Russell and Eileen's Church Missions: January 2013

Sunday, January 27, 2013

AND THE CLEANUP BEGINS

Last week I (Eileen) was notified that a group was looking for someone that could help teach hygiene to an area that was hard hit by the floods. I volunteered and we went with our puppet show to the area of Kampung Melayu to teach about the basics of health and hygiene. As we arrived at the grade school we saw that the playground was covered with mud and workers were washing off desks with hoses. The children were sitting at their desks smiling and waving at us eager to see visitors. The school normally has 125 children. Friday was the first day in 2 weeks that school had been held. I asked how many children had homes that had been flooded. The teacher responded that all had been flooded. She showed me the line on the wall where the floodwaters had reached in the school. It appeared to be have been about 8 feet high.

We taught several puppet shows in Indonesian that included the importance of proper hand washing and washing your food before eating it. We had the children use the analogy of glitter for germs and I showed them how they could pass germs from one person to another by shaking hands. Then they tried to wash the glitter off by dipping their hands in water. It didn’t come off! It was only when they scrubbed hard with soap that all the glitter (germs) would come off. Initially the children weren’t sure what to do with a bar of soap. Perhaps they are used to liquid soap. I also discussed how although it might be fun, the children could get stomachaches and skin infections from playing in the floodwater. We had seen many children swimming in the floodwaters a few days before. The rainwater was probably mixed with sewage. A professional storyteller came in and re-emphasized the points that I had made on hygiene and also brought Angry Bird in with him. The children seemed to have fun and we gave out treats and rewards at the end. It was all very moving to see children happy despite having so little. On the way home we saw families living below the overpasses of the freeway. It is hard to know how best to reach all the needs here in Indonesia. We are hoping that we may be guided by God to know how best to use the resources under our stewardship to help those in dire need.

BROTHER AND SISTER SUNARDI SHOW US WHERE THE WATER WAS IN THEIR HOME

ARI AND TATOK BRING SUPPLIES TO NEIGHBORHOOD BY JL. DAAN MOGOT

CLEANING OUT THE RIVER BENEATH THE RAILROAD TRACKS BESIDE OUR MEMBER'S HOME

OOPS, MAYBE SHOULDN'T HAVE GONE THERE

CLEANING OFF THE MUD AT SCHOOL

TEACHER WITH CLASSROOM, NOTICE THE BROWN WATER LINE ABOVE THE GREEN LINE

THIS ONCE WAS PLAYGROUND, NOW WITH 5-6 INCHES OF MUD, THOSE ARE GOAL POSTS FOR SOCCER

INTRODUCING VERN THE VIRUS

SCHOOLCHILDREN

THIS STORYTELLER WAS FABULOUS

PLAYING ANIMALS OF THE ECO-SYSTEM

GIVING OUT PRIZES

IT'S ONLY A BALLOON AND KEYCHAIN

BLOCKING THE STREET SO WE CAN'T GET BY

JESS MORGAN IN RED AND BLUE SHIRT, HIS BROTHER IN BLUE, REPORTER FROM THE STRAITS TIMES,

GARBAGE CLEAN-UP FROM FLOOD

PEOPLE TAKING REFUGE UNDER THE OVERPASS

WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN WITH ALL THE REFUSE?

PEOPLE WAITING TO GO HOME

NO HOME BUT UNDER THE OVERPASS

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

FLOODING OF JAKARTA

These are some pictures taken off the internet of the flooding of Jakarta. I believe these were the names of the photographers. Achmad Ibraham, Ed Wray, Adek Barry, Ulet Ifunasat, Bay Ismoyo. All pictures shared courtesy of EPA, Reuters and AP. I thank them for showing us a greater insight into what is happening in Jakarta.

LIVING UNDER THE UNDERPASS

GOING TO WORK

SAVING THE CHILDREN FROM THE WATERS

Sunday, January 20, 2013

RAINS CAME DOWN AND FLOODS CAME UP

It has been raining almost constantly with severe lightning storms in Jakarta since January 4^th one day after our friends the Beamans left. We don’t usually watch local news so the first awareness that we had that there was any flooding in Jakarta was last Wednesday, Jan, 16^th. We had a meeting scheduled at our office with two different groups. One group had arrived and the other party texted us and told us that she had already spent 2 hours in a taxi and still was a long ways from the office. After waiting for another 2 hours the third party never arrived and we postponed the meeting. When we went home later that evening we turned on the news and were astonished at what we saw. Pictures of streets that were flooded and people being evacuated from their homes were abundant on the television news. Where we lived there was heavy rain but no flooding. It was strange to feel that we were so unaware of what was going on in the very city we lived in.

Thursday Russell decided to go and try to find out the needs of the people that had been evacuated from their homes. He was unable to get a taxi. We have no access to a car, and a bajai would not take him. After 30 minutes in the rain trying unsuccessfully to get appropriate transportation he hopped on to the back of an “ojek” or motorcycle taxi. The driver took some back roads to avoid the flooding and was able to get Russell to a building right across from one flooded area. Russell was able to talk to the “camat” or man in charge of the area. There were almost a 1,000 people housed in this particular building. The camat said they desperately needed food for the people. Friday on the news we heard that over 23,000 people had been displaced from their homes. Over 16 people had died, either from electrocution or drowning. We quickly put together some supplies purchased with humanitarian funds from our church and headed towards the East Jakarta Sports Complex where some of the refugees from the flooding had been housed. We brought with us 3 tons of rice, 10,000 packets of mie (or noodles), a substantial amount of baby milk, 1,050 hygiene kits which included towel, soap, shampoo, 4 toothbrushes, toothpaste, and a blanket. These hygiene kits had been made previously by members of our church so that we would be prepared for an emergency such as this.

It took a long time to travel through the flooded roads of Jakarta despite the fact that the area is only a few miles from our home. We saw many areas with water that was waist high. Many children were splashing and playing in the water as if it were a swimming pool. My fear as a nurse is that if sewage is mixed with the water soon disease will be rampant. Children were along the sides of roads with buckets asking for money for the “banjir” or flood. There were adults lazily floating along in the water in inner tubes, others were trying to wash out their flooded businesses. We saw many businesses with the doors shut and water half way up the doors.

We unloaded at two locations. At the first we unloaded some hygiene kits and a small amount of food. At the second we unloaded the remainder of the food and then made a second trip for more hygiene kits. As we arrived at the sports complex the people housed inside seemed very intrigued with the fact that we had come to help. The missionaries who came along to help us were dressed in white shirts and ties, so we kind of stood out. Most of the people inside had nothing with them. One woman had just a small plastic grocery bag that I saw her rummaging through. There was a table was off to the side with three women handing out medications to people that were sick. Most of the medications on the table were antibiotics. The people in the sports arena were mostly women and children. I assume the men were out taking care of their homes, or trying to work. The missionaries and about 15 members from our church unloaded the supplies. The Camat and the other people we dealt with were very grateful. Many of the people housed inside wanted their picture taken. They would yell at me “hey sister” or “Elder Healy”. I am not sure how they thought my name was Elder Healy. Perhaps they saw Russell talking with the Camat, pretty much I respond to anything here so a lot of families got their picture taken and got to look at themselves afterwards on my digital camera.

More supplies will be ordered and delivered in the coming days, so keep abreast. If you are coming to visit Jakarta anytime soon remember it is a BYOB town (bring your own boat).