Near the end of August, ETA Andrew Shifren visited nearby dormitories owned by the Catholic church. Many of his students, whose homes are far from school, live in these dormitories and help with day-to-day tasks and maintenance. A sprawling garden full of mango and papaya trees, lettuce plants, and teak trees in the back of the dorms requires constant tending. The residents were chopping down a teak tree as Andrew and his counterpart, Stefan arrived. The plan is to clear a terraced field for corn, while crafting the felled tree into useful furniture for the school. Talk about resourceful!

After discussing local farming and the environment over cups of Mangarrai coffee, a few students ran off to grab some mangoes for their guests. Not wanting to leave all the fun to the students, Andrew clambered after them (much less gracefully) up the mango tree. The view of Labuan Bajo was spectacular. After they overcame their initial surprise at Andrew climbing the tree (and occasionally hooting like a monkey) the students loved hearing Andrew struggle to pronounce the Mangarrai words for climb, mango, want, and catch.

Andrew will be returning to the garden frequently as the site of Eco-English Club, where he will teach English outside of school using environmental science as a medium.

Andrew Shifren is currently teaching at SMK Stella Maris Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara

We’d love to get your feedback
All articles from August 2018 edition
To read more about ETA Program & Interested to be a host to an American Fulbright ETA?