School Kids Motivation Trip
It was a day full of joy, laughter, and respect..
Labuan Bajo, a small fishing village in the west of Flores is gaining attention as a new Indonesian tourist destination. A brand new airport, new luxury hotels, and restaurants are in place to welcome high-end clientele to this part of the world.
International visitors are coming to witness the natural beauty of this area and the most exclusive way to discover it, is by boat.
Over the past years, Lamima has invited (except during Covid) school children on a day trip to share the beauty of the coastlines and enjoy the watersports offered by the yacht. We have previously offered this to children in Thailand and Raja Ampat but this year we wanted to make a real impact rather than just a splash.
The 24th of September 2022 was our Motivation Day..
We picked up the kids and their teachers at 9 o’clock in the harbor. While we cruised to Papangga Island, they sang and danced on the main deck with our crew. By 11 o’clock, we had all the children together in the water enjoying the water sports; jet skis, banana boat, standup paddle boards, surfing behind the speed boat, inflatable maple…screaming and laughing the whole time.
Our crew did a great job ensuring they tried each of the different toys.
It was a full day of activity stopping only for a quick lunch on board before diving back in the water – the kids full of boundless energy. After some homemade pizza and freshly churned ice cream from our chef served on the beach, it was time to sail back to Labuan Bajo.
There was much singing and dancing again on the way back and as we arrived for the sunset, they expressed their gratitude to the crew with exuberant thankyous and huge smiles for this beautiful day.
In the harbor, the parents were waiting on the quay excited to hear the stories from their children. It was a fabulous day for the kids, teachers, and for our crew who shared a beautiful day together filled with laughter, joy, and respect.
We love to see the immense pleasure it brings to the children and have decided to use this experience to really benefit the children and their education.
We are working now with 2 public primary schools in Labuan Bajo.
We are working now with 2 public primary schools in Labuan Bajo (Labuan Bajo 1 and Labuan Bajo 2.) The aim is to start a long-term motivational program to help motivate 180 students (6 classes of grade 5) across these schools. From now on, the 30 best students from grade 5 across these two schools will be selected at the end of the school year in June. These hard-working students will be rewarded with a once-in-a-lifetime day trip to Lamima. The children and teachers present during the trip this year have shared their experiences and help motivate the new students as they themselves have already experienced the magic of a day onboard Lamima.
The teachers have already seen positive results and the students have been working harder. We hope to be an incentive and motivation for hard work, leading to improved education in the long term.
We were lucky to discover that the husband of one of the teachers on board happened to be the right hand of the Bupati (Mayor) of Labuan Bajo, Adriano. Impressed by our initiative, Adriano has offered to assist us where necessary to ensure the program continues and expands.
We know it is only a drop in the ocean, but we are looking forward to the ripple effect of helping motivate these children to work hard resulting in a higher level of education. This experience has brought so much joy to both the children and the Lamima crew. We are very excited about this project and look forward to another special and rewarding day for both the children and our team in June 2023!