It’s hard to believe that we’re ‘only’ one year old. Within that year so much has happened in the world. COVID-19 hit us all badly in so many ways: we lost loved ones; we welcomed new family members and we discovered Zoom and Skype. For some of us Bahasa Basudara was a welcome escape from the unpredictability and unsettling chaos around us. It helped many of us get through a difficult year.

The online classes allowed us to meet new people, make new friends, to (re)connect with Maluku. Not only did we gain confidence in speaking a foreign language (English, German, Dutch, Bahasa Indonesia or even Bahasa Wemale), most importantly we were able to help each other in so many different ways. We discussed many topics, encouraged students and told them they could make mistakes. We had success stories and students who started to believe in their abilities.

Milestones
We’ve achieved so many milestones that year. Other than our conversational classes, we had a lot of extracurricular activities. Think of the Webinars, the entrepreneur workshops, our Movie night, the many interactive activities on our Social Media platforms like Bastori Sabulan and our End of Year Party in December. Check out our Bahasa Basudara videos on Youtube. 

At the start of this year, we introduced our Year of Literacy. We’ve written book reviews, held a successful Spelling Bee Contest for the younger students and still have our upcoming Summer of Poetry, a Book donation Initiative and much more that’s still under wraps.  

As of today, we have completed 162 classes, with 56 still running. Furthermore, we have issued 500 Bahasa Basudara Certificates and Unpatti between 250 and 300.   

Thank you
A special thank you goes out to all those dedicated tutors from around the world, the students in Maluku and the rest of Indonesia and the always present and patient facilitators. Without you, there wouldn’t have been a Bahasa Basudara.

We also want to thank all our partners – the universities (Unpatti, IAIN, IAKN, UKIM, Politeknik Negeri) and educational organisations like Heka Leka, Walang Belajar, LEAP, Taman Makmur Group, the GPM Church in Ambon and West Seram, and the Moluccan communities in Sorong, Papua and Greater Jakarta for their input and cooperation. 

DayaLima deserves a special mention. With them, we organised and presented Bacarita dari Timur, our very own and popular Moluccan-style TED talks and our first Spelling Bee Contest.

Core Team
Last but not least, we shouldn’t forget the Bahasa Basudara Core Team. This extraordinary team of volunteers, headed by founder Jeff Malaihollo and Nataly Sopacuaperu with their relentless energy and drive, have shaped the direction and vision of the group and turned Bahasa Basudara into a legal entity – a Community Interest Company. This diverse group of passionate people with different backgrounds from Maluku, the Netherlands and the UK, combined their professional skills, knowledge, and experience, cover many areas and are able to keep Bahasa Basudara up and running.

We have said it before, and we will say it again and again. The existence and progress of Bahasa Basudara is a testament to the idea that when all of us work together, we can achieve greater things - “Lain Bantu Lain”.

Let's party!
So, please join us this Saturday, to celebrate our 1^st Anniversary (click on this link to register), which will start at 7pm WIT / 5pm WIB / 11am BST / 12 noon CEST.