((Sorry for the lack of pictures. We are in the process of getting them back on))

We get to Padang and I get to have the same interpreters as I had in March. What a wonderful greeting I got. As per usual we have to separate the medicine to see what medicine we will need. John and Huise go to the Island of Manado, which is in the North East part of the Indonesian island group.

The Sakakup modern kitchen.

Ligna (Angil) -- Angela (Angel) -- Wati

My cook this time is Waty again and of course the interpreters were Angel and Ligna. It sure is good to have the interpreters go again as they do not have to be trained and they do even more and look after me better. One of the job description items it to make sure I take my morning medicines. I have a problem with blood pressure and I am now on a low sodium diet to keep me from having so many large kidney stones. I still have them but they get out before they grow very big. I have had one broken up by a doctor practicing to go into outer space with this laser gun. I had another two broken up by lithotripsy.

Our slow boat to Sakakup.

Anyway we get on a slow boat to china ……… I mean Sakakup. It is another overnight trip. We leave about 9 pm. It is that flat-bottomed boat that carries cargo and passengers. We follow the coast during the first part of the trip. About midnight I wake up and notice the boat is dead in the water. I was sure glad that the sea was calm. I couldn’t figure out why they stopped dead in the water, as they had never done that before. I think I went to sleep and woke back up with it still was stopped dead in the water. We arrive in Sakakup at 8 am in the morning (that is usually when the am is.) The next morning when we got up we found out an elderly man had died (and it was not me) and they probably were figuring out what to do with the body. I do not know if another small boat came along side or not.

We met a young man on the boat that morning that helped us find a boat to get to where we would stay the night. He found a boat and a boatman. Whenever someone helps you out, they expect some remuneration. It was only a 15 minute boat trip to Nemnemlelou. Yes this is a different island but a village with the same name that is on another island. Ligna, as I have said, is my silly attorney (to be) and she is always making funny faces, actions, and fooling around. You can check out the pictures for both the March 2003 and November 2003 trips on the web site. Then you can see a couple of those silly poses she did.

As I said before, Angel is a little more reserved but had her silly times. Angel also can flutter her eye lids jokingly. Now both of them had birthdays and are all of 23 years old. What energy they have compared to my now 62 year old body(?). At least I am not 254 or whatever I was on the 1^st trip but I have gained a little and I blame it on the medicine I have to take causes my molecules to absorb lead or something. I could blame it on my wife’s cooking (too good).

The boat pulls up to where we get off and we look at the next challenge. We have 17 cases of water, food, pots and pans, and all of our personal belongings and it is a hill rising maybe 60 feet or more, upwards. We first go up the hill and the person we went to meet and forgot we were coming was the first nurse that I had on Seberut Island the first time, Porson. Do you remember her, she is the one that could also be a preacher very easy.

Porson, our nurse Nurse.

Indonesians have a different way of saying no when you ask if you can stay at their house. We had explained what we were going to do and how long we were to be in the area. She explained that both her husband and herself were very busy and there was no room for us to stay. Then our cook made it up the hill as she was slow in getting out of the boat. When Porson found out that we had our own food and cook, then she said it was okay to stay at her home. I found out that not all Mentawai people want you to disturb their family life. Sounds like America.

Joe, Porson and children. Those at window are not hers. The window is open in the evenings so all neighbors can come and watch TV.

She said she would not be able to go with us as she had so many things to do there. Ligna went with someone on a motorcycle back to where we got off the boat. She did a couple of things as one was to let the local doctor know what we were going to do and if he could join us. He told Ligna that their medical clinics were doing fine and he or none of the nurses at the different clinics could be able go with us.

The first time Porson went with us we gave her all the open bottles of medicine and opened boxes of antibiotics and other things. When Ligna returned and told all of us what the doctor told her, Porson remembered all of what I had left with her the last time. So then she said that after she saw a pregnant woman in the morning for a check up, she would go with us the next day.

   So we got all of our stuff put where we could keep an eye on it except for 6 cases of water they had left in a house down by the boat. Porson’s house had two toilet rooms with bathing facilities. What that means is that there was a water storage built into a corner of the bathroom. You used a pot with a handle to use the water to soak yourself and to rinse off. The toilet was an almost regular toilet and you use the pot of water to flush it.

  It was unique, as I have never seen one like it. It had a bowl to hold the water for flushing but was not being used for that. No water hook up running. The bowl did not have a seat to sit on and the hole at the bottom was on the front side instead of the back. You figure out what you had to do and you would probably be right. You sit or straddle the bowl facing the wall when using it. The room was also the laundry room as the next day before we left the maid was doing some wash.

I got a good night sleep but Ligna was still kind of woozy from the boat ride. Fortunately I have never been sea sick. We ate breakfast and got ready to go but had to wait for the nurse. She had also got another male nurse to come along and help, so now we had two.

I think we left about 10 am. Off we go and the water is calm and no rain clouds. About an hour and a half later we come to the village Taikako, up a long windy river. We find out that the clinic will be at the church along with staying in the church to eat and sleep. This village did not have any electricity but is quite a large community. There is a hill behind the village and they have cut bamboo lengthwise, had it elevated about 8 feet off the ground, with a slow decline so that the water would flow. Then they had wood barrels to collect the water at the end of each bamboo piping system. I saw at least five of these coming into the village.

Where we took our baths, it came into the bathing area and no wells for me to even think of using. That was nice to see. The bathing house, yes, it was a house with a roof and sides made out of old metal roofing. The floor was large bamboo. So when pouring the water over your body it just goes through the floor and into the stream that flowed underneath. That was quite unique and nice to use. The door was made of small bamboo tied together. I forgot to look at what type of hinging device it used. I think it was Ligna that came with me and she waited out front of the house for me as the bathing house was at a back corner of the house. She kept anyone from walking around the house and see me as the door was only 3 feet high.

For them I suppose it prevented some from seeing from the waist down, but being a tall white man, it did not serve much of a purpose. I found out that women and men when in their own home will remove the clothing from the belt line up. As long as they were home this was acceptable. When someone came walking by, they would watch to see where they went. If someone approached the house, the woman may or may not go and put on her blouse depending on how threatening it was, I suppose. If they were to leave to go somewhere, they would put on their blouse.

We started the clinic at 1 pm. The church was continually full most of the 4 hours for the clinics. We took a half-hour break during it. With having 2 nurses and the two interpreters plus a couple of other people helped, we had around 500 patients.

We broke for dinner and at 7 pm we conducted a bible study. This time I tried something new. Since that one village had like the 8”X11” flannel graph story presentation so well, I bought a full, full-size set (24” tall and 30” wide). I donated a tri pod to use with it to the church in Padang to keep for us. Both children and adults were glued to the characters and scenery that was placed on the board. It was about how David was chosen to be the King of Israel when he was 16 years old and did not become king until he was at least 30.

About 10 pm things had quieted down and the kerosene lanterns were turned off and everyone bedded down to sleep. We had a small crowd as some of them had come too late for the clinic so we would see them the next morning. I think there were about a total of 20 people, I think all were women except for me. I got a good night sleep and morning came and after breakfast we treated those that had come too late for the clinic the previous evening.

We left there and it took about a half an hour to get to the big bay area again and crossed it and went up a very crooked river. It took another half an hour to go up to the next village, Monga Taikako.

Bamboo stocks used for sidewalks.   Lady came to see us off after the medical clinic.

We got to where we were to disembark from the boat and found that we had to walk on 3 or 4 bamboo poles that were side by side and tied together as a sidewalk. It winded through the marshy ground between the bushes to the village about two blocks in distance. We were taken to the church. Here it was Thursday and it is the religious day for the church. Someone came with a wash pan full of water so I could wash my feet. How thoughtful these people are.

Then a serious but embarrassing funny things happened. After I had finished washing my feet and a few minutes later, Angel came by where I was and I asked her, “Could you find out where I could go, I need to go and do a stinky.” So Angel went to a young man and told him of the problem. He told us to follow him. So off we go across a grassy area along side the church and between a few houses. Then down some of those bamboo sidewalk things and then turned into a house that happened to be the young man’s house.

We take off our shoes, as that is normal to go into any house anywhere in Indonesia. We enter the home and Angel motions me to sit down and then tells me that the man’s wife is taking a bath where I need to go. So we wait for a few minutes and then she comes into the house and Angel and I go out of the house. I was thinking that there was to be an Indonesian throne or an outhouse or something. Angel says, “I will close the door to give you some privacy,” and goes back in. I look around and there is a very shallow well of just a few feet, a board floor covering the whole area except for an area about 8’ X 8’. But no where that I could see was a place to go to the bathroom. So I call out to Angel and ask her where I was to do it. She asks and they came back with, “Anywhere.” So Angel closed the door again.

This dirt area was totally soaked with the rain and there was no shovel. I spotted a short piece of bamboo that they had cut in half lengthwise and picked it up. I began to dig a hole and the dirt was like clay. After struggling with the flat-ended bamboo, I finely got a whole about 9 inches deep, I think, while the urge kept increasing. Relief sure feels good but the circumstances were not the best. After covering it back up I went back inside and back to church. Nothing more was said about that.

This seems to be a very off the wall happening with very little meaning other than my body was looking for some relief. But once again, the love of Christians in this far away land is so amazing to allow someone strange, of being not the same color of skin, offering there private bathing area for someone to take a dump. Thank you Jesus for your love that shines through those that love you.

Back at the church a lady brought a cake that was cooked in a round Jello pan with the hole in the middle. Along with that they brought some monkey meat and a couple other delicacies that I did not ask the name of. About an hour later we took our place in the pews and their Thursday church service began (10 am). There was no warning of us coming so they did not ask me for a bible study.

At the end of the service everyone stayed seated and then they had an auction of those round cakes and bamboo about 18” long filled with rice. There must have been 20 cakes. When one of them came up for bid I whispered to Ligna to bid 100,000 rupiah and of course I got the bid as most bids were around 20,000 to 30,000 rupiah. They brought it back to the row I was in and I just told the Interpreters to give it to the children to eat. So they found a knife and the children had their treat.

Upon completion of the auction they all got up and left and we stayed there as the cook prepared for us some food to eat. After eating we laid out the pharmacy and a table for the nurses to sit at. For 3.5 hours we had a medical clinic. Then one of the church ladies came in and said that Porson had become ill, so we finished the last few patients and back to Porson’s house we go.

Porson's husband is a Mentawai pastor.

On Friday we heard that there was a village about 20 minutes away that asked for us to come to their village. So we packed the flannel graph stuff, a case of water, some medicine and off we went. We were now almost out of medicine again. We arrive in the village Silaoiran, and they begin to ring the church bell. The bad thing was that most of the men go out to do whatever they do and usually do not get back to the village until after 3 pm. We had a great time with the girls and a couple of the women of the church getting the children to sing. They sang song after song, some with physical action and some that I even knew. “I may never march in the infantry, ride in the cavalry, shoot the artillery, I may never fly over the enemy but I am in the Lord’s army.” Deep and wide was another one, and Hallelu, Hallelu was another one. Actually they say, “Alleluia, Alleluia."

After the flannel graph story, we head back to Porson’s house in Nemnemlelou. When we return we find out that on Sunday, the fast boat would arrive and we would not have to wait until Wednesday to go back.

So Sunday morning we get all packed up, leaving some cases of water, a lot of medicine, and head to the Sakakup pier to wait for the fast boat.

When we get back to Padang we now have a few more days to kill before returning to America. Both the girls had a birthday with Angel in September and Ligna was on the day we got back to Padang, 6^th of November. November 6^th, that was the day my youngest brother was born. He passed away in a pick up truck accident just about the time he was to turn 25.

Anyway, we go shopping and I buy both of the girls a blouse for their birthday. They kept me busy so I would not think of home so much and kept me from getting lonely. Angel would take me almost every morning to a internet café. It would cost about 5,000 rupiah per hour. That is about US$.60 per hour. So Jean and I would talk 3 to 4 hours each day that I could get there.