Bits and Bites....

We had national elections last week and these types of events always bring out the "Freedom" guys. As I wrote previously, there was some violence that marred the democratic process here. In Abe, part of the university was set on fire. So helpful eh? Along the border with PNG there has been shooting and basic unrest. Friends of ours needed to go to PNG to get their new visa giving them permission to stay here. These have to be renewed periodically. They were going to just drive on the lovely road to the border, but because of the unrest, they were forced to go in a speed boat. Yikes, talk about white knuckling it! But they made it there and back safely.

About a week and a half ago Ritha's older sister-in-law gave birth to her seventh child at home with the help of a local midwife. The baby seemed to have trouble breathing and nearly a week after it was born, when it was seizing and unconsious, they brought it to the hospital. A little late really, and sadly the baby died. The mother has also become quite ill. She was experiencing high fevers and began to fall unconsious and tremble violently. They then took her to the hospital and there she lay, unconsious and trembling and the doctors told Ritha to just be patient and wait for their turn.... Ummm... she's unconsious and shaking all over.... They did eventually help her and she is still in the hospital but she is very yellow which could mean a liver issue. Apparently they gave her a blood transfusion yesterday. However, I can't help but feel that that is simply a band aid covering the real problem. Situations like this make me feel dispair for the people here. The level of health care here is so terrible. I feel that there will soon be six children without a mother. Ultimately it is all in God's hands and we must simply trust in Him.

This week our church has organized a seminar on interactive Sunday school teaching. I should mention that Sunday school here doesn't necessarily mean teaching that occurs on Sunday, but rather it means the teaching of young children about the Bible and faith and all that goes with that. So a member of the DVN (Dutch organization) is here teaching this seminar. Invitations were sent out to all the local churches here and about 38 people (all Indonesians) are participating including a couple ladies from MAF. Today I popped by to check it out during my free hour (Marc is at preschool and Brynne is at a friends every thursday morning). The people participating in the seminar are very enthusiastic about what they are learning and can't wait to put it into practice.
It turns out that the man teaching the course, Henk O., knew my folks in South Africa when they were dating and then married! Makes the world seem really tiny....