Jetty jumping

One of those days that is so different from time spent in the office that you continuously question whether it constitutes as work. (it does - I am being facetious)

We took a boat to Siumat Island where I was last in December 2015. We wanted to discuss the reinstatement of our project with the community, and they were welcoming, rambunctious and still opinionated about the threats to their fishing grounds from those coming from outside using illegal methods such as compressor diving. 

As we arrived on the island there had been a death of a two-month old baby and many of the fishing community were rallying around dealing with funeral arrangements and supporting the family affected. In the wooden warkop next to the jetty (which had been half destroyed by a storm since I was last here) village elders whiled away the middle of the day by playing chess and dominoes in clouds of clove cigarette smoke, and kids watched a famous Acehnese slapstick film blare out from the new TV.

It can be dangerous territory to stray into discussions about ideology when working overseas. We are accompanied on this trip by a young early 20-something Acehnese guy, helping with translation. He's the most urbane Acehnese person I've met; the son of a female philosophy professor and a singer-songwriter who has attended ASEAN events.

As the world is still dealing with the detritus of Trump's win, I asked whether he would have supported Clinton over Trump, and more generally whether he believed in the ability of women to perform such leadership roles. He said yes to the Clinton question, but no to the second, quoting something like 'men use their heads more than their emotions and for women it is the other way round'. This confirms two things: a) Trump is so ridiculous a (virtually self-confessed) misogynist would not vote for him, and b) there is an incredibly steep climb in many parts of the world (pretty much all parts?) for women to come close to being given equal opportunities, even by the most educated and 'open-minded' members of society. If these opinions are based on generally accepted and outdated rhetoric that women 'emote' more than men, we questioned him as to why this has to be viewed as a negative thing. The belief was so entrenched that we got nowhere and dropped it. It's not a conversation that Aceh seems ready for.

A brighter end to the day came on the sunset boat ride back to the mainland. The term mainland is misleading as we were still only heading to Simeulue, a remote island off the tremendous Sumatra. Siumat is even more of a remote outpost off Simeulue's eastern coast.

A small pod of humpback whales appeared in the shallows, and we got breathtakingly close as they rolled on the surface; a form of play for them. At this time of year they will have left their breeding grounds in the Antarctic and be heading to tropical waters to feed and spend the southern hemisphere winter. I sincerely hope that organised whale watching does not take off as an activity in this bay, for a good while yet. Judging by the lack of distance the boat driver was willing to keep and the shrieking of the fisheries department representative in the boat with us, the whales would likely avoid this bay for a quieter life elsewhere.

These kids were having a whale of a time on the Siumat pier, just before we left the island.