Fulbright Reflections: We Came to Share Indonesia

Riana Wulandari, 2025 Fulbright Doctoral Degree Grantee and PhD Student in Public Health at Rutgers School of Public Health, and Mutiara Indah Puspita Sari, 2024 Fulbright Master’s Degree Grantee (Class of 2026 Graduate) at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, share their reflections from a presentation given to a 5th grade classroom at Indian Fields Elementary School. "We came to share Indonesia, and a fifth-grade classroom in New Jersey showed us something too."

This was our first time visiting an American elementary school. We had just come off exam week, and “enthusiastic” is one of the words you might use to describe our state of mind.

Ms. Jennifer Leach welcomed us and guided us around before the lesson started. Inside Indian Fields Elementary School in South Brunswick, New Jersey, there was a garden, with daffodils and tulips in bloom, yellow brick walkways, and red-trimmed windows catching the April light. The space felt like somewhere that cared about nurturing life. A plaque on the wall read 1992.

We were there as part of the Fulbright in the Classroom program. Mutiara and I are both Indonesian Fulbrighters at Rutgers. I am pursuing a PhD in Public Health, and Mutiara recently completed her master’s in City and Regional Planning at the Bloustein School. That day, we carried more preparation materials than we probably needed.

As it turned out, we were right to.

One student described the Komodo dragon accurately and without notes before we reached that slide. Another had been waiting to discuss orangutans in Borneo. Yet another moved through world flags the way some people navigate their own neighborhood. We exchanged glances. We had, in fact, prepared our slides.

Then the room changed.

Many Americans know New York was once New Amsterdam. Fewer know what the Dutch gave up to keep it: the island of Run, in the Maluku archipelago of eastern Indonesia, traded for Manhattan over a single nutmeg. The room went quiet. Children were thinking, not just listening.

The United States and Indonesia had been connected for centuries. Nobody had connected those dots for the students yet.

Then came bakso.

President Barack Obama spent part of his childhood in Menteng, Jakarta, not far from where I lived, eating bakso, the beloved Indonesian meatball soup. The students responded with such enthusiasm and curiosity that the word seemed to travel from desk to desk.

A student picked up a tumpeng pin and asked what it was. We explained that in Indonesia, food carries meaning: gratitude, family, memory, community.

Ms. Leach shared with us that a student made a drawing of the Indonesian flag. Red on top, white below. Accurate and perfect. He simply did it to show us that we were welcome.

Many Indonesians are multilingual, a natural result of growing up across thousands of islands and hundreds of ethnic groups. The classroom received that without surprise. They had their own version of that story.

Both Principal Dr. Abbamont and Ms. Leach are graduates of Rutgers University, an unexpected fact that added a sense of familiarity to our visit. After the session, the visit also became a conversation among educators. With Principal Dr. Abbamont, we exchanged reflections on how schools work in Indonesia and the United States, including curriculum, school culture, and classroom life.

After the session, we stayed connected with the school. Ms. Leach wrote to us afterward: “Indonesia may be over 10,000 miles from central New Jersey, but on this spring morning it felt much closer. The fifth graders learned not only about differences between our cultures and customs but more importantly, the similarities. Many staff and students have shared their desire to visit Indonesia one day as a result of your visit.”

There is a version of international affairs conducted in official rooms, through cameras and press releases. Then there is this: an elementary school classroom, the drawing of a flag, and the word bakso traveling from desk to desk despite oceans and time.

Both matter. But the classroom version stays with you differently.

The authors wish to extend heartfelt gratitude to Barbara S. Weikert, Ed.D.; Principal Dr. Abbamont; Ms. Jennifer Leach; Mrs. Caswell; Ms. Jansen; Ms. Daniels; and all teachers, staff and students at Indian Fields Elementary School, whose generosity made this visit possible, and to the Fulbright Program, Riana’s mentor, Andrea Villanti, PhD, MPH, and Mutiara’s mentor, Hal Salzman, for supporting not only our research but also our belief that what we learn in the pursuit of knowledge becomes most meaningful when it reaches the communities it is meant to serve.