Bits and Bites....

Just a clarification. I mentioned in my last post that Ritha's brother beat up his sister because he wanted some of the 10 million given to their mother. Well, in actual fact, he came to talk with their mother and tell her to just let the two lovebirds get married already and stop causing problems. He and Ritha grew up together but their younger sister and brother grew up in a different house and so they don't really know eachother. The sister immediately assumed that he wanted money and started nattering on about how the 10 million was already "eaten up" and the mother nattered on about how Ritha had used it up (so NOT true as Ritha didn't get a single rupiah of that money). So the brother, who had good intentions, got upset as he felt he wasn't being respected and proceeded to beat up both his mother and his sister. He later spoke with the boyfriend and explained what had happened and that he thought they should just be able to get married already. If only the sister had kept her mouth shut like Ritha told her to...
So, moving on, the biological mother of Awi came and the family met together and it was decided that she would take Awi back to Timika with her. She and her husband both have jobs with the Freep*rt Mine there and feel rather important because they do. They suggested that later they would come and take Rode as well... You can imagine Ritha's reaction to that suggestion.... So the mother of Awi went to her school to get her released and the principal of the school said that Awi could not be released until the end of the semester. So the mom offered the principal money. Amazingly, the principal would not accept a bribe! So the bottom line is that the mom couldn't take Awi on Saturday but returned home alone saying she would come back at the end of the semester next month to get her. We'll see if that actually happens. Plane tickets aren't exactly cheap! But this at least gives Ritha some time to say good-bye and prepare herself mentally. Awi already told her she doesn't want to go and she will never call that woman mom, just tante (aunt). For now, this was an answer to prayer!
The other night at 10:00, Ice calls me and says that her hubby's uncle had been to the hospital because he wasn't feeling well and they told him that he had malaria tersiana and gave him some medicine. She proceeded to name 3 different kinds of medicine to me and asked me if those were the correct ones. I only recognized one, and it was a stomache medicine. I told her to give him tylenol and that in the morning I would find out for sure. She brought the meds over and then I brought them up to the clinic where the expat doctor just happened to be in. She took a look and pronounced that there wasn't a malaria med in either of the 4 bags he'd been given! Can you imagine?? So I went by the pharmacy and got him what he needed for about 30 cents. This is a real problem here. People are clueless when it comes to medicine and the people who sell it know this and therefore make them buy loads of unnecessary pills. The expat doctor here is training some people to be medical advocates especially for people from interior who come here for medical help. Not only are those people treated like dogs (I'm not kidding) they are used and abused financially as well. There is a doctor here who is very expensive and the folks from interior think that that means that he and the medicine he prescribes are better. But the truth is that he sells them the same medicines that they could get for free in the interior! We know of at least one case where a man's entire pension fund was sucked dry by this doctor.