Life on the hill continues as though we’d never left.

I took Ice to the dentist today. The purpose was to pick up some false teeth that we’d ordered a long time ago but then we went on furlough and the dentist was on furlough... Anyways, during our visit they realized that Ice needed to have three more teeth pulled out as 2 were broken in half and one was loose in her gums. People here love to eat beetle nut (nasty nut that they mix with a powder which creates a red juice in their mouth which they in turn spit out-it’s also a mild narcotic – watching people chew this stuff makes me gag...). Anyways, a side effect of years of beetle nut chewing is that your gums are affected in a negative way making your teeth loose. Ice promised to stop chewing after I told her that if she didn’t, she’d have to pay for all her dental work and I wouldn’t... That was enough incentive for her! She hasn’t chewed it since, but the damage is lasting. So now we have to wait for her extraction points to heal and then get new impressions made and wait a few weeks for the false teeth to be made. I am confident that once she has all her false teeth, ergo a mouth full of teeth, her overall quality of life will improve. She rarely eats meat because she can’t and she’s so small she wears size 12 children’s clothing.

I was talking to Mere, Yokben’s wife, the other day. She’s not gotten pregnant during their 3 years (or so) of marriage. She wondered if it was because there weren’t enough pigs paid when they got married... I assured her that that did not play a factor in her infertility... Not sure if she believed me though...

I’ve also been talking with Ice about what happened with her mom – how she was accused in the death of a young boy. Apparently it was the family of the girl who was murdered just over a year ago that was being very vocal in their accusations towards Ibu Termina. They are still upset that there wasn’t a retribution death in payment for the death of their daughter. They keep saying that money can’t replace their daughter. Never mind the fact that Ice’s family had nothing to do with the death of the girl, nothing at all!! So this is the kind of stress that Ice and her family live with daily. It has affected the health of her mother and she’s been sick quite often since the whole thing happened. I’ve put them both on iron and Vitamin B supplements to hopefully strengthen their bodies a little. These events have had such a negative impact on the community up here on Pos 7. We really feel burdened to try to do something to help things get better. Praying for the people up here is a good start!