I know it is not easy to take a portraiture photo, especially with children.
It was a very cold day at Rumphi District in Malawi around noon on my way back to Lilongwe.
I had a pack of candies left in my car and I wanted to share it with some kids. So I stopped by at one small village where there were several cute children.
Eve is probably one of the nicest girls which I encountered that day. She looks very innocent and just wanted to have her candy from me. She does not care about anything except getting her candy and enjoy it.
If you look at her eyes in this photo, you will see a reflection of my white car.
The idea of this photo actually would like to depict that sometimes in children life they do not need any fancy or expensive stuff except just her candy that she's been longing for :)
Pestle and mortar is an analogy and symbol of intimacy that portray a harmonious relationship between male and female. The position of the pestle at the top and mortar at the bottom sometimes becomes a kind of allegory of the masculine dominative system in the society.
The rhythm and melody resulted from pounding activities become a unique music of its own, which is exhilarating. The pounders and their surrounding people talk, joke, and share stories with each other - bringing emotional closeness which makes the rural atmosphere warm.
Pestle and mortar are two inseparable things. They are part of an ethnocultural heritage which is almost totally extinct and replaced by today's machine.
Time has passed fiercely! It has been exactly 9 months since I left Jakarta for taking my first international role within the UN. Some of my friends have asked me what do I do actually in Malawi? Well, I know that every time I tell them my role as a U-Report Manager in UNICEF Malawi, they will frown their forehead and clueless about what I really do.
Okay, let me try to explain it succinctly here that U-Report is an opinion polling platform for young Malawians based on SMS. The main objective of this system is to give the opportunity for Youth in Malawi to voice out their aspirations through certain polling questions that sent through their mobile.
After the launch, I realized that the fastest way and furthest to reach more U-Reporters joining the platform is through SMS broadcast sent to people's mobile phone. And this will never happen without a solid partnership with mobile provider in Malawi.
So, I started to introduce U-Report Malawi to the public through one of the most well-known Football matches in Malawi called TNM Super League. At the opening launch of the match, U-Report gained its first brand awareness. A giant banner was paraded around the soccer field with more than 20,000 spectators. Players from both teams also wore U-Report Malawi t-shirts produced by TNM for the warm-up session. At the event, the MC also encouraged the stadium’s spectators to sign up to U-Report by texting the word JOIN to 1177. Four senior players also recorded video messages, encouraging fans to join U-Report.
It has been exactly 2 months 20 days since the platform was introduced to the public and I am glad that I just hit my yearly target getting 60,000 U-Reporters registered. The journey has just begun and I am enjoying what I am doing to nurture my baby's project. My biggest hope is that this platform can be sustainable and bring real impact for Malawian Youth.
It's been close to a year I did not take any human interests photo. It’s due to I have sold my DSLR camera before I departed to Malawi. As a replacement, I decided to buy a simple smart-phone of ASUS Z01 HD. The best thing about this device is its ƒ/1.7 SONY IMX362 sensor.
I never realized how powerful the photo output produced by this handphone until yesterday I took a candid photo of this little girl in Chimbiya Primary School in Dedza. I put the title “HOPE” for this photo as I can see strong hope in her eyes while at the same time her other friends seem to show ignorance towards her optimism.
I must say this is one of my favorite photo among others which I have ever captured. This photo has a deep self reminder that HOPE never fails.
#Malawi #Africa
Becoming a foreigner sometimes put me in a situation where I have to be able to represent my country well amongst the people whom I interact daily. Although, people can Google everything about Indonesia, but of course it would be more genuine if they can hear directly from my mouth.
After been living for almost 2 years in New Zealand, South East Africa is now become the country where I live. Although it is far away from my home town, I am always proud and happy to share the beauty and good things of Indonesia to all my colleagues. As an easy example, Batik would be the most obvious one. I oftentimes wear it whenever possible - either as my day to day dress or when I have particular functions.
During class time
Graduation's Gown - mixed with Batik
At the official event
For UN Malawi ID Card
Equally fun, I love to tell how youtful President Joko Widodo with his Vlogging activities, like:
Lunch time with King Salman, Catch Up with President Erdogan, a Bonjour from Emmanuel Macron and a Warm Greeting from Justin Trudeau.
But before anything else above, I tirelessly enjoy promoting the richness of Indonesia tourism spots as I believe they are something that God has tremendously given to the Indonesian people. Besides Jogjakarta, Bali, Komodo Island, Raja Ampat and Rinjani Mountain in Lombok, following are three other recommended places which have special moment in my heart.
1. Bromo
After been living for almost 2 years in New Zealand, South East Africa is now become the country where I live. Although it is far away from my home town, I am always proud and happy to share the beauty and good things of Indonesia to all my colleagues. As an easy example, Batik would be the most obvious one. I oftentimes wear it whenever possible - either as my day to day dress or when I have particular functions.
During class time
Graduation's Gown - mixed with Batik
At the official event
For UN Malawi ID Card
Equally fun, I love to tell how youtful President Joko Widodo with his Vlogging activities, like:
Lunch time with King Salman, Catch Up with President Erdogan, a Bonjour from Emmanuel Macron and a Warm Greeting from Justin Trudeau.
1. Bromo
2. Banyuwangi
3. Lombok
My biggest hope is that more and more people will have the opportunity to visit wonderful places in Indonesia. And years from now, my grand children will still be proud to become Indonesian with its lovely tourism destinations.
I am very glad reading the recent news
about Malawi as top tourism destination 2018 which written in The Times, MW
Nations, Maravi
Post and Face
of Malawi.
The Way of the Cross - Blantyre
Chagwa Dam - Zomba
William Fall - Zomba
Queen's View - Zomba
Zomba Forest - Zomba
Monkey Bay - Mangochi
Cape Maclear - Mangochi
Within this blog, am happy sharing with
you some of my photos and videos collections of my visits to several awesome spots
in Malawi - the Warm Heart of Africa. Moni - that's how the Malawian say hello, and so do I: "Moni, Malawi!"
The Way of the Cross - Blantyre
Mulunguzi Dam - Zomba
Chagwa Dam - Zomba
William Fall - Zomba
Queen's View - Zomba
Zomba Forest - Zomba
Mulanje
Monkey Bay - Mangochi
Cape Maclear - Mangochi
Lake Malawi National Park, Chembe
This short piece of writing was not intended to brag my self but I have to be frankly that it has been one of my longtime desire to earn the Google Partners' certification.
Stupefy, my initial intention was not to be the one of Google Adwords' Consultant or entering into the Digital Marketing Agencies business. I just simply wanted to do the right thing by understanding better how Google works. To me, Google is such a tremendous company with tons of creative and brilliant people with their googliness developing fresh ideas for this world. For sure, being proactive, going extra miles and learning deeper about Google Partners gives me such an unbeatable experience. Others - including the certificates were just an extra bonus for me.
Ever since I attended the Google Downunder offline event in Pullman Hotel Auckland in 2014, I promised myself that I have to strive very hard to get myself plunged into the online courses and get examined. At that time I was still a student at the University of Auckland so it took me quite longer than I thought plus I had to put extra effort to pursue my goal.
Well, finally after accomplishing the 8 Google Partner's specialization courses plus the examination, towards the end of 2017 I got certified. Plus, I had the opportunity to also grasp the gist of the Online Marketing Fundamentals qualification from Google Digital Garage - endorsed by IAB Europe. Yeay!
As my moment of reflection, I always remember the sayings "No Mountain Too High, - No Valley Too Low - No River Too Wide, for those who are persistent and curious enough"
PS: For those of you who are interested to follow my path, you can start your journey and get your self-trained at Google Academy for Ads - this is a new home as the old Google Partners' platform has been consolidating into one learning source.
Stupefy, my initial intention was not to be the one of Google Adwords' Consultant or entering into the Digital Marketing Agencies business. I just simply wanted to do the right thing by understanding better how Google works. To me, Google is such a tremendous company with tons of creative and brilliant people with their googliness developing fresh ideas for this world. For sure, being proactive, going extra miles and learning deeper about Google Partners gives me such an unbeatable experience. Others - including the certificates were just an extra bonus for me.
Ever since I attended the Google Downunder offline event in Pullman Hotel Auckland in 2014, I promised myself that I have to strive very hard to get myself plunged into the online courses and get examined. At that time I was still a student at the University of Auckland so it took me quite longer than I thought plus I had to put extra effort to pursue my goal.
Well, finally after accomplishing the 8 Google Partner's specialization courses plus the examination, towards the end of 2017 I got certified. Plus, I had the opportunity to also grasp the gist of the Online Marketing Fundamentals qualification from Google Digital Garage - endorsed by IAB Europe. Yeay!
As my moment of reflection, I always remember the sayings "No Mountain Too High, - No Valley Too Low - No River Too Wide, for those who are persistent and curious enough"
PS: For those of you who are interested to follow my path, you can start your journey and get your self-trained at Google Academy for Ads - this is a new home as the old Google Partners' platform has been consolidating into one learning source.
Ga kerasa sudah lebih dari 3 bulan meninggalkan tanah air dan berpisah dari kawan kawan di UNICEF Indonesia.
Kangen, yes tentu aja. Bukan hanya karena disini gak ada yang jual makanan pinggiran yang sangat kaya rasa dan bervariasi seperti Tongseng, tapi juga rindu dengan absurditas dan kemajemukan Indonesia. Masih inget dengan jelas jalanan rusak di Kepulauan Tanimbar / Maluku Tenggara Barat (MTB). Sangat percaya saat ini keadaan infrastruktur di sana sudah gak lagi seperti Juli 2016 dengan kepemimpinan Bapak Presiden Jokowi yang sangat kukagumi.
Ah, biarlah malam ini senyuman anak-anak Indonesia Timur yang pernah kufoto boleh temani rinduku pada tanah air.
Kangen, yes tentu aja. Bukan hanya karena disini gak ada yang jual makanan pinggiran yang sangat kaya rasa dan bervariasi seperti Tongseng, tapi juga rindu dengan absurditas dan kemajemukan Indonesia. Masih inget dengan jelas jalanan rusak di Kepulauan Tanimbar / Maluku Tenggara Barat (MTB). Sangat percaya saat ini keadaan infrastruktur di sana sudah gak lagi seperti Juli 2016 dengan kepemimpinan Bapak Presiden Jokowi yang sangat kukagumi.
Ah, biarlah malam ini senyuman anak-anak Indonesia Timur yang pernah kufoto boleh temani rinduku pada tanah air.
