Bits and Bites...

*Christiaan is recovered from his bout with malaria. It is obvious to me that the quicker you catch and treat it, the sooner you recover.
*Ice had a weird ailment this past week. It felt like she had a marble in her neck just under her jawbone. Her neck was sore and it hurt to swallow food. I decided that going to the doctor would be the best thing although I have to admit that it pains me to hand her over to the inadequacies of the medical system here. But having no idea myself, and having consulted with a friend who is a nurse, I had no other choice. So I gave Ice 100,000 (Just over $10 CAD) rupiahs and sent her on her way. She said the doctor told her she had something like bangkak babi which literally translated means swollen pig. The doctor gave her four different medications to take including neurodial and ampicilan. The other two were just little white pills in a bags. The amount of meds people are given here is really astounding.... By Friday she said things were feeling a lot better. I guess maybe at least one of those medications might have done the trick... And she had 40,000 rupiahs leftover after all that!
* The other day I boiled up a 3kg chicken. It was enormous! There is an expat family living here who do a tremendous amount for needy Papuans. They have an "orphanage" for children who aren't wanted by their parents or who've run away because they were abused etc... At their place, they have pigs and chickens and gardens from which they feed all the folks they are caring for and all these people help out. I bought this enormous chicken from them. It still had the organs inside... So I cut off most of the meat and bagged it into 2 cup portions. I decided to take the bones, organs and the broth to Pak Nios' wife. I'm never sure about doing this kind of thing because I don't want them to feel bad or something. She wasn't there when I came, but Pak Nios was so I gave it to him and he expressed his appreciation. Today his wife came by and gave me a bunch of bananas. So I assume this means that it's okay for me to do this.
* This past week Mikah and Christiaan's class was priviledged to listen to a animal conservationist (I think that is his official title) from New Zealand, who has been to Antarctica five times. He showed photos from his most recent visit when he and his team studied penguins. It was a very interesting and humorous presentation. You just never know who you'll meet out here!
* We are still waiting for permission from the aircraft regulatory body out here, so that we can bring the broken Caravan that is still stuck out in a village, back here for repairs. There seem to be an inordinate amount of problems getting this permit. An awful lot more than there should be if you get my drift. Please pray that permission will be given soon as any time one of these aircraft is down it really affects our ability to serve and our program overall.