
TALES FROM THE HINTERLAND
There's nothing like a bike that allows its rider to get a good scan, unfiltered, of the open roads, narrow alleys, expansive fields or divergent landscapes that are traversed; and close scrutiny of people you pass or come in contact with along the way. A closed motor-running vehicle doesn't allow you that. So it has been that after years of cycling in and around a Jakarta suburb, Adrian set up a school for undocumented children living in informal settlements. Sekolah Bisa in Indonesia lives and thrives today because of those bike rides, and because of the heart and mind of the rider singularly devoted to the betterment of disadvantaged children.
Starting the Foundation from the base in Tunga was a challenge Adrian took on. Here he shares three of those rides and close encounters.
On teaching sabbatical and based in Tunga, Leyte, Adrian Thirkell spent 2016-17 deciphering the challenges faced in rural Philippines. He has trawled a good number of barangays in the 2nd district of Leyte, on his bicycle, getting to know the landscape and, much more so, the people who live within it.