Christi Louhatapessy

Four people. One umbrella. Billions of raindrops. Yes, it was one of those days in Kaibobo. The children were playing outside in the rain and the adults were inside their houses. One of the children outside was a girl. A ten-year-old-girl with a story. A girl who is clever and full of dreams. A girl from the outside, a woman from the inside. We met her one early morning while we were walking up the road that let us to a beautiful view. Where we found out she can speak English very well. So yes, we had to have an interview with her we thought.
   

And there we were, on that rainy Tuesday at the end of May. As she stopped playing and approached us we asked her if she had some time. She was so excited that she ran home and changed into other clothes as we installed ourselves in the main room of her house.  We sat in front of the front window. This made it easy for other children to peak into the house. Something that only disturbed us, Christi and her mom were just really excited that we were there. Her mother, the only one at home at that time, had a smile on her face and looked proudly at her daughter while she talked about her parents and her hobbies. Her hobbies, which mainly consists of playing badminton and learning English. Her favorite English song is ‘one and one’. A song that makes her feel closer to the English language and makes her having a smile on her face.
           

She learned English from a book that she got a year ago from her mom. Since then, she has become the best out of grade 1 to 4 (even though she is now in grade 5). She has also developed her love for her dream job even more: to become an English teacher in elementary school in Kaibobo. She wants to achieve this by going to Senior High School in Piru and University in Ambon. Hopefully though, those will not be her only travel destinations. She wants to explore more of the world, for example England, to improve her English. But also Yogyakarta to explore the Borobudur. But besides these dreams she first wants to help her mother out in the house whenever needed. When she mentioned her mom her facial expression changed. She looked at us and her mom. Her mom was still standing behind us. When we asked Christi what she had learned from her mom she became quiet. She thought about the question for a while before answering: “My mom taught me that we should act politely and respect others.”