At day seventh of the Eco-DRR summer course it was finally time for the, with high expectations looked for, Batik craft workshop and “Amazing Race”. The participants met up at the common hotel as it was by now usual on a fieldtrip day. This time although, no bus was used, but instead the people were expected to group wise order a cab in order to get to first and later to the second destination. This could already be seen as a warming-up part of the amazing race as the groups would travel together and independently throughout the day. But the groups were not fully without support and did receive a letter with 50 000 IR for each group member, to be used wisely for transportation and food during the day. Some participants and the people from the organization committee decided to use the scooter instead, as it for sure can be said to be the smoothest mean of transportation in Yogyakarta.
Arriving at the Batik craft center of Winotosastro, the participants just got a short look around the workshop, observing the Batik painter and the different tools, before they were directly briefed on the process of creating a beautiful piece of Batik. With the anticipation of the selfmade piece the different types of available patterns in form of metallic stamps were examined. These were supposed to be put together on a piece of fabric in any way possible. In addition also hand painting was a alternative fully, or just for complementing the stamped pattern. If a pattern was selected, these were now put into hot wax and then on the fabric. The process was supported and supervised by a local craft person. Further steps included the signature of one’s name, color selection and sewing. In the end the participants could marvel at the creativity of theirs and the others pieces.
With a artful and traditional piece of fabric in their bags, the participants in their groups were now left on their own to start the amazing race in their preferred way, i.e. strengthening themselves with some food before continuing with their task or efficiently continuing with their task without losing any time. Whichever way was chosen, the task led the groups to one of three spots within Yogyakarta by following a given location. On each location the groups could be expected to meet a problem that is related to hazards and DRR. On the different spots they could be said to being conducting a very small case study including pictures, video and communication with the locals. While the results of the research mostly will be seen when they will be presented in the coming days, it can for sure be said that the amazing race was a totally different and unique challenge since the start of the course, asking for a different type of skills.