Living next to a popular bar often brings many surprises for ETA Arshelle Carter. She never knows what she’ll encounter when she arrives home. The afternoon of January 18^th was a perfect example of that. As Arshelle arrived home after a day of teaching, she found motorbikes lining the street, loud music playing and people dancing in the driveway. She timidly entered and soon found out that the bar was closed for a Kumpelkope.

Kumpelkopes are adat traditions held to raise money for someone (for example, a person going to college) or something (for example, a wedding). By the looks of the event, you would not have thought that this Kumpelkope was being held for someone who was sick. Everyone from babies to adults joined in on the fun. Typically, as you enter the event, you give an anonymous donation. From that point, you help yourself to a buffet of delicious food. You can also purchase beer, for which the profits go to the person(s) in need. The loud music you’ll hear is often sung karaoke-style. The singer has either paid to sing or someone has paid to nominate that person to sing. Fortunately, Arshelle avoided singing, but she did enjoy nominating one of her friends to sing. Kumpelkopes continue until the wee hours of the morning. Arshelle finally made her way to bed around 2 a.m. The next day, she was pleased to hear that the Kumpelkope had raised millions of rupiahs for the intended recipient.

Arshelle can’t believe she is already more than halfway through her grant. She feels lucky to call Labuan Bajo home and by living there she has realized the importance of community. This demonstration of community—unselfishly helping one another and having tons of fun while doing it—is one of the many things Arshelle has loved about living in the West Manggarai town.

Arshelle Carter is currently teaching at SMK Stella Maris, Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara