BEBEKAN 16

The construction of the sanggar Gino Guno started on 21 January, the day following the Javanese New Year (we went from 1939 to 1940 !). Carrefour has hired an architect from Jakarta who has followed exactly our specifications. On the blog, you can see the 3D drawing of the sanggar. It looks very big and awesome on the image because the natural surroundings have been left out, namely the giant bamboos, the teak trees, the rice fields and the cemetery which surround the location from top to bottom and from north to south.

At the lowest and first level is the "joglo". The joglo is a pavilion traditionally open on its 4 sides, but here we will close the northern side on a width of 2 meters with folding wooden doors to house the library and the computers. It will look like a big cupboard whose doors will completely open to the pavilion when the children use its facilities. The Reog costumes will probably be stored there. At night the security of the joglo will be the responsability of the night patrol, called "ronda", a Javanese custom whereby a few men of the village take turn staying up all night, playing chess, drinking tea and smoking clove-scented cigarettes. If a strange intruder comes into the village, a wooden alarm drum is struck in a precise rhythm, a sort of rhythmic morse.

From the western center of the joglo, large stone steps will go up the hill. These steps will have 3 functions : stairs to reach levels 2 and 3; benches to sit on and watch shows performed under the joglo, and support wall to stave off landslides.

On the second level (still graced by a magnificent giant bamboo grove), there will be two toilets. I specifically asked the architect not to build any ceramic water tub in them, instead there will just be a simple plastic bucket filled through a tap for rinsing purposes. Water tubs are nests for the eggs of the dengue-carrying mosquito (dengue is a deadly infectious disease) and every year there are epidemics (there is one presently). To avoid the growth of the eggs, one must wash the tub at least every four days with a bleach, a precaution rarely taken by villagers. The tradition of the water tub goes back to the time when there were no electrical pumps installed for the wells. People drew water by hand and filled the tub for their daily needs. But in the village, many people don't even have a water tub. They bathe themselves behind a small wall close to the well, and draw water with a bucket each time they have to rinse themselves. So no tub. We will have to cut down the bamboos to install the toilets and a small water cistern. But we will replant them on the southern side of the sanggar to support the ground eroded by the neighbor who has dug into it to manufacture bricks.

The stairs go up to level 3 and the "limasan" house. That house will have 3 parts : the sanggar office, and two guest rooms serving as a residence for artists, visitors and friends of Bebekan. Those two rooms will have antique but rustic and simple teak-wood doors giving on the terrace. At the other end of the rooms, there will be a bathroom opening on a miniature garden. The office will also have a kitchen and kitchen cabinets.

Fourth level : the cemetery on top of the hill is far enough from the rooms so that their occupants won't hear the worms partying all night, but close enough so that they can meditate on the mystery of the human condition :

What is the universe ? What is mystery ?

An endless meal served to the worms ?

Is All slowly gnawed by Nothing ?

(Victor Hugo, The Epic of the Worm)

Tuesday 23 January, evening. We have done a "syukuran", a ceremonial meal to celebrate the beginning of the construction, as is the tradition in Javanese villages. "Syukur" is an Arabic word meaning "to give thanks". Mats were laid out on the ground of the old kindergarten, demolished a few days ago by the workers. It is you, the friends of Bebekan, who have offered this meal, because the Jakarta contractor hired by Carrefour was not aware of this custom and therefore did not plan it in his budget. All the people of the village were invited, the local authorities, and four representatives of Carrefour, the personnel director, the security chief, the clients administrator and the man in charge of confection. Was also present Emi, the woman who, on the day after the earthquake, a Sunday, had brought me to Bebekan where her mother had sought refuge at the summit of the hill and in the cemetery because of the tsunami rumors. Let's call her the angel of Bebekan. She was truly amazed to see how things had evolved and progressed in this strange adventure. She teaches English in a local high school, and she wants to support us actively in the education program of the sanggar. She has many good ideas and important contacts.

The prayers and the incantations were long, the speeches brief and to the point, the dinner simple and short, served in a cardboard box. In the middle of the guests' circle sat the traditional "nasi tumpeng" (rice mountain) and a basket of bananas. The next morning, the chief of the group of the six villages of which Bebekan is part laid down ceremoniously the first stone with offerings of red rose petals and gum benzoin. This group of six villages is called Gilangharjo. "Gilang" means rock and "harjo" means noble, sacred. It is the mediation rock where, as legend has it, Senopati, the first sultan of Mataram (the dynasty of Yogyakarta in the XIVth century), came sometimes to meditate. The sanggar will be open to all the children of Gilangharjo, about 600 students in the primary and secondary schools.

Ceremonies, prayers, magnificent boulder, offerings... the construction of the sanggar seemed to be off to a good start... but humans are, as we all know, less glorious than the psalms they sing, less generous than their offerings, and less steady than the rock on which they meditate. Behind the smoke screen of incense, here is the reality show :

(The following lines will not be visible on the blog because they involve the activities of a few persons who could prosecute us for slandering if we published them on internet. On the other hand I hope that the problems will eventually be solved, so there is no need to air them publicly. Therefore the rest of this instalment will be a private letter only available to friends of Bebekan.)

These incidents have injected a strange taste of poison in the Bebekan adventure, similar to the venom under the fangs of the black cobras which swarm in the wild shrubs which have been freely growing for years in the open hillside near the sanggar. The workers have already killed five of them which they have burned along with the undergrowth. Until now, all the contributions that have helped reconstruct Bebekan were money from the heart, with no strings attached, freely given for the sake of bringing relief and joy to others. And apart from a few incidents, everything went very well. But suddenly the logic has become quite different, and the blame must be laid at our door because we have introduced it in Bebekan. From now on, bringing joy to someone else must also bring in money. And the burnt black cobras have now been replaced by urban vipers. Maybe we shall have to become snake charmers.