Language....

Languages need to be studied with people who are native speakers of that particular language. One cannot simply pick up and English to say, Indonesian dictionary and teach oneself the language. There are many nuances and special ways of saying things that one would never learn from a dictionary.
In English, at least North America, if you say to someone, "Oh, I gotta go!" It could mean that you just need to use the facilities, or it could mean that you have an appointment you need to be at." I remember one of our teachers in Bandung telling us about his first experience at McDonalds in America. He wanted to order take out. In North America, a Mcdonald's clerk will as you if your food is "For here or to go?" That confused our teacher greatly, how can food go?
Just the other day Ritha informed us regarding one of those "special" things. Hugo likes to say (in Indonesian),"Would you like a drink?" (Mau minuman?) Well, that actually means, would you like a beverage of an alcoholic nature? One must simply say, "Would you like to drink?" (Mau minum?) Notice that the only difference between those two words is the "an" at the end of the offensive question.... I'm soooo thankful to be learning from a native speaker....

Bits and Bites....

Living here one often encounters interesting labels...

Last Saturday we went with our friends the VDijk's to the river up in the army complex where General MacArthur had a base during WW2. Sadly, for us, the VDijk's are moving to Nabire on Friday where they will take up their final posting. We will mis them a lot!

Not a ton of interesting news to report otherwise. The loaner engine for our amphibous caravan finally came in and is in the process of being installed. The folks on the south coast here will happy once this plane is back up and working again!

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell about something about Christmas here. Traditionally the folks that are more well off will give to those who aren't at Christmas time. Last year we had no idea of this tradition and when kids came to our door saying, "Selamat Hari Natal!" and then looking at us expectantly, we were not sure what they were waiting for. One of Hugo's colleagues filled him in and so this year we were prepared. I figured that the kids would start coming as soon as they saw we were back from the village and they did. They came for about a week and I handed out about 70 packages of cookies. It was hard to keep track of who had already received and who hadn't so I always asked. I think for the most part the kids were honest and only returned because they were bringing a friend or sibling. It was a fun way for us to interact with the local kids on a positive level as opposed to us telling them not to climb the fence, please don't use your slingshots around our yard, please don't throw rocks at our fence, and please don't slingshot little squishy fruit at our kitchen window....

Birthday Party....

Today at church we received an invitation for a birthday party that was happening at 4:00 today! Invitations to nearly any event are handed out mere days (or hours in this case) beforehand. Not having a present handy, I decided to put some money in the card and hope that that wasn't weird...
The party began at 4:00 and we were there at 4:00 and we were the first to arrive (most of the invitees were neighbours...) and the birthday girl had just gotten up from her nap and was changing her clothes. Pretty soon other folks started trickling in. The birthday girl and her mom and some cousins sat on a couch with a lovely cake sitting on the coffee table in front of them. As each guest arrived they shook the hand of the birthday girl (who turned the ripe old age of 2...) and gave her a present or and envelope with money (making me feel so much better...). She gave all the gifts/envelopes to her mom. Everyone oohed and ahhed over the cake. Then the festivities began. There was a sort of "MC" who led us in singing a few songs and then a family friend prayed for the birthday girl. After that we sang a song about blowing out the candles during which the little girl, Zipora, blew out her candle. Then we sang a song about cutting the cake while she, with the help of her mother, cut a small sliver of cake. After cutting the small sliver of cake, she was then instructed to give each of her parents a bite, which she did. Very cute! Then her older cousins handed out goodie bags and her mom handed out little plastic containers with rice, noodles and a little piece of chicken and the party was over. What?? No cake??? Nope, the cake was not for the guests to eat, for viewing pleasure only.... That's just the way it is here....

Today is the one year anniversary of the death of Ritha’s husband. (I can’t believe that a year has passed by already!!) According to the cultural tradition of his tribe, his family must gather together at the home of the widow. Thankfully they all bring food and Ritha just has to cook lots of rice (bad enough as it is...-they cook on a wood fire). I hope tomorrow to hear about how it all went. She’s actually rather sick and tired of all the cultural traditions that seem to trump everything else including common sense.
Ice and I talk a fair bit and some of our conversations are rather interesting/unique. In her culture it is quite normal to speak openly about your bodily functions. Ice’s Dad built a toilet in front of their house, I think the refuse goes into the river below it, and as most people in her area don’t have a toilet, they use Ice’s Dads. So there is no privacy as to who is using the facilities, when and for how long. So when Ice experienced some difficulties after New Years, all her friends and neighbours were commenting on the amount of time she spent in the washroom.... For us Westerners, this lack of privacy would drive us crazy, but for the folks here it is just a normal part of life. Anyways, she tells me about these difficulties, and I call a friend who is a nurse and get the appropriate meds, which in this case was metronidazol (that’s for you Martina).

Bits and Bites....

* The big news is that the kids have returned to school after four weeks of holidays... I already miss sleeping in...
* I forgot something funny/not so funny that happened when we were in Bokinidini. One morning Christiaan complained about his earmolds so we took a look. Turns out, cockroaches like silicon... who knew?
* Last Friday the guy who had disrespected me came to the door to ask Hugo's forgiveness. I made myself scarce as I have no desire to speak with this fellow... Then he asked Hugo if he would buy some bananas. So we did. They are so green that I have little hope they will ever ripen... But we felt that if he made the effort to come and ask forgiveness, then we need to accept it.
* Our road, which we had such hope would be repaired, has begun to return to its original state... sigh...
* A couple who has lived in the interior and in Jayapura for 42 years working with the people, had their home and storage building located interior, burn to the ground this week. They were in the house and it was early morning when he noticed that one of the rooms was glowing... Their chimney had caught fire. It took a mere 15 minutes and everything had burnt down and they were left with their passports, camera, and laptops and of course, the clothes on their back. What a blessing that he was already up and noticed the fire! Look here to see a photo...
* Our amphibious floatplane had a problem with its relatively new engine so we are waiting for a loaner to arrive. First there was an issue with customs and now none of the airlines wants to transport it out here! Ugghhh... This plane provides so much service to the churches in the southern area of Papua including the Korowai area.
* This is an interesting website about trips to Papua...
We've heard from a friend who lives with the Korowai that there have been a number of staged "first contact" situations. This friend has lived with the Korowai for a number of years and laughs when he sees the photos...
* A while ago already there was a plane with a bunch of Aussies on board, 5 people I believe, which landed in one of the Southern city's of our island. The pilot had radioed the tower and asked about getting visitor permits upon landing and was told that that is not possible there but just to land and they would sort things out. (At least this is the pilots side of the story) When you land in Jakarta or Bali, you simply buy a visitors visa in the airport. You cannot do this here in Papua. You must come already being the holder of a visa. So these Aussies were arrested and have been in prison ever since. Just last week they were sentenced in court. The pilot received 3 years and the passengers each received 2 years and the plane is confiscated and they are all fined heavily. They are allowed to work during the day and each day that they work counts against their time in prison. As you can imagine, this is an incredibly difficut time for those folks. Our family based there has been trying to encourage them as well as witness to them. This is just another example of how careful we must all be when travelling to new places. Never forget that you are a visitor and that you must adhere to the laws of the land no matter what you think about those laws.

This morning I got up late... it's still holidays here... and while we were finishing our breakfast there was a timid knock on the front door. I went to the locked door and opened it to find a young man standing there looking rather nervous. I stepped outside and shook his clammy hand and asked him what was up? "Um, Ice, she's, um, her body is weak today so she won't, um, be able to work. Maybe tomorrow," he stammered never really looking at my face while fidgeting nervously. I asked him if he was Ice's boyfriend. "Yes," he proudly replied. So I told him my name and asked him his. I can't quite remember it, it's a Papuan name for sure. I thought this whole exchange rather cute as a month ago he told Ice that he was too scared to come and talk to me.

Yesterday Ritha and her sister talked again with their mother about things. It didn't go well. The mom, I am loath to call her that but I don't know her name, threatened Violetta with a knife.... I really don't understand how a mother can be like this. Whenever Ritha sees her mom coming, she brings her girls to the neighbours. She doesn't want them to hear the stuff that comes out of their grandmother's mouth. On Sunday Ritha's mom had come to see me and tell me that I should not expect Ritha to work the next day and to tell my neighbours that Violetta wouldn't be working either as Violetta has a big problem with someone and they needed to solve it. I had to restrain myself from saying anything. I can't get involved. I told Ritha that her mother had come by and it was news to her. She told me that she had told her mother that she had no right to be involved in their lives now as she hadn't even raised them herself. Both Ritha and Violetta have lived with other families from a young age. Her mother responded by saying that she would get Ritha fired from her job. Quite laughable really, we love Ritha and so does the other couple she works for and we would do anything to help her. Shows you how out of touch her mother is.... Please keep praying that this ridiculous situation would be peaceably resolved.

Today we had a dark and dreary day. The temp, as you can see, plunged to a mere 25.5 C. So what do you do on a day like that?

You make tortillas and play with Lego!

Ritha, my wonderful sometimes helper and always friend, is going through a rough time of things right now. Her younger sister has been dating a guy for about a year now. This guy actually has a job with one of the mission aviation groups here and doesn't smoke and doesn't get drunk. He is a member of the same people group and church as Violetta. But they are not ready to get married yet. Violetta would like to finish her schooling first. Now Ritha and Violetta's mom lives here now. She was living in Wamena, but has decided to settle down here. She took her youngest son with, Josef who is 15, and he lives with Ritha and Violetta and contributes to their household with his earnings from yard work. The three of them work hard, study hard and are committed believers. For some reason, their mother has decided that Violetta and her guy need to either get married now or break up. From what I understand, in either situation, she would get money.... It seems that that would be her primary motivation... sadly... And for some reason, she doesn't seem to like this guy. Ritha supports her sister and was arguing with her mother about the whole situation when her mother yells at her, "What do you have to say? You're not even Violetta's sister!" What??? It turns out that Violetta and Josef have a different father than Ritha. I've always wondered why Violetta and Josef look so much alike and Ritha so different... In additiona, Ritha and Violetta were raised by people not their parents! Ritha's mom was her dad's second wife and they got divorced and he went back to his first wife... I think that makes the picture a little clearer... What right does this woman have to try to arrange her daughters life? In this culture, both families need to agree on a marriage in order for it to happen. It really doesn't matter what the couple in love thinks... Please remember these girls in your prayers. They really are wonderful women and a great example to all around them!

Ice and her boyfriend would like to get married. Ice's dad and uncles would like her to get married. But Ice's boyfriends family is not that wealthy and say that they can only pay the dowry for kawin. Kawin is when a couple moves in together. This is a lot cheaper for the families and in the event of a separation, no legal paperwork is necessary. Very convenient. Ice herself and her boyfriend have discussed together that they would only like to be married once in their lives. Ice has no desire to divorce like her mother did twice. I actually showed her from the Bible how God does not like divorce and other advice given by Paul regarding marriage.
Marriage here is not the sacred pact with the couple and God that it should be. People divorce, or move out, and move on rather easily. If they aren't having babies with one partner, they move on and hope another will give them children (for example). As you can imagine, and have seen in our own country, this creates a lot of mixed and broken families.

Today we said good-bye to Hugo's parents. It was so nice to visit with family and to have them experience some of what our life here is like.

Earlier in the week we went to General McArthur's lookout. Of course the monument with the covered picnic area was closed... but we had a mat in our car and made do at a different lookout spot.

On New Years day one of the ladies on base organized a water balloon fun afternoon. The eight kids from the new school Pelita Harapan (kids from a village interior are brought here to go to a school run by expats) also came. They were pretty excited to be a part of this and some had their very first juice box ever that afternoon.

On the homefront we are on the third week of the kdis Christmas break. They aren't too bored yet...

Last weekend we finished installing a water tank along our fence. We put a tap through the fence so that anyone who needs water can just get some. So far this new system seems to be working quite well. It is a lot less stressful than having everyone come up to our door all day long. There is a school nearby and often when the kids are on their way home they are thirsty and would like a drink. Now they can help themselves. I feel bad for these kids as they aren't sent to school with a drink and a snack like our kids... As far as I know there is no drinking water available at the school either. One day I hope to make a visit to the school and check things out.

Episode 4.... Finally....

Christmas dinner... I roasted two little market chickens and they turned out rather lovely. I had also found nice broccoli a few weeks before, paid a small fortune for it, and then prayed it wouldn't taste fishy... it didn't! Whew...

We went on a hike one morning.
You can see the runway at the base of the mountain.

It is hard to see, but on this photo there are two runways. The one in Bokindini and on the far right in the middle is the runway from another village.
This is Elu a recent graduate of the Netaikan program. One of his responsibilities is to keep the hydro electric system running. Not an easy task as it was installed by MAF about 50 years ago! This system provides electricity to the entire village and frequently needs repair.

http://www.eduventure.net/netaiken.htm

Check out the link above to learn more about this neat program. It was so encouraging for us to visit with some of the folks that run this program and meet some of the students, people from villages in the interior of Papua, and speak English with them! The education system here is really lacking. In the interior it is terrible. Kids are lucky if they get one month of teaching a semester. The netaiken program is an incredibly valuable tool in giving Papuans, considered the lowest level in the caste system of Indonesia, self-esteem, Biblical teaching (Biblical teaching here is also severly lacking and limited to a few commands such as - don't chew betel nut or get drunk) and practical skills they can use to get a job or start a business.

Then on Saturday morning Clarence Togeretz came in a Cessna Caravan to bring us home. This was our view for the first part of the flight....
And then, suddenly we were out of the clouds.
And there is good 'ole Lake Sentani. Home again!

Earthquake...

Today there were a series of earthquakes in the bird's head of Papua. You can read about it here: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gCeFe6qrUA2J6TpqBUjMoyp8nthAD95G7KPG4
or here:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jOQtxsEeANolQFSidsAXr_XkrnRA

We have a single family base there. They report that there is minimal damage to their buildings and home and actually surprisingly little damage in town. Our pilot there figured the runway was not damaged but according to the news article it is. Also, according to our pilot there are two hotels that have collapsed and a third sustained some damage. They said that the third earthquake was so strong that it knocked them off their feet. They were outside at the time. At this point there is no word on the situation interior.

Happy New Year!!

Just wanted to wish all of my faithful readers a blessed New Year! May this year bring you many opportunities to work for the glory of the kingdom of God!

Yesterday we attended our church at 5:00 for a New Years eve service after which there was cake and pop. Then we headed home with our Dutch friends and laid out a table of olliebollen and other goodies. Ritha, her girls, and her sister came by as well and we let of a bunch of fireworks and played with sparklers. We barely managed to stay awake until 12:00 to ring in the new year together... They have an expression here about staying up: tahan (to last - such as a good quality item lasts longer than an item of no quality) mata (eye). Tahan mata.
Sorry, I didn't take any photos... there was a lot of smoke so they wouldn't have been any good anyways... I have to admit that I was very thankful that our bedroom has glass windows and that we have an airconditioner. It was very, very noisy outside last night. Lots of music, fireworks/crackers, carbite bombs and people banging on the metal light poles.
Later I'll do the next post about our trip to Bokindini... when I can use MAF internet again instead of dial-up....