Selamat Hari Keluarga - Happy Family Day

avoc

Family Day in most of Canada, so happy long weekend to all of you! Our next long weekend is March 23rd and it will be the Hindu New Year. I have booked myself a nice room in Ubud to take in the festivites because by the sound of it, in Bali, this is an extreme holiday, the most extreme being that all goes black Friday night, no electric of any sort, no planes are flying in or out of the island, no cooking and children have spent weeks building large effigies of monsters that they parade through the streets to scare each other, but also to let eveil spirits know they are not welcome. Read up on it - lots on the web!

As for me, I have had several activites among many slow days - it all balances out; so here are the bits and bites of my more active, and subsequently, upbeat days.
A market shop that found me with an avocado like I’d never seen before! Large and of reddish hue. There is a lovely drink that I’ve had which is an avocado juice. Sounded awful but it is avocado blended with milk and sugar then drizzled with chocolate syrup. It is absolutely delicious! So, we will back up to Valentine’s Day. Began with Berti coming to my door with the most cute card of Micky Mouse valentine with a personal note inside summarized here, to tell me how happy she is to have me as her friend, giving her confidence in the work she does in our organization by letting her know that she is working in what I think is a highly professional manner and great work ethic. (She often doubts herself as some of her colleagues don’t understand why she works the way she does.) Her note went on to say that although she guesses my family and friends miss me, she hopes they will be patient waiting for my return because she and the people here need me. She assured me I am not alone here, and I should know I have a friend to call on anytime. I was SO touched - what a way to start a day and I look at her note when I have those days that I need a lift to carry on. She joined me for leftovers in my little sitting room, and soon later another colleague, Yeni came by and the 3 of us ate togehter and enjoyed my leftovers together. They laughed that us 3 women were sharing Valentine’s and I let them know that this brings memories of sharing a few such Valentine’s with my women friends when Don was away working. Thes young women make me laugh and they coninuously laugh, not matter what they are facing in their lives personally. Such a warm and fuzzy day with a love note text from my honey to boot! Now to tie this in with the giant avocado. I hauled it out of my fridge and asked Berti what to do with it so she proceeded to scoop it out and mash it with milk and sugar in a glass and we yummied it down with spoons!! It was scrumptious.

view from Farm School to the sea

students prepare land

Another day our coordinator took me out to the organization’s Farm School - Sekolah Lapangan Nakamese, built a year ago by the founder of INCREASE and now takes students to learn animal husbandry and crop production. The bulding is ultra modern and animals from goats, to cows to pigs and chickens and several plots of vegetables surround the place. All stock are in barns and clean pens. Some high school students there for a 3 month practical were preparing the ground for another plot of vegetables - backbreaking work as it is all prepared by hand and the earth is very solid and the last step is to break it down to finer soil for planting. It was a stinking hot day and they were working hard. But out there in the rural area in the hills above Kupang there was a cool breeze that in the shade was SO refreshing after a day in the city with not a breath of a breeze and 31C in the shade. It was also QUIET! I just sat and looked out at the vista to the sea over the forest and it was a moment of pure bliss. Reminded me of early days at the Newsham farm when we would work in our garden and I would just stand and listen to the quiet. Some students went and picked us some guava and they all laughed when I had no idea how to eat this fruit - do you peel it or just bite in? You can figure it out I bet or do the research. Happy to give them a laugh once in a while!

groups at work

community process

A day in the village I was witness to an amazing priority setting process by the village we are starting with for the diability incusion  work. At this point I am just observing and letting people become adjusted to seeing me there with Berti. A fully democratic process so similar to what we have done at home, gather community input ato set the next year’s priorities. But the difference was they needed quorum so the meeting was to start at 9 am but we visited and waitied til noon for the numbers to add up as many people were still planting in their fields. Then off we went with powerpoint reports, lists of possible needs that were identified in earlier meetings then 5 small groups, each taking education, health, infrastructure, governance or economy as their assigned talk to identify the top priority. (Berti told me it was good to see gender, age and professional balance in most groups! Everyone from the aged farmer to the young head master of the elementary school and young and older women participating.) Then the groups reported back and started yelling out why they thought it was a good one, others interupting to say why it was not, others yelling other ideas or needs as most important. So lively and interactive - this was NOT like a meeting in Red Deer Alberta. But they did arrive by 6 pm at their top 5, with all interest areas covered. One is a new multi pupose building - started out as a kindergarten as they have funding for the building but one woman called out that her local district within the village did not have a meeting place so if she donated a portion of her land, how about they have a multi purpose building and get more use out of it!! How is that for participation and cooperation? To get the funding they have to show right to the property and this covered that need as she is the owner. So cool. Now Berti and I are going to try to stick our noses in and suggest we look at a fully accessible building - “universal design” toilet and all - for those with disabilites. This will be a cautious process and we haven’t figured out how to start quite yet, although her suggestion of asking to hold a focus group when they start their planning might get us there.

Next bite is that I was invited Saturday evening to dinner with a couple I recently met at a local gathering spot for those of us far or not so far from home. These lovely people originate from the UK - Ireland and Wales but have a home in Sydney Australia but Angela is on contract here with the Health Dept and Morton is retired. It was an evening of memorable proportions as I realized how lonely I am for socializing with people closer to my age, background and interests. They invited another friend as well, started with appetizers with Camembert cheese! vodka martinis, follwed by a fantastic pasta dinner with the best vegetarian sauce you can imagine and real parmesan cheese! And to top it off - RED WINE! You can see cheese of a real sort - not Kraft singles and red wine have not been past my lips for some time! Great conversation rounded out a night that just felt like home. They have a real house with a real kitchen!

bar b que bananas

Berti

drinking coconut juice

Now this evening was followed by Berti taking me to the beach Sunday as she felt bad that I hadn’t seen it yet. It is a large stretch of sandy beach, the gathering spot for people, families, barbque picnics etc. Lots of kids in the water which is warm like bath water. Reminds me of the Indian Ocean which must be attached to this water. Will have to look back on my map! Laciana Beach is superb, clean and a place to get back to. It started to rain so we headed into a little covered spot with benches to buy fresh young coconut juice - vendor just punched a hole and stuck a straw in - then after split it for us to eat the soft slimy coconut inside. Not like we are used to at home - I think we get “old” coconuts that have dried out more and I must say I do enjoy those more. Then we ordered barbqued bananas - done over the coals of coconute shells, the fuel of all barbques here - and smeared with our choice of palm sugar - like brown sugar but better!, fresh ground peanuts or chocoate or grated cheese. Since I had overdosed on cheese the night before, I had the sugar with nuts and Berti had palm sugar with cheese. Oh my gosh was it good! She insisted this was my treat day as she had finally gotten paid! I feel so guilty letting her do this but it does please her and I find ways to reciprocate. Our stop on the way home was to buy fruit for my week and we found Tamarind pods - another great find that I will return to - sort of like dates.

So my friends and family another week or so in the life......
Happy Family Day whatever you do - enjoy those around you and the simple things of life! Sampai lain kali - until next time

Satu Minggu - One Week

A variety of happenings since my last post, so will try to re-cap without too many long stories. It’s a bit of a stew of events. Went to the engagement party of a colleague's brother, where family talks of the plans for the marriage ceremony; friends and family gather in the home of a family member who has the most space, in this case my colleague's aunt and uncle’s home. Everyone sits around the perimeter of a mostly empty, very large room - many homes are built with cement as this one is and it is very new and large - two floors. Plastic chairs are brought in - you see pickup trucks and even motorcyclists carrying a stack of plastic chairs on a regular basis as there are many gatherings needing seating in people's homes or yards. Then a meal was served buffet style and thanks goodness for my friend Berti who asked me at one point if I knew what I had just put on my plate. I said "beef" but the look on her face told me it was maybe important for me to know, so I asked the question. She leaned in close and quietly, so others wouldn’t hear, said “it’s kinda like Kiko Mrs Pam”. Kiko is her dog!!!!!! I had forgotten in orientation we were told that this delicacy could be on the menu in some areas. OMG! Well, politeness prevails when you are out to dinner, so finished putting food on the plate, asking beforehand for Berti’s confirmation of edible for me. Tried to keep my eyes averted while I ate everything else on my plate, covered the rest with my paper napkin and set it aside for pickup and I think no one was the wiser. Man, that was that a close one! I suppose if I weren’t the wiser maybe I would have been ok but so glad NOT!

Berti dressing Kiko for the outing

hangin' around!

So our next adventure was Berti telling me she was ready to have Kiko spayed after many chats about having too many puppies - Kiko is 2 and has had 3 litters already. Indonesia is dog capital of the world I think and she does love this dog so wants to keep it healthy. She thought maybe we could take Kiko both ways on the back of her bike on my lap but I nixed that idea and we booked a driver with car and off we went with Berti laughing all the way about a dog riding in a car and how Kiko took right to it! The vet clinic was just like at home so my guess is it is mostly foreigners who use it. No appointment needed and no clients/patients around so they took us at 3 in the afternoon when they normally close at 4 and did the deed. I was terrified that if anything happened to the dog I’d really be in trouble and started to doubt the wisdom of my education on animal control and care! But all went well and after 3 hours we were on our way home. Kiko has recovered well, with Berti keeping her inside for 2 days which is a feat in itself as doors are always open and dogs run free. Berti’s comment on the whole thing was that this animal hospital treated her better than she’s ever been treated when visiting a "people hospital". She said how friendly and kind these people were including the doctor. Causes me to imagine how health care happens here for local people. I am so very fortunate to know I don’t have to experience that if I need care. But then of course feel so bad that local people have no choice and have "white priviledge"

some of the health clinic Moms and kids

Next adventure was to the monthly health clinic in one of the villages - Oelomin - with Berti where she has trained a volunteer facilitator to run the local health clinics and women’s education on health. So much fun seeing these lovely women, sitting on the ever constant plastic chairs around the perimeter of the room, chatting and I'm sure comparing child stories, a tarp on the floor was a squirming mass of children from toddlers to 5 year olds playing with the few toys provided. Flip flops were kicked off and they squeezed themselves onto the play surface.

baby in a bag

Following a presentation by a guest speaker on HIV/AIDs - complete with condom demo with a penis model which the speaker pulled out of her kit, setting everyone howling with laughter! Then the weigh in of all the kids. A bar with counter weight hung from the ceiling and bags to hold the babies and step in cotton harnesses for the older ones. You could tell the kids were used to holding still and just hanging there while the weight was moved carefully along the balance beam. All records are written by hand in a ledger book- no laptops in sight!  A volunteer keeps the record, calling out the kids by alphabetical order. A few litle boys did NOT want to be weighed and kicked up a storm - but all had to be processed! The two weighin moms, also volunteers, tried to soothe the naysayers, even pointing at me to try to take their attention away, all to no avail.

nurse preparing slides to go to the lab

 Our director wants me to start teaching interview skills to the staff so that will be a task as I try to simplify and translate AND present with eough exercises (activites) to keep interest! Off to the village 3 times this coming week, just to get my face known and to hopefully build some relationship - so hard to do when mostly I can smile and make very small talk!! But, with Berti at my side giving me the cultural tips on when and how to address the Kapala Desa - village head - and many other tips to keep me reasonably polite, I should not stumble too badly!

village woman selling cucumbers at our door

So, that’s my week - lots of variety, still trying to get the language to a workable level but not there yet.
Time to go and cook up supper of some kind of potatoe - (I hope)  bought at the market today, carrots, eggplant that I’m going to stirfry with chilies, turmeric (fresh) ginger, shrimp paste and tomatoes. Gotta love all the fresh spices and herbs - lots of fresh lemon grass too, and mny things I don’t recognize!


Bye for now and “Sampai Jumpa” “til we meet again”