Today sitting on the beach at Sanur I realize it has been
exactly 20 months since arriving in Indonesia and I am back where I started
here on Bali. I said my final “so longs” in Kupang, shed a few tears and extra
hugs with Berty my dear friend who is now a part of my family. I feel so
blessed to be able to say that I now have family in Indonesia, something that
never entered my mind on taking on this adventure. I knew I would make friends,
but never imagined what special people
I would meet in Berty, her mother and father, Chris, Augus, and Jupen. I
cannot imagine my time in Kupang without her. We said “sampai jumpa lagi – see
you again” when we parted at the airport.
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| son of village head presenting my ikat weaving |
My week was full of sampai jumpa lagi’s and so I include
photos here. I was presented with several ikat weavings large and small, from
the head of the village and his family after which we sat on their front porch
chatting with them asking lots about Canada. They wanted to know about farming
in Canada and if we tilled the fields by hand or machine, how do we farm when
it is cold etc. It was a heart warming afternoon drinking sweet coffee and sharing.
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| chatting on the porch |
Then off to see an elder who really touched me whenever I
saw her at our meetings. A woman, who is dedicated to her community, gets to
all of the meetings concerning local government and always has a mischievous
smile to share. She asked me to come to her house and was ready with a weaving
of her own and dressed me up in one of her formal blouses and sarong to pose
for the photo.
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| My borrowed sarong and blouse for the photo! |
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| Ikat presentation |
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| poster |
We finished our awareness poster in the nic of time to get
it delivered to the villages and one each to the health centres, 4 in all.
Thanks to Chris for his computer magic to get our concept into print and thanks
to my organization INCREASE for managing the print work and stands. We are
hopeful it will keep disability services and supports front and centre in the
minds of local health workers and their leaders.
We also presented graduation certificates to the volunteers we
trained to help people with disability in their villages and they were excited
to receive the certificate and a pin for their lapel from the City of Red Deer.
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| Berty presenting certificate |
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| Oesna Village Grads! |
I am going to finish off for now but still have more to share
about the last weeks in Indonesia so stay tuned. a Few more events to capture.
