One boy read his writing to us and it was beautiful, a story with perfect
details written in only 10 minutes
Tenzin Dickie's workshop with student from one of international school at Jakarta,
learning about how to write a story
At the same day with Leza Lowitz's workshop, in the morning before her turn, it was Tenzin Dickie who was in charge as the speaker. She is a writer and literary translator, born in a Tibetan refugee settlement in India and then moved to America and studied at Harvard University and pursued her master at Columbia University. Her work that I knew is as the editor of Old Demons, New Deities: Twenty One Short Stories from Tibet, an English language anthology of Tibeatan fiction (available at Periplus). Her other work includes the editor at The Treasury of Lives, a biographical encyclopedia of Tibet, Inner Asia, and The Himalaya.
At her workshop, Dickie, as how she introduced herself to me and how she would like to be called, taught the children about the easy step to start their own writing. She introduced them the Freytag's Pyramid Climax, the easiest way to write the perfect story by starting it with exposition, then going up to the rising action and go straight to climax, after the climax of course there is a falling action and then a denouement. 5 easy key steps in writing a story.
She started it by telling the children about her background, about how she started writing, and then challenging the children to try to write in ten minutes, the first challenge was the children had to write starting with the words "I remember". And the result is crazyyy. They wrote some very beautiful writings, some of them wrote a story with such beautiful and perfect details. Do you still not believe in the power of mind and words, now?
Apart from her workshop, before it started, we had a little time to talk. The funny thing is I am planning on to go to Tibet next year and I could not believe it when my supervisor handled me the roster and I was being placed at this position to accompany Tenzin Dickie, who is a Tibetan refugee and so rich with knowledge about Tibet, speaking of learning about the country before going there right with the expert! Was it coincidence? Or was it the universe conspire to make that happened? Isn't life funny that way?
So we talked about the history and the current situations about Tibet, about Dalai Lama who is still in Tibetan settlement in Dharamsala, India until now, until what literatures should I read before going to Tibet which then she recommended this: The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes by Jamyang Norbu and A Home in Tibet by Tsering Wangmo Dhompa.
Ah there are so many things I would love to talk about her and this post would not be enough, anyway, it was sooo nice meeting you, Tenzin Dickie. Until another time! :)
"Passion for Fashion" workshop with Ani Himawati from Ubud Love Stories Market as the speaker,
the children learn how to make their DIY-shirt (Can you guess which child whom I helped sewing the "7" figure to his shirt is?)
My last work at Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2017 was helping Ani Himawati from Love Stories Market located at Jalan Goutama, Ubud giving workshop to the children about fashion. Love Stories Market is not just another fashion boutique, they commit to style, sustainability, and helping others. If you check their instagram HERE you will see much inspiring stories behind their business, like how the scarf they sell is woven by village artisans in Lombok and the cotton handkerchief is painted by pre school kids in order to support their school, isn't that a thoughtful little gesture you could always do in each and every of your day? Starting small and leave the universe to cause a greater impact?
At her workshop Mba Ani taught the children that to be a fashionista they could do to 3 things:
- A fashionista can have their own style. It is okay to express themselves and their own creativity. Mba Ani started the workshop by asking the children to form a circle and asked them to express theirselves by their own authentic move. And those children happily expressed themselves by various fun and creative movement and dance!
- They can be a fashionista and still contributes positively to the environment by creating zero waste, which was implemented by creating something new from fabric scraps. At this workshop they learned to design their shirt by sewing leftover fabrics from FeelGood batik pajamas.
- A good fashionista should not hurt the planet by using sustainable fabrics, like the organic shirt given by Love Stories Market to them in this workshop.
After done with my MC job opening the workshop, I helped one of the children sewing leftover batik fabrics to his shirt. He wanted to sew a "7" figure to his shirt because it is his favorite footbal player's uniform number. Believe me, I do not good at sewing yet I have to help him haha, so our result was not perfect but the important thing here is to be creative and to be able to express ourselves, not to be perfect, right? Nevertheless, we were happy with our imperfect result!
If I could be a child again I would love to join this workshop at that very age like those childrens, hence my mind would be woken up early to be able to do something good to environment around me!
Me posing with my fellow volunteers from Children and Youth programs
Janet DeNeefe, Ubud Writers and Readers Festival's founder, giving her speech at the closing party
Aya and Laras BTMDG performing at Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2017 closing night
We ended the festival with an afterparty which I sadly did not be able to come for I had to go to Seminyak at the time of the afterparty. Nevertheless, I came to the closing party held at Antonio Blanco Museum. There were some words from Janet DeNeefe and Mario Blanco to officialy close Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2017 and some music and dance performances.
I said goodbye to my fellow volunteers and my volunteer's coordinator and hope that we will be able to meet at next year's event and share this insanely satisfying experience, again. I thought having be able to tick this one of my bucketlists; volunteering at Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, will be the wrapping to my dream, yet I just realised that it was just the beginning to another road I long to travel. To be a volunteer again next year, to meet more inspiring people, and to be the speaker at this kind of event one day, just, maybeee? :)
"Older people think things can not change anymore because they have seen too much of life. But, it doesn't true. Things are constantly changing." - Tenzin Dickie, said at one of her session.
"Older people think things can not change anymore because they have seen too much of life. But, it doesn't true. Things are constantly changing." - Tenzin Dickie, said at one of her session.
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