One year ago I was winging my way to Indonesia and what a
year it has been. I have just finished my time with my first visitor, friend
Laurie. We had a great time together as we always do, saw new sights for me and
for Laurie, Java, Bali and West Timor.
I was going to do a bit of recap of the year but as always
“every day in Indonesia is a mystery” – my constant saying.
Very sad news this week that the young man I
wrote about in my May5 Blog by the name of War has died. He never got to go to
his upgrading and technical training on the island of Sulawesi, which was our
dream and his. He didn't get away in May as we thought he would. Not sure of the reason.
He became ill in June and was hospitalized with massive water retention and over the summer
his father sought a traditional healer, then he was back in hospital this last
month and died of what sounds like kidney failure. I think more than his
kidneys failed him.
Laurie was still here, so she came to the village with Berty
my colleague and I to pay our respects at his home where he lived with his
grandparents. His bed had been moved to the main room of the house, where we
had all sat only 6 months ago discussing the possibility of him going away to
school. He was dressed in the traditional village wear and covered by a thin
lace cover. His family sat on the floor around him and the cries were what Laurie
likened to an Irish wake. It was so sad. Villagers came and sat outdoors of the
home under the newly erected tarps held up by bamboo poles. This was not an
event I wished to record but War deserves the respect of being honoured as a
symbol of all of those who die young. Like all of those young people, he hoped
for a better future and was excited to finally be moving forward in a life that
had stagnated after his polio at age 13.
Photo from May.
 |
| War Loinati: In Memorium |
War died at age 20 and it was the day the interviews to go to
Sulawesi were finally being held. He would have been on his way.
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