Russell and Eileen's Church Missions: REBUILDING AND STARTING ANEW

Early in the week we received approval for more humanitarian funds to be used for relief of the fire victims we mentioned last week. I (Russell) was anxious to respond quickly and promptly made a call to the local community leader we had met earlier, Pak Udin. My limited Indonesian language capabilities are strained under normal conversation conditions and over the phone it only got worse. As long as I was directing the conversation and he was just responding affirmatively or negatively things were fine. We had intended on buying sleeping mats for the families displaced. I suggested that to Pak Udin, but then asked if he knew of things they might be more in need of. As he responded, the conversation took off in another direction and only one of the two participants had any idea where. I had to get a local friend to call Pak Udin back. It turns out that what Pak Udin asked for was wood to start the rebuilding process. They were in need of approximately 600-700 meters of footpaths within the small village as they are building everything about three feet above the ground level (see attached pictures). The wood planks are put on top of a bamboo pole foundation. The cost of the wood was not expensive. I think Pak Udin was hoping I would get him a couple of hundred meters worth of wood. Wood for 700 meters could be bought for far less than the sleeping mats I had suggested that we could buy for them. He however, was focused on: (i) quickly rebuilding before the rainy season starts in October; and (ii) avoiding contention among his people if there were not enough sleeping mats to go around. It was inspiring to see someone so focused on helping his neighbor and performing his unpaid community stewardship. In addition to helping them obtain the wood they asked for, I will make sure that when we deliver the sleeping mats this week that there are enough for each family.

Haggling with the wood vendors over prices was kind of fun. Lumber yards here are a bit different than in Centerville. Business is conducted right on the side of the road, a road about one half the width of those in my neighborhood back home. While I went to the lumbar yard, Eileen found her friend with the newborn baby, passed out balloons to the kids, and sang songs with them. She found one woman who was sewing sequins on a blouse. It turns out the blouse was produced at a factory close by and the woman was paid to attach the sequins in her home. The label on the blouse was Fashion Bug. It didn’t mean anything to me but you would think Eileen had been instantly transported back to Kohls and was bargain shopping again. The people got a kick out of seeing Eileen trying the blouse over her clothes. Eileen declined their offer of a “fitting room”.

One of the songs that all the kids know here is “Di sini senang, Di sana senang . . .” It roughly translates to “(we’re) happy here and (we’re) happy there . . .” To hear children sing that song while living under a tarp on a dirt floor just a few meters from the burned out remains of their homes is thought provoking. I might look at the situation and find the singing of the song ironic or sarcastic. They, both children and adults, were enthusiastically singing and probably meant every word of the song. The same attitude that I find at times less sensitive among many locals also seems to provide to them a resiliance to adversity that is remarkable. Eileen and I have talked about this and decided that we need to learn from their example. We are going to try harder to be “senang di sini” and do as someone once suggested, “bloom where you are planted.”