Living in a Fishing Village

By Nina James, s24
Murdoch University

I have recently finished my semester in Malang and it was one of the best things I have ever done! My research was based on fishing communities in East Java, so a lot of my time was spent living with a family in a small fishing village called Muncar. Getting to know these people has changed my life!

I met Ana in an internet cafe, she was 17 and wanting to practice English so we started talking and she invited me to live with her and her family while I was there. It was very overwhelming at first as everyone there wanted to see the 2 white girls who were living there (me and my friend), so for the first couple of days we were constantly followed by at least 10 kids, and at night we'd have a constant stream of visitors who wanted to meet us. This as you can imagine was very tiring, but as people started to get used to us being around we really got to experience what it is like to live in a village in Indonesia, and I feel so privileged to have been able to do this.

The family we were staying with didn't have much. Ana's father was a fishermen and her mother had a small warung, but they are the most generous people I have ever met, I'm sure there were a number of times when they went without so they could feed us and they wouldn't except anything in return because we were their guests. Also now having a better understanding of how the community works in a village like this has given me more of an insight into Indonesian culture and their society as a whole.

So for everyone coming over have a great year, it can be very frustrating but was the most rewarding experience of my life and I'm sure it will be for you to!