Temple

On the last day of your journey at the Koswak village, we built a fence around their spiritual Temple, which is about a 20 minute drive from our residence. In the afternoon we carried rolls of mental fence and nails to the place. There were already wood pillars that surrounded the temple, so we stretched the roll of metal fence out and hammered it on every wood pillar. The reason that we did it was to prevent pigs and chickens from coming into the property. Although it wasn’t perfect, it did the job and by the end we had a fence that surrounded the place. The temple was made entirely from wood in a cone shape. There was a holy stone outside that we cannot stepped on or sit on. The elders then came and took us inside. It was a dim place with wood benches and a drawing their their world, all circling a fireplace. They then told us about the land that they live in, their goal to preserve their culture and tradition, their spiritual protectors of the land and the creator of the land. We were then told to surround the fireplace - the man would holding each other’s arms and girls would cling onto the boy’s arms and we walked around singing their prayers. The elders then also took out the drum and played us their traditional music. We then sang “Home” by Phillip Phillips to them as a way to exchange culture. We then gave them food in appreciation for sharing their culture with us. - Jerry