The ending....or just a beginning?

This has been a unique 'holiday' experience.    I defy anyone to pop down to Flight Center, and book one of these.

Singapore.

MRT'd it to Little India, and walked to our hotel.  First hot water for three weeks, not many mossies, no pigs, in-audible taxis, in fact, no fun at all....quite not challenging. 

Went to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel Sky Garden, it was either that or the Singapore flyer ( the big wheel thing).  This is the place that has a big surfboard across three hotel buildings.  At $400 to $800 a night, it was not where we could or would choose to stay.   Maxed out at 280 m high, the viewing deck offers a great view of the business end of Singapore, but as an experience a bit overrated. 

Her ( l) and him(r) at the surfboard hotel sky deck.

Then to Chinatown where we ate with the locals in their fast food establishment.

The only Bule in the whole eatery .

It was with a great deal of fortuitous timing that we were able to be in Singapore at the same time as Peter and Esther Scarborough.  With a fair bit of tooing and fro-ing we caught up for a coffee in an area that could not have been more different to Halmahera.   Just to remind you Peter and Esther were in Singapore due to a legal requirement to leave Indonesia and then renew their visa.

It was great opportunity.   What was even more obvious from our chat was the decades long dedication, love and commitment the Scarborough's ( the whole family) have towards people, who have and will continue to benefit from their presence in Halmahera.  

This has included( in the form of a NGO )basic medical aid in the refugee camps in Monado after the conflict, translated over the years into a 'base' in Monado, still helping those in need, with medical aid, accommodation, education, transport, as far as their finances will allow.  This has also developed  into a 70 or so acre site in Northern Halmahera, which is the island where the majority of the 'horozontal conflict' occurred in the early 2000's.  This area was chosen because much of the conflict, and affected people are in this area.

This site  is 20 or so k south of Tobello, and  one k north of Kusuri , in Halmahera Ultara.  It has about 150 residents living site most of whom work either at the 18 bed free hospital, the free clinic, the school, maintenance, or are in the children's home or medical outreach clinics.   The new clinician site  is weeks off being finished.   There are and have been many Halmaherans sent and financially supported to go to local and national educational facilities to obtain tertiary qualification in amongst other things education medicine and even an electrician. Copy the following link into Google Earth to see where it is         1° 30.263', 127° 55.726'

Before Peter, Esther, and their group set up the Hohodai clinic, the local people were dying or stuffing long term disability from diagnosed and un diagnosed, yet treatable illnesses such as TB, HIV, leprosy, heart disease,  burns, accidental injuries, because they either were unable to afford medical care or afford to get to medical care, or unaware that they had an option of treatment.  Hohodai has substantially changed this around Tobello and  particularly Kusuri. On site treatment and hospitalisation is free, to all. 

An example: Leprosy is an entirely controllable and treatable illness.  Many of the people still had biblical aversion to lepers, and some of the the people with leprosy saw it as a divine punishment, and It was their lot in life.  

Highlights:

The blog.....of course.

Candy Crush, the Game.  Whilst not a favourite past-time of the Caulfields, it had to take a reasonably important place during our away time due to the vehement opposition that one of the group took towards this highly stimulating and intellectually  satisfying game, which I think everyone on this Singapore MRT train was playing.  Clearly not just 'a common' past time.

All playing candy crush 

The people

Well some of them....

Tison-70% burns to his body, has had years of skin grafts, dressings, and pain, yet has an amazing sense of faith and particularly humour.  There is a good chance he will need more surgery soon.

He is quite disfigured, but has well and truly 'prospered ' by being at Hohidia.

Tison.

Octavina-a young lady has had a form of yet unidentified creeping paralysis over a number of years, in the early stages believed to be imminently terminal ( since in 'remission' ) and due to this paralysis is at the hospital from time time time over the years, for treatment for paralysis related conditions pressure sores ,pneumonia etc.  Her willingness to always be smiling, motivated,  and helping the other patients.

Octavina.

All the grade three  class at Hohidia-for kidding Andrew along that he was actually educating them.

Some of them 

Peter and Esther - just getting to meet them and see what they and their team are doing.

Not a great shot but the only chance to get a photo of them together and stationary

All the staff at the hospital.

The Indonesian medical staff are very good at caring for their patients in what Melbourne hospitals would consider to be very basic, conditions.  The traditional care model, where the family not only visits, but stays, some for months,, and provides for washing and feeding that patient is very important, and must be worked into any system that exists.  It should also be noted that most of the staff, are themselves refugees or affected by the conflict, or have stories that should make your toes curl.

Clinic to Jere.

Because. AND  we found it on a map....... Street view not quite there yet.  .Copy and paste into Google earth to see    2° 10.097', 128° 3.603'

.
....

Most of all, the Indonesian people, particularly those at Hohidai, could not have been more friendly, sharing,and generous with their time, patience, skills, language and merge resources.

And of course Sandie, the organiser of our journey, and of course our travelling companions Lisa, and Kevyn. (Btw, Kevyn is off to the Antarctic on a tour next week, for something different). All these made the journey fully of literary opportunities.

What next....?

Promote the work done at Hohidia, return in maybe in 12 months or so....maybe a side trip to India in between times.....who knows.

An opportunity for you
Here is a link to the Hohidiai children's home, which is a place where there is a huge need, and that we'd are comfortable to transfer our World Vision sponsorship. So have a look.
http://www.hohidiai.org/

See ya.  NJC and abc.  Xxxxx

Farewell......And what are the odds.

There is still some type of glitch that affects our ability to read, and your ability to post comments on this blog...something to do with iPad stuff, so sorry if we have been ignoring youse.

We made it to the end, without injury, heartbreak, or illness ....yet. No mishap either.

Sitting at Sam Ratulangi international airport in Manade, and it was an interesting journey, but more about that later.

The farewell 

It is the tradition at Hohidai, that all guests/ volunteers are given a farewell function, and as the Indonesians love any excuse, it was a party too.  

Nathalie will have volumes of Indonesian, especially Manado and Halmaheran cooking recipes, upon her return, because the evening started again with cooking at the bosses home, with Lisa and Suni(sp?) leading the instructing.  

Suni's cooking, and the one with the hand in the cookie jar

For the benefit of Esther and Peter's ( who are in Singapore for visa reasons) the household was being run with an iron fist.  Then we were off to Hannah, Peter, and Litje's home for Manado Buber (sp?) green stuff with corm and garlic in it, like a soup, but chunky, and grassy stuff in it.  Then to the Asrama( meeting hall) for the farewell.

The farewell

A modern dance routine 

Traditonal Tobello sword and shield dance, NB. the fellow on the left is not a traditional Tobellan 

Traditional Galalean (nearby region) dance

Nathalie keeping up with the kids.

Lisa, keeping up with Rudi one of the senior nurses.

Ronnie, the man who collected us from the airport, sang Amazing Grace with a wonderful voice.

Then there were many speeches, thanking the medical, teaching and maintenance help we were able to provide and then prayers of thanks?  Then the party really started.  Fried bananas, sweet potato, and a ginger and peanut drink that was taken warm.  Lisa enjoyed hers so much, she wants it next time too. The locals dip their fried bananas in chilli. Far too tough for us.

Many of the medical staff, quite shy..but bring out a camera..

We are on our way back.....

Wawan collect us early from the guesthouse, and he had one of Peter and Esther's children, Molens with him.   When he stayed in the van, we discovered that he was going to travel to Manado with us.

It was very sad to be leaving Hohidai, and especially Lisa, Kevyn, and Sandie who we have got to know and rely upon very much over the last few weeks.  

It was to be his first flight, as he had to go to Manado, for some dental work.  The problem was that there wasno ticket yet purchased for him, and it hadn't been worked out how he was to be collected from the airport.  No fuss...things will happen.

Molens, on the Tarmac, heading to the bus with wings, propellers, pilots, and SEAT BELTS, that not only are supplied, but have to be worn

The boarding pass

As it turned out, there's one seat left, and Molens sat next to Nathalie and Andrew got the seat next to mum and a wriggly crying infant, but no problem, we shared some pineapple cookie ( made last night) and it pacified the child, and Andrew for some time.

Co-incidence, or conspiracy? 

Standing on the Tarmac at Kao airport, one could ponder the probability of another copper in Victoria, knowing where Halmahera, let alone Kao airport, in northern Halmahera.

Arriving at the airport we did view the first (non Hohidai) Bule or foreigners we had seen for three weeks.  And with every respect, it indicates that" the holiday is over".

One of these foreigners, who had obviously been surfing, with five others of various nationalities, walked up and said "'It is you, I was over there thinking I know that fella."( referring to Andrew).  Then the penny dropped, it was Dave Tate, a senior constable from Rosebud police, whom Andrew has had a passing professional acquaintance with over 10 years.  Dave had been on a surfing tour boat, floating around Morotai, and Halmahera Ultara. Bumping to an acquaintance in rural Victoria, is surprising, another location in Australia, very surprising, major overseas capital, absolutely amazing, but in Kao airport, Halmahera., waiting for the thrice weekly 'wingsair' flight to Manado.....conspiracy...they are following me!!!,!  Then he flew to Singapore one seat in front opposite side.

Surveillance still of the man following Andrew 

Anyway, the exciting bits are nearly done...waiting for the connecting flight to Singapore.  Hopefully we can, upon a few day's contemplation provide the closing briefing, in due course.

From, him and her, r and l respectively 

The house that Kevyn built- on the inside.

         

The outside the Scarborough home right, shed( now  palatial mansion)left.

The inside before and after

The technicians

The shed, which had previously been used for accommodation, was in sore need of maintenance.

As has been previously reported,the floor had been moved to one level, and then the next job was to line it with plyboard.   

This was extremely exacting work, with metres of tolerance due to the precise square and straight nature of the frame.   With Kevyn's building skills and Andrew and Anke banging in three and four inch nails as requested,what used to be a hot, dusty, airy, crocked, mossie habitated unlined shack is now a hot dusty, airiy, crooked, mossie habitated, lined shack, soon to be painted and have fly wire installed   Well done, with few consistent nails, three hammers, one circular saw, two drills, ( posi- drive screws are unknown here) and locally milled timber.

If any of these workers fall ill, it could be from 1. The rat poo dropping from the ceiling.  2. Tropical ulcers from unhealed scrapes 3. Malaria, from the mossies, that didn't leave till 9.38 am each day . 4. Injuries from the straps of the safety sandals ( see two photos above) or 5,Any number of other nasty tropical stuff.  Just as well there is a well staffed hospital here.

It was a good result from a basic beginning, and shows. what can be done without all the whiz-banggery of the modern builder.

And testing the ancient ECG machine shows there is a heart, and that Lisa has not led Kevyn to an early demise, contrary to her familiar predictions.

Well the time is up....we are going...we have our bill.....the farewell party is tonight...no doubt we will all be hung over tomorrow, so I will finish this post now....nearly

Sirsak fruit, makes good drinks.

The coconut that Andrew husked, and Victor the instructor.   

 

Michael not Victor, as Leigh in the next photo instructed

Leigh, not Michael or Victor, or Molens.   

And this is John

Rest day, and some.......

As we were approaching Tobello, we were able to see the volcano, smoking, but not exploding.

The volcano from the boat, hardly Krakatoa, but the only one you're gunna get.

It was nice to be collected from the port, and we returned to our accom via a plesant dinner of mie goering at a restaurant, where we sat at real tables, and drank Sirsak, ( also known soursop) juice.   Tastes a bit like lime, mixed with milk,mixed with yoghurt, and stuff.

We could not  have sunblocked more than we did, and were only uncovered for no more than15 minutes, but the sun is pretty fierce and with the reflection of the coral sand, and clarity of water, we were a little bit lobster like, by the end of the day, even Litje was looking a bit flushed.

The next day, Sunday, was a bit of a late start, with a quick trip the the base, to replace the EMPTY water container, so some of us could have a cup of tea.

                               

The water bottle in question, that was EMPTY...not that there is any issue at stake here.

Leisurely breakfast of toast, and fruit, then Sandie went to the hospital for a surprise tour.   

The remainder went for a walk the km or so to Kusuri.  Whilst it is clear we should have been at church, it was facinating to see all the local people coming to and from church.  I felt guilty..... No not really.  Most of the locals were dressed to the nines, some with 3 inch high heels( the women mostly)

The louder the better 

I have asked many of the locals, and the expats, what the fascination is, in this part of Indonesia, with LOUD music.  And I mean very loud.   The 'blue' taxis, and many of the trucks, and most of the 'private taxis' ( cars that have their right hand indicator on all the time and honk at every other opportunity, and go really really fast)) have music that, in volume and choice of music, put our home doof-doof cars to shame.  These vehicles have external speakers, some affixed to roof racks, where the music is clearly audible for half a km before and after their passing.   

Conversation, and the worth of honking one's horn at them would appear to useless.

But it does not stop there.

Many of the homes have speaker walls, at times 4 m x 2 m in size, line their front porch, with thousands of watts of sound which can be heard throughout the village.  But there are several of these within a small area.... 

The blue taxi, speakers on top.

A typical (but small ish in size) front porch, woofers and tweeters included

                         

Not very loud music, but enthuasticly played by this amazing 90 year old female resident of Jere.

 Not only loud, and competing, but also all day and night. There must be serious damage being done here to the hearing of the Halmaheran people.  What? What?  There must also be quite some concern, relating to the millions of rupiah that are spent on these extravagant sound systems, when there is no other furniture in the home.

The beach visit.

Another experience of Indonesian timeliness, was the proposed visit to the beach, leaving after lunch.

At 1500 hrs, we finally managed to leave the base.  Getting to the beach was not important, but it seems to be the way of things here.  There seems to be a disappointing acceptance of this manner of making things happen, on time and organised properly, as just the way things are done here.  This can be very confronting if not downright annoying to the ' western' visitor/ volunteers.   

Now we went with a number of children, and Hannah and Litje, to Boree beach, in the back of the ute. The water was quite rough with  a good rip, so the ones who went into the surf were kept close to  shore and well supervised.

Olan, who is the housekeeper of the guest house, as well as the medical outreach worker for the clinic,  has a roadside stall outside the guest house, and amazingly, on the roadside.  We were going to travel into Kusuri, to see the Bakso man, for our evening meal, and in passing told Olan.   

In her polite, and reserved way, made it quite clear to us that this was akin to asking to be poisoned.

She tried to describe where we should go instead.  This not working all that well, we convinced her, her husband, Chalice, and son JJ to climb in the back of the ute, and show us.

Heading north to the next village( a Muslim village) we were introduced to the bestest fast  food place in these parts.

Lisa, Olan, JJ and blurry Nathalie in the ute.

The fast food shop in the next village.

Now here we had the local dish of Bakso, and Garda Garda, and the food for six cost $8.00.

Hansen's Disease

Olan runs the outreach clinic, visiting people in the area who have TB, HIV and leprosy, dispensing medications and applying dressings particularly to the leprosy patients.(hansen's disease)

With little notice, we were advised that Olan was visiting several lepers around Tobello, so we went.

We did have to have a second lunch with Ato the driver and Olan.  It was mie goering again, but shared , as we had just eaten at the base. 

Where's 'Wally'? He's taking the photo.  Nathalie, Lisa, Kevyn, Ato and Olan.

Just out of Tobello is a small neat, peaceful seaside fishing village, which has serval long term lepers.  Olan visits usually once a week, so we were privileged to go with her.  Leprosy here, is totally treatable, and in early stages entirely curable.    The Schwann cells have something to with it

Not withstanding they were jumping not at all, upon our arrival, several chairs were brought out, and basins, filled with watrer, and feet soaked in them, waiting for Olan to dress them.

Washing the leprosy affected feet, before the dressings

Then there were the kids.....lots of them, and bubbles, toy cars, hair ties, and balls were distributed.

It was apprent there was a bit of relative poverty happening here.

The kids in the fishing village just loved having their photo taken.

Some of the kids with Kevyn.

The troubles.

Hearing rumours of local troubles in Kao, three quarters of a hour south of here, further enquiries have it that it is a boundary dispute between two villages.   It seems to have sorted itself out, and this was evidenced by the ten of so riot type trucks, and troops seen hurtling back towards their base in Tobello.

If someone can inform the author what epididymitis is you will be able to equate Lisa's description of the jackfruit, of which two were collected from Olan's in-laws house and sapped all over us for the return journey from Tobello.

                                    

                                  The jackfruit