Yesterday we went to the beach with the t’Hart family, who is visiting from PNG, the Togeretz’s, the Wieske’s, and part of the deHaan family. We also took along Sisi, an Indonesian friend who works as a mechanic for MAF. It was a beautiful day at the beach! The tide started to go out while we were there though and so snorkeling got a bit dangerous as you could scrape your stomach on coral or sea urchins. We did see a black and white checked sea snake, thankfully about 5 feet below us on the bottom… Also saw clown fish in an anemone. So neat!
Sorry, I didn’t take my camera again. Maybe I can get some pics from someone else…

I was talking again with Ritha the other day about how she came to get her oldest daughter who is adopted. Ritha’s husbands younger sister became pregnant by a guy who didn’t want to live up to his responsibilities so when the baby was born, she gave the child to Ritha and her husband. It is Ritha’s name on all the paperwork too. Now this woman and her husband (not the father of Awi) want to take Ritha’s two girls to live with them in Timika (city on the south coast, home of the Freeport Mine) so they can go to a good school there. Of course that is the last thing Ritha wants. She has no idea if this couple will teach her girls about God and His promises and all that. Ritha is a very strong Christian woman. All the family here supports Ritha but unfortunately, too often it is the money that talks. This woman works for the mine and makes lots of money and they say that Ritha can’t take good enough care of the girls as a widow. So next month that will be discussed.
Ritha and her sister were raised by people not their parents. Ritha left home at age nine to live with others. I think it was partly her own choice as she wanted to go to school and her parents didn’t pay much attention to her as they were to busy with their own problems. Ritha’s mom is her dad’s second wife…. Ritha’s younger sister, Violetta, was given to Ritha’s mom’s family as a bride price. When Ritha’s dad married her mom he didn’t have the money for the bride price so he gave one of their children later on. How sad is that? So these two girls had to work at a very young age. No one is going to let them stay with them without working for them. Ritha did not live with a Dani family, she lived with people from another tribe here in Sentani. So when she married her husband, he did not have to pay a bride price as that is a Dani tradition. But he paid Ritha’s parents some money anyways as he felt he should. He paid three million rupiah, which at that time, 10 years ago, was a lot of money. Violetta was raised by a Dani family. Their mother is Dani. So if Violetta should ever wish to marry, the family or tribe of the guy would have to pay a fairly hefty price to the Dani tribe in Wamena. The bride price can be 50 million rupiah or more!! I think it is usually not paid in money, but in pigs or something like that.