Last Saturday, May 25, 2019, Batu Local Guides received an invitation from one of its members to attend the iftar together at the Pine Park Workshop & Relaxed, Bukit Pinus street, Songgokerto Village, Batu District, Batu City, East Java Province, Indonesia.
I think, this will be a community iftar event like the two previous events in this month of Ramadan, [RECAP] Like Food Crawl, Happy Fasting With Us and [RECAP] Batu Local Guides: Bancakan Kuliner Nusantara. Apparently, the event was unexpected by all of us. At the location a stage of the show was held, complete with a sound system and the number of residents who came. And we got the opportunity to join the community of Songgokerto Village, to witness various performances of dance, songs and traditional music. The cool atmosphere of pine forests, makes this place special. The members of Batu Local Guides did not miss the opportunity to hunt photos at any point. There are children who dress traditionally with beautiful makeup. There are also women who are no less interesting, with moslem clothes singing melodious songs. It’s so beautiful and full of hospitality.
When the Maghrib call to prayer reverberated, we were welcome to break the fast, with many prepared food menus. Although a little scramble, but we really enjoyed it. Some of the committees seemed busy serving the guests. We also freely took food and broke the fast together in one of the gazebos overlooking the entertainment stage. This traditional food menu is really delicious, although there are some that taste quite spicy.
After being satisfied to enjoy the meal and take a picture together, we said goodbye to the head of the Songgokerto village, to leave the venue. The Head of Songgokerto Village expressed his gratitude for our presence, and hoped we could enjoy the event and the food that was served for iftar.
We did not go straight home, but shifted to a coffee shop behind the Batu City government office, Kedai Coffee Bonsai. In this coffee shop in the middle of a large bonsai garden, we continued the meeting with a discussion about the preparation of the event the following week, delivering donation to one of the orphanages in Batu City. There have been enough donations collected. What we have to do next is prepare the menu of iftar and what kind of event that we will hold there. We are grateful, donations, iftar menus, and other equipment, have been covered by all members of Batu Local Guides, so the participants of the event next week will be no need to pay any more.
After it was enough, we ended the meeting that night. Some members who just joined, seemed satisfied following our activities. We also hope that in the next week’s event, more and more members of Batu Local Guides will come, as a manifestation of concern for the orphanage children. And this will be our peak event this month, before entering the Eid Al-Fitr feast days in 2019.
