If You Give A Man A Boat

By Paulette Perhach

The man was just a stranger with a smile when Eric Hires bought him a Coke in an Indonesian café.

Eric, 23, of St. Augustine, had been cruising the Indonesian island of Nusa Lembongan on a rented bike during a trip in 2006 with Surf the Nations, a humanitarian surfing organization.

Eric knew he was there to help people, but had no idea at the time to what degree he would change the life of that man with the smile.

His name was Made, (pronounced Mah-day), a seaweed farmer and fisherman of the poorest class on the island.

That first day, Eric discovered Made spoke a bit of English, and he sought linguistics lessons from him with a pointed finger. Table, meja, chair, kursi, dog, anjing. Seaweed, rumput laut.

Eric returned the next day to hang out with Made, who took breaks from his work harvesting seaweed to teach Eric his language.

On the third day, Made offered to take him to the mangrove swamp, a local tourist spot. As an American traveling in a developing country, Eric was leery of being a target for people to steal or hustle his money.

“When you’re traveling, you meet people and you never know,” said Eric. “Are they my friend because I have money or are they my friend just because?”

Not sure if the trip would tie him into a transaction, Eric went to the mangroves. Made never asked him for a thing.

But he did invite him to go fishing.

The next day, the two cruised out into the deep channel between Nusa Lembongan and Bali, and, handline fishing, caught seven tuna.

Made sold five and gave two to his wife to grill over an open flame. The family invited Eric to stay and bought him a Sprite. The two sat, picking fish meat off the bones with their right hands and swatting at flies with their left. Made asked Eric if they ate fish at home and what houses were made of in America.

“We did it again the next day, and that’s how our friendship started,” said Eric.

Although he never gave Made money, Eric shared his wealth in small ways. Whenever he bought his friend an ice cream, Made would take it, dripping down his arm, back to his candle-lit hut for his young daughter and son.

“Little things like that, they don’t have. They don’t have money to buy ice cream for their kids,” said Eric. “And even the public schools cost them money.”

Even though his family struggled, Made never asked Eric for help.

“When I left, I felt like I had a friend,” said Eric. “He just wanted to hang out.”

On his last day on the island, Eric left Made with some clothes and fish hooks. Made told Eric, “You go back to America. You come back to Nusa Lembongan. We fish.”

BRINGING THE STORY HOME

Eric came back from the island later that summer and told his friend, Mike, about Made. Mike had before told Eric about a new project he and others locals were starting, called Rosa Loves. The idea was to take the stories of people in need and translate them into T-shirt designs. The shirts would be sold to raise enough money to give their story a happy ending.

“When I was fishing with Made, I found out it wasn’t his boat. I asked him how much one of these boats cost, and he told me in rupiah, like 25 million or something, which is about $2,500,” said Eric. “So I was like, ‘Man, I wonder if this is something Mike would be interested in doing.’”

The two discussed it last August over a meal at Flavor’s Eatery and by October they started selling the “Indo Made” shirt designed by Mike, a heather gray tee with Made’s face and a net reaching out to seven ? sh. About 10 months and 285 shirt’s later, Made has his boat. Across the globe, he had no idea.

BACK IN INDONESIA

Eric planned the trip back with Surf the Nations this summer, but he went two weeks early to complete Made’s story.

With no way to get word to the small island, Eric didn’t know if his friend had moved, if he had already bought a boat, or if he was even alive.

But there he was, in a green T-shirt Eric had left him, working on seaweed in his bamboo hut on the beach.

When he saw the American, his eyes got wide and the two hugged.

Eric waited to tell him about the boat to feel out the situation.

The third day, he took Made to get lunch. The fisherman told Eric he wished he had the money to buy new nets because his had holes in them. And he’d just been using the handline.

And Eric found out his friend was in an even worse situation that he’d thought.

“Before, I just thought he was borrowing the boat, but by borrow he meant rent,” said Eric.

“The expense probably ate about half the money he would have made on the fish. He was sitting there telling me how he really wanted a boat but couldn’t afford it, and I was like – You have no idea buddy, what’s about to happen.”

So Eric brought Made back to his bungalow, where he read from his journal a statement he had translated, using an Indonesian dictionary.

Saya teman membuat kemaja ini untook kamu penghormatan.

My friends made this shirt in your honor.

Banyak, banyak orang di Amerika membeli kemaja ini.

Many, many people in America bought this shirt.

Ongkos 230,000 rupiah.

It cost 230,000 rupiah.

Semua keuntunganya pergi untuk membeli kamu satu perahu, dan mungkin jala-jala kalau chukup uang.

All the profit goes to buy you a boat and possibly nets if there’s enough money.

Banyak orang di Amerika tahu kamu cerita dan mau menolong kamu.

Many people in America know your story and want to help you.

“We wanted him to understand the whole picture of what happened. I didn’t want him to think that this was just me giving him a boat. I wanted him to know that there were hundreds of people in America that had come together to buy the shirt, to essentially give the money so that he could get this boat for his family,” said Eric.

Made listened, realizing.

“I don’t know a word to describe how he looked. Speechless is a good one. Bewildered maybe,” said Eric. “But I felt selfish that I was the only one there to experience that, because it was such a rad moment, seeing him comprehend and grasp what was going on and just how different his life was going to be.”

They had the vessel made by the local boat maker, and Made went each day to watch his gift take shape. Between thanking Eric, he taught more words to the young man, who had started calling him by the Indonesian word for teacher, guru.

By the time Eric’s friends arrived from Surf the Nations, the boat was nearly complete. When it was, they carried the vessel down from the boat maker, about 400 yards to the sea, on their shoulders. Made’s friends gathered to watch him attach the motor and hear it bellow to life.

Made used his maiden voyage to take the surfers to a secret surf spot out at sea.

Coming in at low tide, Made carefully pushed the boat with a bamboo pole to protect the propeller.

“The coolest thing about that was, after surfing, bringing the boat in, was when I realized it was so much more (than a boat). The financial benefit for his family is going to be huge, but even more than that, it’s the first time in his life that he’s owned a boat,” said Eric. “Just to have that ownership and that sense of pride in that was really pretty incredible to see.

“I was privileged to see the person who actually got to go and do it. But I didn’t do that much work for it. (Rosa Loves) did all the work designing the shirts and printing them and doing all that, which I didn’t have a whole lot to do with.

“When I really think about what really happened, it just seemed like a normal deal, just like what I was supposed to be doing,” said Eric. “It seemed like the right thing to do.”

Link: Rosa Loves