the travels and were showing off jumping to the water… Suddenly, I noticed that there were more and more children coming, probably a rumor that a foreigner is in the island was spreading fast.

Finally, the boat full of people came and handed us two boxes, we quickly grabbed it and went home. The ice cream was placed in a cool box, where it can stay for almost the whole day. Epa gave some to the daughters and asked to sell at the school, and to other villagers. After a couple of hours, all were gone!

The island is surrounded by crystal clear water, in the horizon, I could see plenty of deserted islands, without paying much attention to the floating garbage, it would feel like a paradise. Ahmed offered me to take a mask with fins and to snorkel around the island, I thought it‘s an amazing idea, definitely, I‘m up to that! Although the water was clear, the floating garbage around, scared me a bit, I thought I will see more plastic than fish or corals, but let‘s see. Ahmad didn’t let me swim very far cause of the strong current and he also sent his daughter to watch on me. When I got into the water I noticed that I was accompanied not only by Ahmed‘s daughter but by a big group of other children 😀

It was quite disgusting to pass the garbage, but after few meters from the island everything was fine, beautiful corals and colored fish were around me… well here is not a top snorkeling place, but really beautiful! While I was swimming around, the group of the children was watching me, some from the land or some just next to me 😀

There is a hill at the end of the village, I heard that it‘s the only place where I might find a signal, so I started the search, holding the phone up the head and walking back and forward. And yes, as always I was followed by a group of children, this time even bigger. There is no place where I could be alone, I always was followed by many curious eyes. I tried to act that I‘m sleeping or meditating or talking on a phone, but no one left me, they were even more curious about me. And I understand, a foreigner on this island, not what is happening often. Some of the children have never been outside of the island, so it means that they have never seen any white people, I would probably do the same as them. Also, as per Ahmed, I was the second foreigner in the island, the first one was another „couch surfer“, a german guy, and that‘s it! Knowing that, villagers reaction about me makes sense.

The island is surrounded by many other deserted small islands, one evening while I was watching one of the most beautiful sunsets, I thought that would be so nice to spend a day there, alone, when no one follows me, to have just few hours alone. So I told my idea to Ahmed and he tried to make it happen. Epa found a fisherman who was going fishing in the morning and returning in the afternoon, so I could join him. Definitely, for a touristic price, I was brought to Kanawa Island. According to Ahmed, this is one of the most beautiful islands to snorkel, there is only one small hotel (very expensive), but only a few people stay there, and if I would be on the other side of the island, I would not see anyone. And he was right, it looked like from a postcard, with blue water, white sand and not a single person! I had a perfect day without kids watching me, with my book and snorkeling equipment. Ahmed was also right about the underwater life, the corals were not destroyed and fish like to stay close to the shore. I was able to snorkel where I wanted and how long I wanted, and the best part, that no one was watching me 😀 After 5 hours the fisherman came to pick me up and due to the low tide, we had to walk and push the boat for quite a while to reach home.

I had an amazing few days there, but I really needed to wash the salty water and to have a proper sleep, so I decided to leave the following day. It‘s Monday, the school starts, I woke up from the sound of rushing children, bathing, washing uniforms and cleaning shoes, preparing for a school week. As I was watching them getting ready, I saw Ahmed giving them small pieces of wood… that‘s very strange I thought and asked to explain it. Every Monday, every student has to bring a piece of wood for the teacher, for them to make fire for cooking. The funny part is that there are no many trees on the island, so the question is – where they get it? Ahmed‘s answer was simple – „I take from the house, from the walls or the roof! Every week I take a small piece and break it into three parts for each kid, no one told how big should be the wood, just important to bring it!“ I was shocked, they take it from the house?!?! I would like to see how the house will look like in a few years…

The boat is only once a day and very early, so I had to rush and join the local women who were going to the market. I left Ahmed ant the family wishing all the best in their lives. When I was in the boat, I was wishing for myself also, not puke over the boat… Probably cause on the island were no fridges and the quality of the water was questionable, I got poisoned and spent the next few days in bed.