Tourism Officer Ms. Monika Kanimea has returned from the Indonesian Arts & Culture exchange and learning program in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

Conducted from 04 May – 19 August 2019, The Indonesian Arts and Culture Scholarship is one of Indonesia’s short-term scholarships that has been offered since 2003, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and fully funded by the Republic of Indonesia. The program consisted of 72 awardees from different 40 countries across the world including Kiribati.

The aim of this program was to foster a better understanding of Indonesia’s immensely diverse arts and cultural heritage and Ms Kanimea was also positioned in Kutai Kartanegara, of the East Kalimantan province where her learning of the Indonesian culture continued.

Apart from learning the language, local dance and music of Indonesia, Ms. Kanimea also visited numerous cultural tourism attractions of East Kalimantan. These included Mulawarman Museum; formerly known as the place of the Dutch during the 1930s that once was the power base where 19 sultans reigned. The Kumala Island, a small island in the middle of the river used as a recreational park. The Borneo Orangutan Forest Conservation, a non-profit organization that supports the conservation of Bornean Orangutans and their habitats. The Pesut Etam Tourism Boat, a boat that carries more than 50 passengers and goes around Mahakam river in Samarinda where you can see the beauty of this river and other Samarinda tourist destinations as well, and last but not least, the Ladaya Budaya, the place where all cultural outbound activities are carried out.

Ms. Kanimea has now resumed work at TAK and will use the experience and knowledge acquired from Indonesia to help improve the development and marketing of Kiribati arts and cultural through tourism.