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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.