By: Reed Morgan
10/26/2006

Given the proper motivation and opportunity, most people can come up with a few amusing stories from those awkward years preceding high school.  However, it is difficult to find a more diverse and rich set of anecdotes than those of Joe Thibault, who lives in Green Residence Hall. 

Thibault is a transfer student from Seattle. Outside class, one may find him at baseball practice, studying in the library, or relaxing in his room. This may falsely lead one to believe that Thibault had a typical upbringing. Though he hails from Washington, he lived a substantial part of his adolescence in Indonesia. 
   
Thibault's father was an Army brat, moving from base to base, country to country.  Finding this experience to be invaluable in his own life, Thibault's father set out to simulate this experience for his three sons. An opportunity arose when Thibault's parents, both teachers, accepted jobs at a private school in Indonesia. 
     
When the Thibaults arrived, their house was still under construction. This resulted in little discomfort or inconvenience because the school provided accommodations in a five star hotel until the house was finished. After five weeks in the lap of luxury, the Thibaults found themselves right at home in this strange new world. 
   
The school that Thibault and his brothers attended catered to the children of military families as well as the children of high-ranking officials in the Indonesian government. The school provided two Olympic sized swimming pools, two gymnasiums, four basketball courts and six tennis courts as well as horseback riding and roller hockey to a student population of less than 800. 
   
The Thibaults discovered quickly how far their American currency went, purchasing even expensive items for less than one pays for a meal at McDonald's.  However, their relative wealth was dwarfed by some of their classmates. 

"A girl in my class had her own elevator at her house,” Thibault said.

However, it did not take long for Thibault and his family to encounter the extreme poverty that engulfed the majority of the population. 
   
Lippo Karawaci is laid out in circular fashion surrounded by walls on all sides.  Outside the protection of these walls lies Tangerang, one of the poorest cities in Indonesia. Thibault accompanied his mother on weekly trips delivering rice to the various neighborhoods and surrounding villages. 

"Pretty much all the food they ate was what we gave them," he said. This poverty eventually drove the Thibaults away. 
   
During the first few years that the Thibaults lived in Indonesia, the value of the rupiah decreased by almost 90 percent, causing mass riots and looting.  Though the majority of the violence was concentrated in Jakarta, the U.S. government stepped in, evacuating all of the expatriate teachers.

U.S. soldiers escorted Thibault and his family to an abandoned military airstrip. They were loaded onto a 747 with few belongings and little hope. The Indonesian government attempted to extort money from the United States for allowing the teachers to leave, effectively holding the plane ransom for three hours. This ended when U.S. officials refused to pay and demanded that the plane be allowed to leave. 
   
When the rioting stopped and political tensions cooled down, the Thibault family returned home.  In a strange turn of fate, these events took place over the course of Christmas break. 

"I only missed the first three days of the spring semester," he said.

They said goodbye to their Indonesian home for the last time in 1999. Thibault and his brothers returned to the American public education system as did their parents. This is where the story seemingly ends. However, Thibault's views on government, social justice, culture and personal responsibility come largely from these experiences. His humility, empathy and patience come from those years in that once strange country he called home.