Sorong, Papua Province, Indonesia - Just 15 minutes east of the Sorong port sits STIKP Muhammadiyah Sorong, a serene teacher’s college awash in the blues of the sea.
Between two mid-campus ponds, Herman, a third-semester student at the college, winces as he relays an early school memory.
“We often didn’t even have paper to use [at school],” he says, one hand twirling pen strokes, the other scratching an ear. “So we took notes on our thighs instead.”
Peers were left to wonder: How many words even fit on a five-year-old’s knee?
“I want to return home after graduating [to teach],” Herman continued. “You know, half the time, the teacher didn’t even bother to show up.”
