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Little Bit Of Progress

I've been in Medan, Sumatra since 9 AM this morning. My flight from Newark to Singapore was long--over seventeen hours long! I managed to sleep a few hours, which for me was good. I normally don't sleep well on planes. The route took us up past Iceland, north of the United Kingdom, over Stockholm and then Russia, over Kabul, a dogleg over India, past Delhi, and then across the Bay of Bengal to Singapore, Malaysia. Most of the flight was in the dark, but there were a few short hours of daylight as we were north of the United Kingdom. I had an hour to myself in the Singapore airline, and I used that to instant message with Dustin and send a few e-mails. Before I was done, the power went out at the free internet station, and my session was cut short. I was using my own laptop, so no problem there, but the hub I was plugged into lost power, so I lost my connection.

An hour after leaving Singapore I was in Medan. As we taxied up to the terminal I could see a handful of planes loading and unloading supplies to be taken over to Aceh Banda and Meulaboh. Walking down the stairs off the plane I could feel the humidity, even though at 9 AM it wasn't too warm just yet. Oh, I should say I'm 12 hours ahead of EST and Shell. So it's easy for me to tell what time it is back home.

Inside the terminal I headed for the Immigration line, but was then pointed to the Visitor Visa office in the other corner, where I could change $25 and get a 30-day visa. As I walked toward the window, the man there pointed me back to an immigration office door. The man there pointed me around the corner to another door, past the Immigration line. That didn't seem right, so I turned around, and saw quite a few other people from my flight headed toward the Visitor Visa window. Once I got there, we all realized that relief workers didn't need to pay for a visa. While I was waiting to find that out, I met the father of Taylor's third grade teacher, who is here with World Relief. His son-in-law told I might see him over here, but I really didn't think it would happen--small world! So, finally I'm at the Immigration counter. The guy there seemed confused that I didn't have a 30-day visa. C'mon, it's as though they aren't all on the same page. So as he's trying to decide what to do with me, I wave past him to Karen Chase, the MAF person waiting for me. He looked around, saw her, and said, "Oh, she's your friend? No problem." A minute later he stamped by passport and I was through. Karen took a couple passport photos that I had brought with me, and got me the small blue travel book with my photo in it. This gives me permission to travel in Aceh province. After that I picked up my duffle, which was in great shape. That was good, since it had the satellite IP modem in it.

I spent the morning with Rod Longhurst, and he brought me up to speed on what's been going on for the past two weeks. It's been a very difficult time, with little progress being made. As far as materials and equipment goes, they're set. It's just finding a place to set things up, and also suitable housing. By Friday afternoon, they were quite discouraged, and seriously thought about throwing in the towel. The offer of housing for equipment and people at the UN compound in Meulaboh was reneged on, but as of today the offer is on again. Rob, Melvin, and Elias have already cemented a post in place for the satellite dish, but will have to abandon that one and put another one in where the new housing is. Then, a couple days ago they had the satellite dish on the Cessna Caravan going to Banda Ache. At the last minute, the offer for a location there fell through. Although the plane was already in the landing pattern to land, it was called back to Medan, a two and a half hour flight. Five hours of flight time down the tubes. Today, Pactec president, Paul Abbot, and the Air Serv president went to see the UN people in Banda Aceh to secure a location there. It was good meetings, and if all goes well, we'll have a location there for us. So, the install of the first system in Meulaboh will likely take place on Monday or Tuesday, and then a week later for the second system.

So, I'm off to get some sleep. It's been fifty-two hours since I got up in Quito to begin my trip, and I'm looking forward to sleeping in a bed.