Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Keeping on my toes

Life in Wamena certainly keeps me on my toes.  I thought I would share with you a few things that have happened since I've been back.  The first was when I was making my first supply run since being back in town.  I was at one of my last stops at a little shop in what you would call the down town area buying the last of the supplies for a flight.  I was in the store getting tomatoes when the employees literally start throwing stuff onto the store.  Normally goods are displayed out on the side walk in front of the store since the store are quite small.  Once everything was inside they closed the doors with me still inside! I looked out to see the whole street was a buzz with the store keeper all doing the same thing franticly shoving their goods inside and closing up shop.  I asked the store owner what was going on.  He said a fight had broken out at the end of the block between the Papuans and it could turn into a war! Me, safely behind the bars of the store, finished my supply buying, chatted with the employees and after a bit it was safe enough for me to leave although the store owner did not fully reopen his store.  Nothing gets the heart pumping like potential war in downtown Wamena with me stuck in the middle.  :-)  Thankfully God is good and it all came to nothing.  The fight was only a block from the police station and they arrived quickly and calmed the situation.

The second was when I was at the local market buying vegetables.  I had gotten all that I needed and was headed back to my motorbike when I hear a child crying.  This is nothing new at the market. Children cry all the time and normally I don't pay much attention.  This time however, I saw the child maybe 2 or 3 years old, that was crying and saw blood running from his hand onto the ground.  I went to see what had happened.  As it turns out the child had got a hold of his mothers exact-o knife, they use them to cut up the vegetables, and had sliced the tip of his finger almost entirely off! His mother was pouring what I could only imagine to be very dirty water over his hand trying to get the bleeding to stop.  I found a small pharmacy bought bandages and some clean water.  I cleaned the wound and    I had to wait several minutes before the bleeding slowed enough to bandage it properly.   I checked on the child the next day and found him with knife in hand I changed his bandage and left.



Tuesday, January 20, 2015

A long time gone

It's a rare Wamena evening. The stars are out in number twinkling brightly across the sky.  A wisp of cloud, whether from a near by fire or the remains for an attempt at an evening rain, passes quickly by. It rains most nights in Wamena starting in the shortly after sundown and continues till sunrise. But tonight is a rare night.  No dogs fighting or pigs squealing. No music blaring from the neighbors or babies crying.  Here I am, sitting in the middle of my lawn watching the stars, Orion almost directly over head, listening to the crickets chirp and the trees rustling. Peaceful. Quiet. Calm.

The trip back was a long one but thankfully an uneventful one- 9 days long. No delays of any kind and the luggage arrived the same time I did.  I spent 3 days in Bali as there were no tickets available. then 3 more days in Sentani getting my book keeping work back and going over what had and had not been done in my absence.  then one last short flight to Wamena.

The house was quiet and had an unused feel to it, like the air inside was stale from lack of movement or use.  My roommate had moved out a week or so prior to my return. I did a quick survey of the house.  The guest rooms had been used and needed clean linens.  The tub in the bathroom had spiders already making themselves at home.  The kitchen looked like it couldn't decide if people still used it or not.  The cupboards half empty of food but eggs, garlic and onions still sat on the counter.  The dish drainer was full of washed dishes except for a few remaining cups sitting here and there that had escaped the last washing.  Half used rolls of toilet paper and boxes of tissues (both of which are used in place of napkins) scattered around the kitchen.

The fridge though mostly empty still had food which was growing enough mold it would soon be able to walk out of the fridge by itself, along with bottles of condiments that everyone uses but no one takes with them of course here that also includes 3 or 4 different kinds of hot sauce, soy sauce both sweet and salty, and some sort of fish sauce along with all of the usual kinds.  And some how or another 10 open jars of jelly! Where they all came from I have no idea.
~ Note to self, clean fridge later~

Enough of the inside... time to check the outside.   In the garden cabbage, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries and basil all growing nicely and well taken care of.  Almost half of the animals had died or been stolen. I always expect, while I am gone, to lose a few animals but half seems like a lot.  There is a new gardener as the other was fired due to some disagreement with my roommate.

Now here I sit in the cool of the evening, stars glittering overhead, reflecting on the day and making a mental to do list for the next few days to come. There will be much to do in the next few days.  Breathing a relaxing breath that there is no more traveling for a while and I am glad to finally home.

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Headed back....

I'm headed back overseas January 7th.  I have had a wonderful time with family and friends these past 5 months and will be sad to leave.  Please be praying while I travel by way of Seattle, Hong Kong to Bali then onto Papua.   I should be home in Wamena sometime after the 15th.  Thanks for your prayers and for a great time.