« January 2005 | Main | March 2005 »

Pass It On

Only 8:40 PM and I'm wiped out. Today was my first full day back at work. This trip has changed me. I'm not yet the night owl I once was. I'm sure that will come, but for now I'm almost enjoying going to bed early. It was rainy much of the afternoon, and I was almost cold. What a different feeling, and a welcome one. I shared during chapel today at NSMS. Besides the K-8 students, quite a few parents came since they knew I'd be sharing. I had about twenty minutes of time, but ended up taking forty minutes. Using many photos of the trip, I shared some of my experience. It's hard to take a powerful month-long experience and condense it down to a half hour, but I think I was able to convey a lot of information about what is going on in Sumatra. The students, even the very youngest ones, were an attentive audience. My nine year old son came home at lunch and said he'd like to go to Indonesia to help the people. Before I started sharing, I was worried I might cry. Well, I didn't care if they saw that, but still was wanting to avoid it if I could. I made it through without crying while I was talking. I ended by showing a bunch of slides while a Newsboys song played, and it was then that I cried. I cried for people who's lives have been turned upside down, I cried for friends who have lost home and family to the waves, I cried for the loss of new found friends, I cried because my heart is heavy for the people of Aceh.

Still Lagging

I thought I was over my jet lag. Not so. I was fading again at dinner time. I made it until about 9 PM and then I went to bed. Very early for me. And, like the past several nights, I woke up this morning and it's a little before 4 AM. After taking the dog out to go to the bathroom, I came in and read Dave Ketcham's blog. It was fun to read about what they are doing in Banda Aceh. I've been chatting on-line with Jonathan in Meulaboh for the past twenty minutes. John, the MAF guy who took my place there in Meulaboh, has been posting some photos, and I took some time to look them over. That was a good way to keep in touch, and also for me to feel 'homesick'.

Jet Lag

Guess it's time to let you know where I'm at again. I just shut my brain off the past couple of days, and it was actually nice not to even think about posting to this blog. I certainly enjoy sharing with you what is going on when I'm in Shell or Sumatra, but there are days when one less thing to do is welcome. Today I'm feeling almost back to normal, and have had a couple good night's rest in my own bed. After being up for more than fifty hours during my trip back, and only sleeping on the airplane, the last three night's sleep have gone a long way towards helping me return to a normal schedule, and get over the jet lag. The past two nights my family would make comment at dinner, as they saw me fade away as I sat at the table. We'll see how I do tonight, and if I don't feel so wiped out at six or seven in the evening, then I'll be happy with that.

I was prepared to ride the bus home on Wednesday, but as it turned out, there was an MAF plane heading to Shell. I was more than happy to ride along, and I was the only passenger. After stopping at SuperMaxi for some peanut butter and celery, and then at the flower wholesale place for something for Ellyn, I was on my way. It was the last leg of a very long trip. Seven different air legs, for a total of over twenty-eight hours of flying time, spanning four continents, going from the steaming hot weather of Meulaboh, passing through thirty-two snowing degrees in Frankfurt, and then on to the high-altitude of Quito. The hour flight to Shell took me over familiar territory, and I was struck by just how much I feel at home in Ecuador. The thought came over me that I have only four months left here, and that I want to enjoy every minute of it. When we landed in Shell, and pulled onto the apron in front of the MAF hangar, there was my family. You can only imagine how happy and excited we all were to be with each other again.

The last two days I've been getting into the swing of things again--starting to work on my honey-do list of things that have happened while I was gone, checking on the network and computers at the hangar to see what I need to do, spending an hour at the creek in my kayak, putting things away and getting organized, and hanging out with the family. Meanwhile, I find myself constantly looking at my watch to see what time it is in Sumatra, and imagining what Jonathan and John must be doing as they run the Internet café there. Mostly, I'm trying not to be envious that they are there, and I'm not.

Smooth Trip

It's late on Tuesday night, and I'm finally back in Quito. What a long, long trip. Thankfully everything went as smoothly as I could have possibly expected, and that was wonderful. That made such a long trip just a little bit easier. About twenty-six hours in the air as I traveled across four continents. I went from blistering heat on the coast to the cool weather here at 9300', and have my biological clock off by twelve hours. Wonder how long it will take that to reset? I've been told I have an MAF plane flight to Quito tomorrow. Sounds like someone is taking pity on me, and that I won't have to ride the bus for five hours. The plane ride sounds great!

I just chatted with Jonathan in Meulaboh. Things are good there, and they continue to be busy. Actually, it sounded like things were even busier than when I left last Saturday. John, my replacement, will be posting some photos on the web. I'll give you that address as soon as I find out what it is.

On The Road

Passing through Singapore...

Signing Off

I'm off to the airport. What an amazing trip this has been. An unforgettable experience. See you on the other side of the world.

Extremes

I just put laundry in bag, made a phone call, and someone from the laundry service came to get my laundry! After doing my own laundry by hand for the past twenty-four days, that is too cool! To top it off, I'm actually cold from sleeping all night in the air conditioning, and I'm off to have a hot shower. This is all really too much! But, if you gave me a choice, I'd take the hot soccer field, washing clothes by hand, and all my new-found friends in a heartbeat.

Withdrawals

The Danau Toba Hotel is a far cry from the UN Base Camp on the football field in Meulaboh. I'm sitting here in a room with air conditioning, a shower all to myself, a bed with a real pillow, and there are no mosquitos. This afternoon I took a five-minute walk over to the Sun Plaza, a huge mall, to eat at the A & W restaurant. You might have an idea how good that root beer float tasted, but I doubt it! Then I stopped by Starbucks and bought myself a small coffee.

Of course I keep thinking about the camp and my friends back in Meulaboh. I just can't seem to get that off my mind. I know it will subside in a few days, but I almost don't want that to happen. I just got off-line from chatting with Jonathan, and it was good to find out how things are going today. He'll be running the Internet café on his own until Monday, when my replacement arrives.

I left the camp at 7 AM, and arrived at the airport to find out that the flight I was to be on was cancelled. The plane would be arriving about 8:15 AM, but they were going to do some maintenance in the morning, and then fly to Medan about noon. That meant I could either stay at the airport and wait, or go back to camp for a few hours. I just waited at the airport, because I didn't want to go through the goodbyes again. Just before noon I was getting hungry, so I pulled the can of Swedish meatballs out of my bag and shared them with Ted Landis, one of the MKs working with the MAF and Samaritan's Purse pilots. Ted cooked up some pasta, and we had the meatballs with that. Good stuff, and thank you to Jesper!

Last Day In Meulaboh

I've savored every minute of this day. It's a little after 3 AM, and I'm not going to spend a lot of time writing about it. Throughout the day I packed things up, and cleaned the tent. With the Swedish kitchen now up and running, I was able to put some of the food I'd been keeping out in the public kitchen started by the B-FAST team. Any food that is out there is up for grabs by whoever wants it. I washed the MAF sheet and towel I'd been using, and those are ready for John Charlier, who will take my place on Monday.

The Swedish-run mess hall is now open, and I ate lunch there today. I had the most wonderful lunch with some really great people!! Hungarian goulash, deviled eggs, Swedish herring in three different sauces, boiled potatoes, fresh tomatoes, and onions. I almost thought I had
died and gone to heaven. I'm glad that Jonathan will be able to eat his meals here at the UN base camp, and that getting and preparing food won't be an issue any longer.

Late in the afternoon Rahman came by, and I gave him my shoes, two pairs of socks, and three shirts. He didn't say much, even though Jonathan was there to translate. I think he was feeling a little overwhelmed. He tried on my shoes, and they were a perfect fit. He thanked me and then headed home. He wanted to put everything in a safe place at his house. A while later he came back with a bag of fruit for me. I was touched by his gesture of thanks. You know, when I was packing for this trip, I debated whether or not to bring those shoes. They were a nice pair of shoes that I didn't want to ruin, and I didn't know just how much muck and mud I'd be in here. But I figured I'd take them anyway, and hoped I could bring them back in good shape. Little did I know that God would prompt me to give those shoes away, something that was the farthest thing from my mind.

As I was packing my bag, Jesper, the chef on the Swedish team, came to give me his going away present. I had joked with him earlier in the week, that the only thing I wanted before I left was a meal cooked by a Swedish chef. Something like Swedish meatballs would be good, I said. Amazingly, he gave me a can of Swedish meatballs! He said he would have cooked that for dinner tonight, but because the French were throwing a party, he have the meatballs another night. So I packed them in my bag to eat when I get home.

I kept waiting for Fasrul to come by the Internet café, because I wanted to say goodbye to him, and give him my yellow Livestrong bracelet. Finally, when I didn't think he would be here, I gave the bracelet to Jonathan, and asked him to give it to Fasrul when he came by. When Fasrul showed up an hour later, I was so happy I could give the bracelet to him myself. He seemed touched that I wanted him to have even that small token. He had come with his boyhood friend and neighbor from Banda Aceh. Both of them have lost their homes to the tsunami and are now working for the UN in Meulaboh. They had with them a plastic bag full of coffee. We sat outside the 'net café and drank coffee together, enjoying our last few minutes together. As I was sharing with them some photos of my trip, their radio crackled to life, and they had to go.

The French military are leaving on Saturday also, and to thank everyone, they threw a party. This afternoon they butchered three goats, and then roasted them over a huge bed of coals. They had a table full food, including French breads, cheeses, tomato salad in vinegar dressing, another kind of salad, the goat, and of course, French wine. We all stood around for a long time afterwards, talking and laughing. Leif and Håkan, of the SRSA, pulled me aside and thanked me for all the help I'd been to them, and presented me with a SRSA tie. I was touched, and they gave me a Swedish hug goodbye.

Finally, Lee and Jan-åke sat down with me and we looked through some of my photos from this trip. In the middle of that, the lights went out, so we got up to investigate. It turns out the French had turned off our generator. This was to be the first night running on a huge diesel generator, which Lee and Jan-åke had set up right next to the French tents. They weren't too happy about that, and hit the kill switch. Well, after they put on such a nice party, we weren't going to argue with them about running the generator in their ears all night. We went back and fired up our two smaller generators one more time. After that it was back to the photos. Lee wanted me to help him call some family of his in the US, so I did that before we shut down the 'net café for the night. We visited some more in the kitchen, and Lee called him girlfriend, and then his mother. He had me say hi to each of them while they were on the phone. After that I said goodnight, and headed to my little tent for one last night. What's left of it.

Well, now it's 4 AM. That's all for me from Meulaboh.

Fast Flight

Today Jonathan and I went for a ride with Theuns, one of the Air Serv pilots in his Bell 407. Theuns stops by a couple times a week, dropping off or picking up passengers here at the UN base camp. While he waits for passengers, we host him at the Internet café and give him a cold drink. Jonathan and I wanted to get a look at the land between the field and town where some of the NGO houses are, because we're wondering what the possibility is for putting a wireless link into town. We also invited a couple of the SRSA staff along for the ride. What a great view we had, not just of the area we'd like to shoot a wireless link, but also of the city. We ended up flying all the way down to the ocean and back. As I am when I drive through town, I was depressed by the tsunami devastation as we flew over. But on the way back to camp, you should have see the grin on my face as we buzzed the camp and then pulled up into a steep bank! The ride was over in ten minutes, but that certainly was enough time to enjoy it. As usual, the local children enjoyed watching the helicopter take off.

At the end of the day, Jonathan and I left for a couple hours, going down to the airport with Hajar (who was sporting his new Pactec ball cap) so we could swim in the ocean. That was refreshing and relaxing, and I enjoyed both the sand and the surf for a short while. I have to say though, I found myself wondering what I would do if a tsunami happened. An eerie thought. There are so many people here who are still leery of the ocean, finding they don't trust what they once thought they knew so well.

Short Timer

The rain just started splattering on my tent roof. I have just come inside from washing my clothes, and having a shower. So it's perfect timing. It will cool things off, and I might not get sticky again before bed. Every day, about 6 PM, I put on my swim shorts, then take the clothes I wore that day and wash them. If I do a pair of pants, a shirt, and underwear daily, it's not so bad at all, and only takes me fifteen or twenty minutes. I have no socks to wash, as I have worn flip flops for the past couple weeks, trying to walk for a while in Rahman's 'shoes'. He's the one who asked me for my shoes when I go. He does all his work around the camp wearing flip flops, and I imagine that's all he owns.

Only a couple of days here for me. I am certainly looking forward to going home. But, I know I will miss the people and the life and work here. My time of a little more than four weeks is a long time to get to know people, and to start to feel some ownership in the camp. I find that I have become much more of a 'people person' here than I am in my normal life at home. It's not so easy to keep to yourself here, and much more important to help each other out and be part of the little community we have here. The French military is also leaving this weekend, so they are throwing a party on Friday night. That will be a fitting way to end my time here.

We stay busy enough with our Internet Café, but I have time here and there during the day to help the SRSA people with some tasks around the camp. This morning I started out by helping them put up a couple large tents. This afternoon ended with me helping four of them put rocks into what will be a septic system for the toilets. It was good to exert myself physically for a while, as that hasn't happened much for the past month.

We usually have about fifty people coming through the Internet Café during the day who use one of our four laptops. In addition, there are many more people who bring their own laptop with them, and either plug into one of the network cables, or use the WiFi hotspot for wireless access. So far we have registered seventy-three laptops for use on our network. We continue to get rave reviews of the service, and I can tell it's a valuable communication tool as the NGOs continue their work here trying to bring some sort of normalcy back to the lives of the people in Aceh province.

What sort of work is going on? I can't tell you everything, but I have heard of a few things I can pass on. Samaritan's Purse teams continue to pump salt water out of wells. They also have medical teams flying out in their helicopter, passing out chemical-treated mosquito nets, and checking people for malaria. They are finding quite a few people with malaria. The French military, and World Relief, among others, have been cleaning school where possible, and putting up tents for schools in places where that is needed. Other groups continue to distribute rice, oil, some other staples, and cooking kits to those who have lost their rice paddies or other sources of food. Altogether, there are almost one hundred non-government organizations, and UN agencies, working in the areas of non-food items, agriculture and food security, sanitation, water, health, education, food, protection, coordination and support, shelter, infrastructure and rehabilitation, and livelihood.

I just came back in from helping Lee (SRSA electrician for the UN camp) get the lights going again in part of the camp. The SRSA team is in a meeting, and a half hour ago the Swedish generator stopped. I didn't want to disturb them to tell them, but the lights in the 'net café were out, and in other parts of the camp. Eventually they noticed, and Lee and I went out in the rain to take a look. There's something wrong with the ignition switch, and we can keep the generator running if we hold the switch in the start position, but if we let it go back to the on position, it stops running. I'm not going to hold the switch on all night, and neither is Lee, so we switched everything over to run on the generator that the Belgium B-FAST left. They can work on the generator in the morning, when it's light, and hopefully not raining. Meanwhile, I'm left feeling like I need to keep checking for leeches. There are lots of them here, and they come out when it gets wet. One of the SRSA guys pulled seven off of himself tonight. I was out in the grass by the generator and pulled one off before it could start sucking blood. I've checked myself thoroughly, but it's still a concern. By the way, the wooden sidewalks that have been put in really come in handy when it has been raining for a few hours, and there are huge puddles throughout the camp.

A couple days ago I was introduced to someone from Banda Aceh, the provincial capitol. Banda Aceh was hit very hard by the tsunami, even more so than Meulaboh, the town where I am. At first I thought about asking this person if their family was OK. But, I found I couldn't do it. I was afraid that I would hear a terrible story, and selfishly, I didn't want to have to hear that. I also don't want to stir up memories or emotions, even though I know one way to deal with something like that is to talk about it. I did find out about Iberahim, one of the two guys who helps around camp. He used to have a house and a family, and lived very near the beach here in Malibu. His home was completely destroyed, and his wife and all his children were killed. He now lives in a IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camp. Then, when the Belgium B-FAST team came, they befriended him. I could tell he really enjoyed their company and friendship. It was sad when he had to say goodbye to them on their return to Belgium. He hasn't recently, but at first he would regularly point to the phones in the 'net café and tell me he wanted to call Sonia, one of the ladies from B-FAST.

SRSA Convoy

It's 11 PM, and the camp is still crawling with activity, and there is a huge bright light on a tall tripod right outside my tent. Late this afternoon the convoy of six SRSA trucks arrived in town. I know glad their things are here, as there hasn't been much they can do without them. They brought in a forklift to help unload them, and that was a huge help. They must have had about twenty metric tons of supplie delivered. What they will end up here is a setup much like a hotel in tents. They will host some UN offices, but also be able to accomodate twenty guests or so. I helped set up one of the large tents, and it felt good to do something that required some physical effort. The tent is the kitchen and the mess hall, and it's right next to my tent. Too bad I'm leaving soon--I've been looking forward to some food cooked by the Swedish chefs. Maybe I'll get my wish by Friday! I leave Meulaboh on Saturday to start my trip home.

News Correspondents

The past three days have rolled by smoothly, and somewhat quickly. I'm getting near the end of my time here. The closer I get to leaving, the more I look forward to it. Fortunately I've enjoyed every minute of my time here, and have never felt the desire to count the days until I leave. We've become a friendly little community in the camp here, with fourteen of us living here permanently. I say it that way because the past several nights there have been a handful of guests in addition to those of us who are regulars in the camp. But nothing here is permanent, and there will be a couple of us moving on by the end of this week. And, I also have heard the French military will be leaving the UN base camp on the 18th, but since we've heard reports like that before, we'll have to wait and see if it really does happen.

I was in the 'kitchen' getting some hot water for noodles this afternoon, and had a minute to talk to two Polish news correspondents. They have been talking with local people getting their points of view on what is going on since the tsunami. Obviously, the people of Aceh province are very grateful for all the help they've been receiving from the world community. One thing they've heard from a few people is that the NGOs, those who are helping with the relief effort, need to make sure they are teaching the people how to do things for themselves. The NGOs can provide all the help they want, but when they leave in a couple months, how will the people fare then? For example, they need to be taught to raise new crops, since many of the rice paddies have been destroyed with salt water. I was talking with a Samaritan's Purse person today, and they will be flying a doctor from Johns Hopkins around this week, and the goal is to teach people how to spray for mosquitos indoors. With that knowledge they will be able to continue spraying for mosquitos even when the NGOs are gone. Malaria is a real concern right now, and SP is also distributing mosquito nets.

I don't remembered if I mentioned it earlier, but I was interviewed for a story about the UN base camp and our Pactec Internet Café by a MetroTV reporter late last week. That story was aired today in Indonesian, and will air again tomorrow morning in English. I suppose I could get up early and walk down to Hajar's house. Hajar, our driver, has a TV, and that's the only way I can think of to go watch it.

The reporter for MetroTV was in the 'net café to check e-mail today and I had a chance to talk with him a little more. He was out at one of the destroyed fishing villages today. The fishing boats are either totally destroyed, or they are out of the water, washed up onto the shore. Some boats are maybe a hundred meters from the ocean, while other boats are a quarter mile inland. The roads to these villages are gone, destroyed by the waves. I've read that there are over forty bridges between Melaboh and Banda Aceh that have been destroyed. So what that means for the people of these fishing villages is that they can't get their fishing boats back to the ocean. They need some heavy equipment to move the large boats, and they don't have the roads to get that equipment to them. The reporter was telling me that in the fishing village he was in today, there are still bodies being recovered. The same is true in Banda Aceh--seven weeks after the tsunami.

Lingering Aftershocks

Aftershocks of the huge December 26, 2004 earthquake continue to be felt in Aceh province. A 5.6 magnitude earthquake occurred off the coast of Sumatra just yesterday (view map legend). Last week a powerful aftershock rocked Banda Aceh, a cause for much alarm in people who are now quite fearful of a repeat of the recent tsunami. Dave Ketcham, volunteering at the Pactec Internet Café in Banda Aceh, has an account of the aftershock on his blog.

Aceh In The News

o One in eight children in Banda Aceh are malnourished
o Indonesia may build walls against future tsunamis
o Second round of Aceh-Indonesia peace talks

Making Friends

For the past week I've been working with a young man who works for the UN OCHA. Fasrul comes into the Internet Café to send and receive e-mail related to his job. He's relatively new to computers and web e-mail, so I spend quite a bit of time working with him, helping him download attachments, make changes to the files, and then send them again attached to an e-mail message. He's a friendly guy, just as all the Indonesians are that I've met here. The other day he asked me how long I was staying, and when I told him I was leaving in ten days he was really sad I wouldn't be staying longer.

Fasrul is from Banda Aceh. When the waves came, he was on an island off the coast of mainland, and because there was high ground on the island, he was spared from the waves. But, his family lives in Banda Aceh, and they were not so fortunate. His mother and two younger brothers were killed by the tsunami. But, Fasrul's father and sister were not killed. He came back to Banda Aceh as soon as he could after the disaster, and moved his father to his sister's house, because their house was totally destroyed. Fasrul decided to come to Meulaboh. He wanted to get away from Banda Aceh, and he hoped he could forget about the losses he had experienced. But he found out that being in Meulaboh is not much better, and he still sees all around him things that remind him of the destruction of Banda Aceh and the deaths of his mother and brother. He says now he wants to go to Medan, on the other side of the island, to get away from it all. He his thankful for his job with the UN, but he would like to save up enough money to open a small store. My heart ached for him, and my eyes were filled with tears and he told me all this. So many people here with such great losses, and such great needs. How do I make a difference here? In nine days I do leave the Aceh province, but unlike Fasrul, I will not be leaving to forget what happened here. I want to always remember what happened here, which are the brief friendships I was able to make.

Sidewalk City

I woke this morning to find we had no Internet access. It turns out our batteries are not lasting the whole night, and when the voltage gets too low, the inverter is shutting itself off. When we turn the generator off in the evening, we are running our system on a battery backup. That system should be able to last for at least 24 hours, given the load that we are putting on it. The first few nights of using it, we had no problem, but the last couple nights have not been so good. We've made a couple changes to the system tonight, and we'll see if that helps. Also, we've installed a large voltage regulator, which will help us run on the generator when the voltage output goes up and down based on just what is being used in the camp. We have lights, computers, electric saws, fridges, instant water heaters, radios, and a washing machine being run on the generator in the UN Base Camp. It's not uncommon for our battery inverter to kick in and run the system on battery when the voltage drops too low. The voltage regulator will help with that, and give us a steady input throughout the day so that the batteries are fully charged in the evening when we switch to battery power. I'm glad Jonathan is here, since I'm not much of an electrician, but he has a solid background in that area.

The UN base camp was a busy place today. Every day there are a few more people here, a little more activity going on. They started putting in 'sidewalks' yesterday, and that work continued today. The last time it rained for a day, the grassy area in the middle of the tents became quite a mess, so this project is an effort to keep people out of the mud when it rains. More members of the SRSA team arrived today, and they are now at their full staffing level. They have two chefs, an electrician, two maintenance people, a nurse, two radio technicians, two information technology people, and an administrator. Quite a diverse and talented team. And, a team without their equipment. It's a long story, but their equipment should be arriving on Sunday or Monday, but truck convoy from Medan.

Jonathan and I are still doing fine with food, having some French army rations, groceries sent in from Medan, and fresh fruit from town. But, I hope I can eat a meal prepared by a Swedish chef before I leave. As I said, there are two of them here as part of their team. But you know, as I sit here and hope our food will last until the camp has a kitchen, my concern about food is so unfounded. Compared to some of the people living in remote locations north of here, I have unlimited access to whatever I need. There are still many people who struggle to get enough clean drinking water, and who are heavily dependant on the delivery of food by air.

This afternoon I was approached by an Austrian woman who wanted to know if I would read through her project proposal, with an eye on spelling and grammar, and give her some feedback. I was happy to do that for her, and it reminded me of my days working with the California Technology Assistance Project (CTAP) when I assisted high schools in our region as they wrote technology grants. In this case, the project that is being proposed is for women who have been displaced by the tsunami to be trained how to sew school uniforms. This will give them work for cash, and will provide uniforms for children who have none. In Indonesia all school children wear uniforms. Many schools have been destroyed or damaged. Children are going to school in tents. Having a school uniform is a small thing that can be done to help bring some normalcy back to their lives.

It will be a long time before things are anywhere near normal for the people in the Aceh province. Hear is some information from a report from SurfAid. The complete report can be read online.

Ujung Sazlang was the worst hit village yet seen by the distribution team. The entire village has been destroyed and the population is now living 2km inland in a displacement camp they have built at the foot of the hills. The tsunami wave reached this far inland and the residents are afraid to move back to the coast.

There have been six government food distributions and two other distributions including one from CARE. They have received rice, noodles, biscuits, bread and cooking oil. Some sarongs and second hand clothes have also been distributed.

Earthquake Strength

Scientists at Northwestern University have figured out that the earthquake which was the cause of the deadly tsunami on December 26th was actually three times larger than it was first thought. That makes it the second largest earthquake ever recorded with scientific instruments. Originally the quake was calculated to be of magnitude 9.0 and now the magnitude is being reported at 9.3 on the Richter scale.

What Is That?

The Swedes with the SRSA are building the toilet facility today. They started last evening as the sun was going down, working by electric light so they could work in the coolest part of the day. This morning they are preparing to pour the concrete floor. We will actually have sit-down toilets, something I haven't seen for over two weeks. Here in the camp we have a latrine, so we will be going from a hole in the floor to a brightly colored ceramic toilet. I'm sure those two local guys in the photo have never seen a toilet like that before. Everywhere in Indonesia you find squatting toilets, even in Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants, like this one.

MBI Reunion

This morning a group of South African women came in to use the computers. I helped them get started with their web-based e-mail. They also had a computer with them that they wished to use, so I scanned it for viruses and registered it for use on our network. Later I was sitting outside the tent, and I started talking with one of the ladies who had just finished with her e-mail. We were looking at the tent, and talking about ideas for making it darker inside (so laptop screens will be easier to see during the day) and also cooler. We have some outdoor mesh screen coming from the US, the kind you use to cover patios. Then we started looking out my living tent. She was curious about that, and especially to see how I had made a waterproof floor, which has the sides going up and over a 8" wide board. The floor of my tent is like a tub and unless the water rises to a height of 8", I'll stay dry. Then we started talking about the UN base camp being
constructed, and who would have offices and/or live here. At that point I mentioned that we had put the 'net cafe here at the request of Air Serv. As we walked around the camp, she asked me whether I was with MAF or Air Serv. I hadn't said anything about MAF, but she knew about it. There is an MAF-South Africa, and Air Serv also works there, and because of that she is familiar with them both. I told her that I live in Shell, and she knew where that was, because many years ago she and her husband had read the book "Through Gates of Splendor". To make a long story short, she and her husband were at Moody Bible Institute thirty-five years ago. He was going to be a missionary pilot, and she was in the avionics program. Before that, her husband was a chemistry professor. In the end, he decided he liked teaching more than flying, and he eventually ended up as a professor at Prairie Bible Institue in Canada. He is from Belgium, and she is from Zambia. Now she is a doctor and works against the AIDS crisis in Africa. When disasters happen, she works with Global Relief as a doctor on location. Wow! What a place for two MBI grads to meet. For me, the world continues to be a small place.

Wantok Bilong Mi

Amazing! I met a man from PNG today. For those who don't know, I'm an MK from Papua New Guinea, having lived there for fifteen years in the '60s and '70s. He came to the 'net cafe with others from his organization, as they wanted to send an e-mail back to their office in Medan. I tried to talk to him for a while, and he told me that he went to seminary in Medan, and is now living and working there. He came over to Meulaboh to see how he could help out. At the same time, there was an Aussie in the 'café, and he grew up in Bouganville. So the two of them were talking in 'tok pisin', the PNG trade language. I can follow along just fine in that, but when it comes to speaking it, I'm so, so rusty. Plus, after working on my Spanish for the past four years, every time I want to use 'tok pisin', all that comes out is Spanish. I used a few phrases here and there, but that was all. So I helped the guy from PNG and his colleague to send an e-mail with an attachment. I would speak in him to English, and he'd tell the other person what to do in Indonesian. Plenty of different languages going on around here. Every day I hear Swedish, English, French, and Indonesian. Oh, and there's also the local Aceh dialect that the people here use. Of course, the one common language is English.

I went on a fact finding trip this afternoon. There are two GSM phone systems that people from the NGOs have been using. The problem is that they haven't worked so well for the past ten days or so. You can send an SMS text message, but they don't go through until between midnight and about 3 AM. You can also make phone calls then if you feel like staying up that late. Then, the last two days, I've heard people talk about using a CDMA service that is now available in Meulaboh. It sounds intriguing to me, because I'd like some reliable communication between our 'net café and the MAF 'office' at the airport. One of the goals is to set up a long-range wireless connection between the two locations. It would be useful to be able to communicate between the two locations as we work on that. So I wanted to find out if any of the MAF guys or the Samaritans Purse guys were using the CDMA service. Turns out they aren't. After looking at possibilities for a tower, and at the tall palm trees in front of the building, Hajar and I left, headed back to Meulaboh. It was so hot, and I was so tired, I kept dozing off. I felt bad, as I didn't want to be rude to Hajar. There's not much we can say to each other, as he only speaks a few words of English, and I speak about five words of Indonesian. We ende up at the Samaritans Purse house, dropping off some mail for them, and then on to the UNICEF office. They are using the new CDMA phones, and I wanted to know if they had used them out at the airport. They hadn't, and didn't know if there was coverage out there. I really need to know if they will work out there before I go and buy two phones at $120 each. In the end I feel like I don't know a lot more than I did when I started. I did find out that the CDMA phones are capable of sending and receiving e-mail at a decent rate of speed, but I don't know if that part of the service is available here in Meulaboh.

I've been listening to K-LOVE on the web, and that's been wonderful. I used to listen to this radio station when I was working in the US. I had a long commute, and I spent many hours in the car listening to great Christian music.

At about five o'clock, several MKs showed up at our tents. They are friends of Jonathan, and they are working with the aviation program of MAF and Samaritans Purse. Each day they come in to town to play soccer. Of course, they also enjoyed checking their e-mail. Jonathan went back to the airport with them, and he's spending the night out there. Tomorrow he'll work on the Beaver, helping to deliver food and supplies to hard-to-reach villages up the coast to the north. He'll be an invaluable part of the crew because of his ability to speak Indonesian.

Population Increase

It's past 2 AM and I'm up late, using Skype and this fast Internet connection to call a few people around the world. I also made a couple tech support calls, as the middle of the night for me is the middle of the day in the US.

The number of people in the camp has increased in the past two days. More people here with the SRSA (Swedish Rescue Services Agency), which is the group running the UN base camp. Lots of supplies have arrived also, with much more arriving by the weekend. By this time next week we should see some big changes around here.

The net café is running smoothly. So smoothly in fact that I was just a little bored today. I wanted a haircut, so I had Alain, with the French military, give me a buzz. It's quite short, but will be nice and cool.

On The Beach

Before dinner tonight we went down to the beach with Hajar, our driver. We got there just in time for the sunset. I had been wanting to stand on the beach for a while. As I stood there and watched three men playing in the waves, It was hard to put it all in perspective. They seemed to be having a great time trying to body surf the waves. A little more than a month ago, people on the same beach were fleeing the waves in terror. As I looked out over the ocean, I thought of the many people who are afraid to come back and rebuild their houses in the same place. Hajar said many people have moved out of the area, going to Medan, on the other side of the island. He thinks if it wasn't for the help of so many other nations, that even more people would leave the area. Every where you can see people's belongings scattered across the sand. It makes you wonder what happened to the people these things belonged to. Were they swept out to sea? Or, did they flee to safety, leaving everything behind?

My Shoes Too

I was sitting at my computer in the tent yesterday, and looked out the little window beside me. All I could see were feet going by, because the window is so low. I recognized the shoes of Luc, the Belgian medic with B-FAST. But I knew they couldn't be his feet, because he had left. Then I realized one of the local guys was wearing them, and that Luc had given the shoes to him. When I packed for this trip, I brought four used shirts that I bought at the Ropa Americana store in Puyo--shirts that I could use, then give a way when I left.

This morning, as I was having some coffee and cereal in the doorway of the 'net café, Rahman came up and sat down. Rahman is one of two local men who are working around the camp. He pointed to my shoes, and said something. Jonathan, who was sitting across the tent, told me that he wants my shoes when I leave. I looked at Rahman, and told him I need them, because they were my only pair. Well, they are the only pair I brought on this trip. How many of us have just one pair of shoes? I told him that I have some shirts I will give him when I leave. That seemed to be OK, but he kept coming back to the shoes, pointing at them and saying he wants them when I leave. He asked me how much they cost, and I was embarrassed to tell him. He said, "You can buy another pair when you go to America." I really wasn't wanting to give the shoes away, but I felt a tugging at my heart that maybe it was what I should do. I tried to imagine myself making the trip back to Quito in my sport sandals.

With Jonathan interpreting, I started asking Rahman some questions. He is living in the IDP (indigenous displaced persons) camp next to the UN base camp. His home was destroyed in the tsunami, and he lost his six month old daughter, and another relative in the waves. He is 47 years old, and his wife is 37 years old. They have six surviving children. This man lost everything he had, and is living in a tent on a muddy field. I tried to tell him how sorry I was about his loss. But words aren't enough. We sat and spent some more time together, and then he went back to work.

When I leave, Rahman will be wearing my shirts, and he will be wearing my shoes too.

Survivor Stories

Elias, our VSAT installer, is up in Banda Aceh. He sent out an e-mail update a couple days ago which included a couple stories of the people he's working with.

Berna Bone is the MAF lady who has come and helped us set up a house and all this. She is able to speak with the people working for us and has heard their stories and related them to me. Our driver, Iskandar, used to be a government worker (well he still is but there are no offices right now). He was on his way to work when he felt the earthquake (the earthquake out in the ocean, near the shore of Sumatra was a 9 on the richter scale and caused the Tsunami). He said everyone was turning around and yelling to get out of there. He went back home as quickly as possible where he had left his wife and child. He found the door locked and from 8am to 6pm that day did not know where they were or if they had survived. He was wandering around town looking through the amassing collections of dead bodies, looking for them. People were asking him to help but he was walking around in a confused daze and could think of nothing else than finding his family. He finally did find them. His wife had felt the quake and immediately grabbed their child, went out of the house, locking the door and went to high ground. They were all safe but their house was destroyed.

These are the people I am around during the day. It is hard that I cannot talk with them and try to comfort them. They are very glad they have a job with us as their previous places of work have been destroyed.

Aceh In The News

Current news stories

• Aceh Villagers Refuse to be Relocated
  
• U.S. preparing to leave Indonesia
  
• Indonesia creates fleet of boats to deliver food to tsunami survivors
  
• Indonesia Expects More Aceh Peace Talks End Feb -FT
  
• A tsunami generation rebuilds
  
• Clinton Accepts UN Envoy Role for Tsunami Relief
  
• Tales of tragedy across Banda Aceh
  

Shell Day

It's a rainy day here in Meulaboh. This is just like a Shell day, and after the hot weather of the past week, I'm enjoying the overcast and rain. There isn't much activity going on in the 'net café, and after the action of the past week, I'm happy with the break. I'm sitting in my tent, enjoying the sound of the rain, and drinking a hot cup of coffee. Despite the rain, there is activity in the 'tent city'. A lot of lumber is being brought in, and being used for flooring in the tents. It rained again last night, quite heavily, so dry tents are going to be important in the long haul.

I've been told the VSAT site up in Banda Aceh should be operational by tonight. That would be great news, and I'm waiting for a phone call from Elias letting me know that it's up and running. We continue to get very positive reviews from all users, and they are extremely grateful to have this service available.

Good Food

There are about five people using the Internet right now in the tent. A few of them wanted to know when we'd close, as the sign says we close at 9:00 PM. Jonathan and I are happy to stay open, as we want to keep using the connection ourselves. Last night we left the system running all night, and the generator actually ran through the night, which I didn't expect would happen. I found out later that for that to take place, someone had to get up every three hours and fill the fuel tank. That's a small tank. Tonight, with the Belgians gone, Leif doesn't want to keep it running, and I don't blame him. So, when it runs out of fuel, if we want to keep using the Internet, we'll just fire up our own generator. As we do that, we won't have to worry about the system going down, because we're happily running on our battery backup. I imagine some of these people will stay here as long as we let them.

The tent city has been much quieter without the guys from Belgium here. There are a handful of guests staying here, so the place isn't totally dead. When I got back from the airport, the Belgians were all gone. Karel had given a couple photos of the group to Jonathan so he could pass them on to me. I wish I could have been here when they all left. I went through the kitchen area and picked up the food they left behind. Some Corn Flakes, powdered milk, biscuits, and some canned main course dishes from French military rations. Karel had also given me four packages of spaghetti noodles yesterday. So we are set with food for now. Leif says that his Swedish team will have some food services set up by next weekend. That will be nice. But, tonight's dinner wasn't too bad. Jonathan had a beef dinner, and I had two dinners. One was pork in a sweet and sour sauce, and the other was sausages and beans.

Gray Day

This morning I drove out to the airport with Melvin and Hajar. Rob was on the flight in, and I wanted to pick up the wireless equipment that he was bringing. I also wanted to say goodbye, as he's leaving Indonesia on Monday. After picking up some money for our cash box, groceries, two camp chairs, and the wireless equipment, I said my goodbyes to Melvin and Rob. Hajar said goodbye to Melvin. We watched the plane take off, and then we started back. Hajar cried, and drove home very slowly. Melvin has been a good friend to Hajar. I was not looking forward to returning to camp, and my heart was sad too. The Belgian B-Fast team is leaving today, and I knew they would be gone when I returned. Karel, one of the B-Fast guys, has made some close friendships with a couple Indonesian guys. I watched him say goodbye to one of them, and tears came to my eyes because I could see the emotion in this elderly Indonesian man's eyes. There are so many generous-hearted people here helping the Indonesians, and when the time comes, the goodbyes are not easy. The day is overcast and drizzly, and so our hearts are also.

Smooth Sailing

This was our fourth day open for business, and it was the smoothest day so far. The battery inverter is working well, and it's good to know we have a battery backup. It actually kicks in quite often, when the generator voltage drops below acceptable levels. Each day has gotten better, and that has been a relief. Trying to operate for two more weeks at a very hectic pace would not be a good thing. I can see us now settling into a routine. Melvin leaves for Medan tomorrow, so after that it will be just me and Jonathan. It was really a good thing that we had three people for the first week, as at this point we have registered thirty laptops on our network. Each machine has to be scanned for viruses, and then if it is to be used on the wireless network, we need to set it up for that. One thing I did quite a bit of yesterday and today was to burn CDs with photos for the Belgian B-Fast guys. They are now here a week longer than they planned to be, so many of them have filled up their memory cards on their digital cameras. I've been able to burn their photos to CD, so they can continue taking more photos. It looks like they might be leaving tomorrow, and I'll be sad to see them go. They are a friendly and helpful group of guys, and it's obvious that they care a great deal about the Indonesian people.

As people come and go through the 'net cafe, we hear bits and pieces of information about the reconstruction. There are people from all the NGOs and the UN who use the internet connection, and it's fast becoming an integral part of the rebuilding process which has begun here in the Aceh province. The shoreline has changed, and in some places the land has dropped a meter. Salt water that travelled far inland has covered rice paddies and and other low-lying areas, making them unfit for growing anything. Each house has its own well,and many wells have been contaminated by salt water. Some can be pumped clean, but others are in a zone that is now full of salt water. It is possible to drill deeper, and into the aquafier, to create new wells. That is a job one NGO is probably going to start working on. Another thing I heard today has to do with fishing. The earthquake ruined the plant where up to sixty tons of ice was manufactured each day. The ice was used to store the fish being caught each day by fishermen. Without the ice, the fisherman can't fish, as they can't keep their catches fresh long enough to get them to market.

Last night as I was getting into bed, it started to rain quite heavily. Before long it was thundering and lightning, and it turned out to be a very spectacular show. I soon decided to get up and cover the satellite modem, switch, and access point with some plastic, just in case the tent leaked. By the time some lightning hit nearby, I had pulled power cords, and also disconnected the coax from the satellite modem. I wasn't taking any chances. It rained enough to flood the field quite a bit, and some of the guests were flooded out of their tents. Fortunately there was a large tent with a wooden floor that they could move to for the rest of the night. By mid-morning there were a couple guys digging trenches everywhere. Our 'net café tent, and our sleeping tents were fine, as the last time it rained we learned that we should be prepared for the next rain.

Jared's Journal

I just read the MAF weekly staff e-mail newsletter, in which there was some info on the MAF work going on here in Aceh. I'd like to share what one of the MAF MKs, Jared Wiley, wrote:

"For the last week I worked with a reporter from MAF-Europe. I have been involved mostly with delivering food and supplies so it was neat to see more of the in depth stuff.

There is a lot left to do but, as I shared, the people here seem ready to take on the tasks ahead. It is still heartbreaking to hear of the losses they have endured but I feel very encouraged to see the direction things are heading. Every day there is progress and I feel extremely blessed to play a part in it, however small it might be."

Battery Power

A quick entry before I'm off to bed. We made some good progress today, but also had some hiccups along the way. With the help of Jonathan Dukes, who arrived yesterday, we were able to get the battery inverter working properly. Now when the power goes out, we will still be able to run the network and VSAT while we get the generator going. That's a relief, as it means we don't have to be concerned about what's going on with the generator quite so much.

This evening we weren't able to browse the web, and a phone call to the 24/7 tech support center at SDN Global was in order. They couldn't see anything wrong, so I reset the satellite modem, and that fixed it. We've continued to have trouble with the D-Link access point, and I can't wait to stop using that. I'll have another system to install sometime this weekend.

I'm feeling much better today. It continues to be very hot here, and that is draining after a while. Every day I find myself longing to be able to drive up to the Rio Alpayacu and go for a swim. I still have almost three weeks before that will happen.

Oh, almost forgot. I've started posting photos. They are in the photo gallery.

Broadband Connection

I'm tired and not feeling well, so this will be short. I really wanted to take a shower, as I'm so dirty from today. It's not a grimey dirt, but a sweaty dirt. But as I headed to the showers in my shorts, without a shirt, I started shivering uncontrollably. No use getting in a cold shower, and it was all I could do to grab my laptop and get to bed, while I clamped my jaw to keep my teeth from chattering. What a contrast from today when I was melting in the sun, wearing a shirt and jeans. My stomach has been hurting all evening, and I skipped dinner. I think I ate a bad can of hot dogs this afternoon. I'm sure with some time and sleep, I'll feel better. I haven't taken my malaria meds yet, and I think I'll skip that today. It's too late, and it will just make me feel worse, especially on an empty and upset stomach. The people who are staying in town are impressed at the lack of mosquitos here on the field, as they have many of them. We are blessed with very few, and I don't even put on repellent, even when going shirtless until the late evening hours.

Today we had many more people using the internet café, and there was a steady stream of people coming through. Some have their own laptops, and want to use those. We scan the computer for viruses, then enter their machines network adapter address into our system so they can access the internet. That usually takes about a half hour, depending on the number of files on their hard disk, and on how many people we are trying to get registered at the time. Then we have three Toshiba notebooks that people can us. They don't have to register or sign up in any way to do that. Everyone who uses the system is so impressed at how fast it is. Not bad for a VSAT and tent full of notebooks on a soccer field. We have broadband in Meulaboh!

After setting up the UPS last night, I had it running all morning, and I was pleased about that. Soon after lunch it started cutting out, and turning itself off. Jonathan thinks it's because of the heat, and the load we are putting on it, and I tend to agree. We talked about some possible solutions, and then he started working on one. We've been running on our own generator all day, and that worked well. At least it did until about 7 PM when it ran out of diesel. I filled it up again, but it won't run properly, and there must be air in the system. That's a problem for Thursday. We switched back to the 'city' power for the evening. But, about 9 PM it started getting flakey, so we shut the system down again. One of these days we'll get it right.

Elias went up to Banda Aceh today to get started on the second install. I went out to the airport with him. When we arrived he discovered he had forgotten all the tools at our tent. About an hour after I got back from the airport, and chopper landed, and the Air Serv guys picked up the tools and a couple other boxes. Very nice to know someone with a helicopter! By the way, Pactec is putting in these systems at the request and funding of Air Serv. I thought I'd bring Jonathan Dukes back to the UN base camp with me, but he had the chance to head north in the amphibious Beaver, and I didn't blame him. He arrived at our tents in the early afternoon, and I was happy that he eagerly started troubleshooting the battery Inverter. He will be in the country for two months, and he's replacing Melvin, who leaves this weekend. Jonathan is a student at Seattle Pacific University, and he's also an MAF MK from Indonesia. So to have someone here who speaks the language, as does Melvin, will continue to be a help.

First Operational Day

We got up just before 7 AM, so that meant I slept less than three hours. We had our first clients today. Not many, but I think the number of people using the system will slowly increase as people find out about the service and where we are. We had to spend some time configuring the network, and of course that didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. I ran three more network cables, so now we have locations for nine computers or IP phones to be plugged in. The wireless hot spot isn't working the way it should--keeps stopping and then we need to reset it. We should be able to replace that unit with a much better system at the end of this week. I'm waiting for more of the system to arrive here on Thursday.

We signed up seven users, half of them the Swedes, Belgians, and French here in camp. We had a visit from the head of OCHA (United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), and he was happy to see we were up and running. This afternoon and evening I worked on the UPS battery inverter with Elias. Near midnight we had it wired correctly, and it tested out OK. When we went to plug in again, and start using it, we blew a fuse on the camp generator. At that point the camp was pitch black, and we were done for the night. That's not bad, as it was 1:30 AM and I needed to go to bed anyway. We recieved a cell phone text message from the US, and both the MAF office and the internet service provider were wondering why we were off-line. Not much we could do but to wait 'til morning and tell them when we had power again.