Dede Prabowo and Jim Wagner are telling stories about Alam Aksara, the organization that Prabowo started four years ago to find sponsors for Indonesian children who are unable to go to school.
"An Indonesian friend lives in Tokyo," Wagner begins, explaining how Alam Aksara began work in the eastern Indonesian province of Nusa Tenggaea Timur. "Her aunt lives in Kupang in the western part of Timor island, and that aunt's cousin is now one of our coordinators. It's how we connect up and expand, through family and friends."
Wagner continues: "When we first visited the school in Kupang, we wanted to take gifts. But candy seemed a pretty stupid idea. So one of our volunteers went to a local vendor making small lunch packets of cooked rice and asked for 60. The vendor's eyes near fell out of her head. She kept going in and out of her kitchen, asking, '60?' She used up all her rice."