Brunei Week 3: June 2013 (June 17-22) The People Safari Saeed here! I hope you have time for a slight detour from the traditional trade routes, because there is a tiny country I want to show you that is just a little bit out of our way. Historically, the sailors would have left Vietnam and stayed as close to land as they could until they reached Singapore. But we’re going to take a short detour and visit the country of Brunei on the island of Borneo on our way. Grab a map and follow the route we’re going to take. Brunei is a small country with a big name. Its official name is Brunei Darussalam. It’s a little smaller than the state of Delaware in the United States, but it produces more than 160,000 barrels of crude oil every day. That’s a lot of oil, and that means there is a lot of money coming into the country. The government provides many necessary services to their citizens free of charge. It is important to remember, though, that that doesn’t automatically mean everyone in Brunei is rich. And, even more important to remember than that is that no amount of money or free stuff can make people truly happy deep down inside. More than 60 percent of the people who live in Brunei follow the nation’s official religion, Islam. Around 10 percent of the people believe in Jesus Christ, and they are not allowed to evangelize and share their faith with others. Ministers cannot officially visit the island and must find other creative ways to help the people there. Brunei used to have much more land. In the 1400s, the country was ruled by a sultan, the leader of a Muslim monarchy. Over time, there was much fighting among the rulers about who would lead the country. Brunei gradually lost land and eventually became a British protectorate in 1888. It did not gain its freedom as a nation until January 1, 1984. On that day, an Islamic sultanate, or kingdom, was established. There are many interesting places to see in Brunei. The first place I’ll show you is the capital city, Bandar Seri Begawan. It is full of large buildings and cars, just like many other capital cities around the world. Then I think I’ll take you to Kampong Ayer, which some people like to call the “water village.” More than one thousand homes stand on stilts along and over the Brunei River. The homes are all connected by wooden bridges. But there is much more in Kampong Ayer than just homes. There are police stations, schools, clinics, and other official buildings all connected by the walkways. Before we wrap up our tour of Brunei, I have to take you deep into the jungle. There are still native peoples living there today who live as they have for hundreds of years, hunting with handmade weapons, almost completely isolated from the rest of the country.

Write It or Draw It I’m going to give you the title to a story. It’s a story that hasn’t been written yet. Your job is to either write the story or draw/illustrate what the cover of a book by that name would look like.

Use your imagination. It can be a picture book, a funny book, a serious book—anything you can think of. The title for this week’s story is: “What the Monkey Found.”

Spelling and Vocabulary Try adding these words to your spelling list for this week. You found each of them in my introduction to The People above: Bandar Seri Begawan   Brunei   Borneo   Kampong Ayer   protectorate   sultanate   For vocabulary practice, print the page of 3x5 cards at the end of this lesson. Write a definition for each of the words on the back of the cards.

Geography Find the following places on a map: Limbang corridor (land) South China Sea (water) Brunei Bay (water) Bukit Pagon (highest point in Brunei) Bandar Seri Begawan (city) Kampong Ayer (city)  

Safari Science Are you ready to see one of the most unique animals in the entire world? They are called proboscis monkeys. Come with me into the jungle and I’ll see if I can spot them for you. You should probably bring a pair of binoculars with you; these animals like to climb high up into the trees. We’ll take my boat and follow the river for a little while. Just make sure you keep your arms and legs inside the boat—there are crocodiles in this river! Do you see that spot up ahead, where it looks like the palm leaves are so thick you couldn’t possibly squeeze through? I know a way we can take the boat in between those leaves. That’s where we’ll hide and watch for the proboscis monkeys.

Proboscis monkeys only live in the wild here, on the island of Borneo. That means that, except for the ones who live in zoos, you will only find them in the three countries that share this island: Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Wait—did you hear that honk? That’s the proboscis monkey. I just heard a few more. It sounds like they are coming to the river. Look—up there in the treetops. That monkey with the huge nose is a proboscis. Oh, and look over there in that other tree, the one that reaches out over the water so far. There’s a mother proboscis monkey with her baby hanging on tight underneath her as she climbs. It looks like she wants to leap to the trees on the other side of the river. She keeps climbing out further and further. She’s getting ready to jump. She jumped! Oh, no! She didn’t quite make it across. Now she’s in the river. It’s OK, though; she can swim, even with the baby holding on. She just has to hurry so the crocodiles don’t catch up to her! You can watch some proboscis monkeys eating and climbing here. You can even hear their honking sound if you listen closely. Use this website to answer the following questions: True or False: 1. Proboscis monkeys can swim very well. 2. Proboscis monkeys love to eat ripe fruit. 3. A proboscis monkey can weigh up to 50 pounds. Research challenge: What do proboscis monkeys have in their stomach that helps them digest the seeds, leaves, and fruits they eat? A printable notebooking page is included for download with this lesson for your convenience.

Safari Record Do you like to take pictures? I love to take pictures! I made a digital book of my pictures from the places I’m going to show you this month: China, Vietnam, Brunei, and Malaysia. You can see it below. After you click to play the video, you’ll see a map that shows where the country is and the flag of the country. You’ll hear the camera take a picture for your record. The pictures will rotate, the camera will click again, and you’ll see some pictures from the country along with some neat facts about the locations.

To see my digital book of pictures, click here. If you want to make your own safari record, ask a parent if it is OK to look online or in some magazines for pictures of the places we see, the people we meet, and the animals we discover. A great place to start on your search for pictures is the World Factbook.

Friday Factoids Do you remember when I said Brunei is a little smaller than the state of Delaware? It’s also smaller than 172 of the countries in the world! Complete the chart: Using the information you can find here, fill in the first column of the chart below. Then, in the second column, round the numbers you wrote down to the nearest 100 square kilometers. Country Australia Brunei Germany Greece Hong Kong Iraq Kyrgyzstan Maldives Qatar Russia

Area

Area, rounded to nearest 100

Calculate it: 1. Which country is approximately 76 times larger than Brunei? 2. Which country is approximately 62 times larger than Brunei? 3. Brunei is approximately 5 times as large as which country? 4. Which country is approximately 1,335 times larger than Brunei? 5. Which country is approximately 34 times larger than Brunei? 6. Which country is approximately twice as large as Brunei? 7. Brunei is approximately 19 times larger than which country? 8. Which country is approximately 23 times larger than Brunei? 9. Which country is approximately 2,948 times larger than Brunei? Challenge: Most countries are divided into smaller regions such as states, territories, counties, etc. Make a chart that compares the area of Brunei to the area of each region of the country you live in. For example, if you lived in the United States, you would make a list of all 50 states plus territories and include their approximate area. Then you would compare each one to the area of Brunei.

For some extra fun To see just how small Brunei is, be sure to visit the This Day in History archives for June 10 and try the hands-on activity, How Small is Brunei?

Recommended Resources for More Stories about Brunei Bugs! A Rainforest Adventure (DVD) *This program was filmed on the island of Borneo and originally created for viewing in an IMAX theatre. However, I have not personally seen this program and cannot vouch for its content.

Sources (all may not be suitable for children) Encyclopedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite, 2011 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bx.html Operation World 7th Edition by Jason Mandryk Brunei: Borneo’s Abode of Peace by Joseph Judge, National Geographic 1974 Feb., pages 206225 http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/proboscis-monkey/ Borneo’s Proboscis Monkeys Smell Trouble by Tim Laman, National Geographic 2002 Aug., pages 100-117 http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/animals/mammals-animals/monkeys-andlemurs/monkey_proboscis_captivity/

Safari Science Answers 1. True 2. False 3. True

Friday Factoid Answers Country Australia Brunei Germany Greece Hong Kong Iraq Kyrgyzstan Maldives Qatar Russia Calculate it: 1. Iraq 2. Germany 3. Hong Kong 4. Australia

Area 7,741,220 5,765 357,022 131,957 1,104 438,317 199,951 298 11,586 17,098,242

Area, rounded to nearest 100 7,741,200 5,800 357,000 132,000 1,100 438,300 200,000 300 11,600 17,098,200

5. Kyrgyzstan 6. Qatar 7. Maldives 8. Greece 9. Russia

Bandar Seri Begawan

Brunei

Borneo

Kampong Ayer

protectorate

sultanate