by Nataly Sopacuaperu
It is 7.00 in the morning in London, UK, and I am sitting bright and breezy behind my laptop, ready to join the Zoom call. Exciting, because I have no idea what is in store for me. Ibu Fanti introduces herself as facilitator and a small group of young people aged 13 to 18 look at me in wonder — here we go, the English lesson is about to begin. Family members off screen, Google Translate switched on, and here and there the back of a wooden house. It all feels enormously familiar to me, and so it is, because these young people are on various Moluccan islands: Ambon, Saparua and Ceram.
Sagu salempeng bage dua, but then in English
– nataly sopacuaperu, tutor bahasa basudara
Bahasa Basudara is a volunteer organisation that connects and helps Moluccans worldwide and passes on knowledge free of charge. It embodies the concept of ‘Ale rasa beta rasa’ and ‘Sagu Salempeng Bage Dua’, says Jeff Malaihollo, one of the initiators. The students learn a foreign language from fluent or native speakers, and in this way the tutors contribute directly to improving the language skills of young people in the Moluccas while at the same time learning about life and culture in the Moluccas themselves.
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Nataly swapped Amsterdam for London. She has lived and worked in the United Kingdom for more than ten years.
Basudara Maluku Global, a worldwide network
To date there are 50 classes receiving lessons 7 days a week, the lion’s share in English and a small part in German. There are now 75 tutors involved from all corners of the world: America, the United Kingdom, Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Indonesia. These tutors are in close contact with the 32 facilitators stationed in the Moluccas. They make sure the Zoom calls are set up, that the students are present, that homework assignments are passed on, and they step in with Malay when students do not understand something in English. Bahasa Basudara grew out of http://www.basudaramalukuglobal.org/ which once started for the Moluccan community in Australia and has since grown into a worldwide network.
Maria Nikijuluw, better known as Ibu Merry, is a teacher of German and Head of the Language Study Centre at Pattimura University in Ambon. She is an important link between the facilitators and the tutors. Bahasa Basudara means a great deal to her both professionally and personally. “Through this collaboration we can help people in the Moluccas not only to master the English language, but also to learn from and share with each other. In this way I have come into contact with various other institutes and with Moluccans worldwide.”
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‘Through this collaboration we can help people in the Moluccas not only to master the English language, but also to learn from and share with each other’, Maria Nikijuluw – head of the Language Study Centre at Pattimura University.
Offering webinars and workshops
In this way Bung Jeff Malaihollo hopes to improve language skills, build self-confidence and thereby create opportunities for studies and/or jobs abroad. “In the future we also want to offer webinars and workshops on our platform, so that we can motivate young people and give them insight into what is possible both outside and inside the Moluccas. We are also looking at how we can develop a plan for the Masela Project (a gas project in Maluku in 2022) and hope to contribute with the platform in preparing the students.”
Google Translate in the lesson
By now I have been able to give a number of lessons and I think it is fantastic to hear which beach I should go to on various islands, which museum I should visit on Ambon, how great TikTok is, what their favourite quotes are and which films they watch. And as the icing on the cake I am even teased in English by a 13-year-old girl called Tien from KarPan – Ambon, who started out with Google Translate in the first lesson. That bodes well; that job and that study abroad will come. I am very positive about it. And a nice detail: in a forthcoming webinar the Moluccan Historical Museum will tell the students about the history of Moluccans in the Netherlands.
Are you also interested in volunteering to give English and/or German tutor lessons to secondary-school pupils, university students, postgraduates or professionals? Then sign up at http://www.bahasabasudara.org. In return you can take part free of charge in conversational Malay tutor lessons.
