Loris Pride Days!

Finally the event we’ve all been waiting for…Loris Pride Days are here!  An amazing week dedicated to the slow loris in our wonderful village of Cipaganti.  So many events to choose from with our football tournament (junior and senior teams), school visits, parade, kite flying, and closing ceremonies that it’s hard to know where to begin.  And don’t forget the introduction of a certain life-sized loris!

It's our very own Tereh ready to share the loris love!

The first of our big events was the football tournament and we used this opportunity to introduce our amazing new team member Tereh!  She caused quite a stir amongst the children and even some of the adults.  With a little coaxing we even managed to get Tereh to show off some of her dancing skills.  

Football committee showing off their loris pride.

Our visit to the local secondary school was a great success as well.  We visited there to introduce our new children’s book (written by Dr. Nekaris) that will be printed in Indonesian and English language versions.  During the reading, the beautiful illustrations done by Shelley Low and wonderful narrative written by Dr. Nekaris had the kids eating out of the palm of her hand!  After the book introduction it was activity time.  We had 150 students in one large room who were very well behaved and ready to make some loris-themed crafts.  Some of the students were assigned kite-making duties where they crafted kites in the local style using bamboo sticks and string for the framing and paper for the face of the kite.  For decoration they all drew loris faces that will be seen and admired high in the sky!  The other students were given beautiful Tereh and Bunga face masks to be worn during our parade. 

School children showing off their face masks.

Sunday we had the parade, adult football finals, closing ceremony and big party with traditional dance and music.  The morning started with a parade through the village where the children wore loris face masks and chanted "KUKANG!" for the whole village to hear.  During the parade, we managed to get most of the village to follow us up to the football field where we had traditional music and dance from local musicians and dance groups.  The most advanced dancers were able to perform beautiful traditional dances while swinging around a machete!  Not for the faint of heart.  :)  The final was decided by a nail-biting round of penalty kicks and the top 3 teams received trophies and loris uniforms.  After the trophy ceremony there was more dancing and traditional music (members of the LFP team even got on stage to participate!).  A wonderful time had by all and the best way to end our amazing week!

Group of local girls performing traditional dancing with traditional musicians on stage.

Party!