Dutch kite maker visits RI festival

Dutch kite maker visits RI festival

JAKARTA (JP): Dutch E.M. Ron Schroder is displaying kite
making in a workshop held as a part of the on-going International
Kite festival 1995 at Marina beach, Ancol recreation park in
North Jakarta.

Jakarta-born Schroder said he flew from his hometown of
Delft, the Netherlands, especially to participate in the 14 day-
festival being held in six locations in Indonesia: Jakarta,
Lampung, Pangandaran Beach in West Java, Kebumen in Central Java,
Yogyakarta and Mount Bromo in East Java.

"I saved money for two years to come here," said Schroder who
has flown kites since he was a boy, adding that his interest in
kites has taken him to many places in the world.

However, participating in kite contests is not his main
interest, although once he won a trophy in France.

He said he loves kites and children and therefore enjoys
teaching children how to make kites. In Ancol, for example,
youngsters crowd around and watch him make small kites of various
shapes. There are butterfly shaped kites, tulip, triangular,
circular and other shapes which he makes from paper and plastic
bags.

He specializes in mini kites. His smallest kite measures four
centimeters x 3.8 centimeters. There are more people making big
kites than small ones, which is the reason he chose to make small
ones, he said.

Schroder's last day at Ancol is tomorrow. On Tuesday the
festival will open in Lampung, southern Sumatra.

Your children must be very lucky to have a father who can make
kites, said The Jakarta Post.

"Not at all, my son didn't want to fly kites with me, he was
embarrassed because his friends laughed at him because I flew
kites with him," Schroder, who speaks fluent Indonesian,
laughingly said.

It takes around three quarters of an hour to make a small,
simple kite.

"But to make this butterfly kite, I spend around one hour," he
said while attaching a thread to a butterfly kite he had just
finished.

"You have to put the kite bridle in the right place to enable
it to fly properly," Schroder explained.(als)