Greetings everyone! It is true that ants bite..but today at lunch sitting outside our former home, "the yellow house", on the bench I was reminded that there are multiple sources of bites here...this time it was the bench which is split and the parts separate and are more than eager to pinch your seat. So far, no snakes, but ants, mosquitoes and benches are in this category. We have learned that the malaria bearing mosquitoes bite in the early morning and evening and basically patients who are seen with malaria in the clinic aren't from here, but are from some of the off shore islands. As for dengue fever...those are the ones that bite during the day and we have seen local cases of that fever.
Friday was my first introduction as an English teacher and it really was fun! There were about 12-15 students from the clinic...nurses, people from the pharmacy, the IT guy who is a real entertainer, etc. Always beware when traveling. People understand more English than you know! They were eager learners and before long we were working on phrases such as "I am" I have" I gave" in all the tenses and lots of nouns. There was lots of laughter and unbelievable, they want to return next Friday and talk about time. I learned that in the Indonesian language there is only one word for arm...and that includes everything from fingers to the shoulder!
Friday after work we joined a group sitting at the beach which was followed by a time at one of the food stands there selling fresh coconut milk/coconut direct from the nut. Of course I forgot the camera....but the mental picture of the young man surrounded by a pile of coconuts hacking away with his machete will remain. I'd recommend sugar and a straw. Jim paid for part of the group which resulted in everyone singing happy birthday to him because on ones birthday here, you do the treating.
Saturday AM we were up early for a ride as it was cool. We were loving it, and almost all the Indonesians had on sweat shirts or jackets. No wonder they can take the heat better than we do! The first round of the town was extremely frustrating as my bike was basically not ride-able. A few carefully chosen words and some good tinkering has it better. One of the impacts we may have is that the worthless bikes which were taking up space beneath the shelter at the clinic are gone and we have encouraged the staff to try to make sure their bikes are parked out of the rain. A shelter is also being built near our house which will house the bikes for two clinic houses. We still plan to put together a procedure for caring for the bikes along with an period of teaching for Eka who will be the one in charge when he isn't repairing our roof.
I can't remember whether I'd mentioned the hole in the thatch created by monkeys cavorting or not...but it it now patched as is a second one created in the same way. Perhaps some morning we will awake to a monkey in the house. That could be very interesting!
Saturday night we were introduced to a truly special road and place. There is a new dock not too far from our house which is sued to dock boats during the dry season (which is NOT now), as the water is too low at the dock where we arrived. The road/path to this dock takes us through a part of the rain forest which i VERY nice. Lots of butterflies, a troupe of monkeys playing in the sun, huge trees, a real jungle. The cement pier is very long and about 6" wide. A challenge on our bikes but there was space at the end for a small picnic for one of the volunteers who was leaving the next day. We tried two new kinds of tropical fruit, but our pineapple addition was the hit. We had to head back home as by 6:15 it is dark and we needed the headlights we didn't bring. Our night was capped by dinner next door at Hotlin's by headlamp and small kerosene lamp. The electricity was off and stayed that way until after we were asleep.
Sunday's event was waking to lots of ants in our bed....and they do bite. Evidently the rain has brought them out, but they were all over..the bed, the netting, our clothes etc. Thankfully there is a second bedroom in the house so we moved there, packed up all clothes we aren't wearing here i..e. sleeveless tops and picked the ants of the others that we do wear and hung them in a different spot. BUT the new positive discoveries are that one of the banks uptown will accept our VISA card so we don't have to worry about getting cash AND we discovered that the shower head in our bathroom actually does work. It is much easier to get the soap off when the water is coming down and not being rinsed off by throwing buckets of water at yourself.
We are continuing to love the people here...both the staff who are highly competent and the patients. I am enjoying helping Monica and we have started on a root canal, done lots of extractions including one by me (!), some fillings and I'm really great at holding my little flashlight as her spot light. Today we took pictures of some kind of connective tissue growth in a child which developed after a tooth extraction 8 months ago. These pictures will be sent to a consulting dentist.
Each morning starts with the morning meeting at 8 AM which is attended by the entire staff. Everyone has the opportunity to contribute and there is good participation. This is the opportunity, when translated, to learn about all work of ASRI. It is a continual reminder that the purpose of ASRI is to protect the rain forest and that the clinic a means to that end. Once again, villages who do not log, have stopped, or are doing less receive graduated discounts at the clinic. So there is lots of community pressure and support to not destroy the forest. Patients are able to pay with hand craft, primarily weaving s and carvings, but this really isn't happening. The prices at the clinic are too low for this to be as necessary as it once was. There has been some talk about increasing some of the prices as the clinic needs to increase its ability to self support.
As a reminder.....check out the web site healthinharmony.org which will give you some of the evaluation detail of their programs, annual report, news etc. It is really quite impressive! I believe I've mentioned that there are plans to build a hospital beginning this summer if funding is received. This includes receiving a grant from USAID which Hotlin and Kinari both say is a stretch as they have to convince the grantors to see the connection between a grant which targets health care and preservation efforts for the forest. Hotlin is training for a marathon the purpose of which is to raise money for a new dental suite in the anticipated hospital. This means that she is running by herself at 2 AM sometimes, 4 AM others and I marvel at her determination. There are efforts underway to obtain some support from a local credit union for more fuel efficient stoves. They would still burn wood, but use much less which would help with asthma, and, of course the cutting down of trees.
We found the post office and mailed a note to Nora, our 8 yr. old granddaughter whose class is collecting mail from around the world. Can't find a postcard here...no tourists here...Was an interesting experience. We waited for a handwritten receipt for the stamp!
Love to all... We going out for dinner tonight and the hotel to say goodbye to Jason and Nadia. They will be missed.
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