Looking Back At 2008

When I look back at 2008 I am amazed at the forward steps our work has made. I credit the awesome staff led by Peter and Esther Scarborough. They are the real heroes and have worked with integrity and compassion.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Building and dedication of new 21 bed patient ward.
• We now have 28 children in our care. These are orphaned and abandoned children.
• Three new vehicles were purchased giving us reliable transportation.
• The "Hohidiai" Clinic in Halmahera treated over 10,000 poor.
• The clinic is now wired with a LAN computer system.
  
• The second four-plex unit was built for the Tamariska (Leper Treatment Center).
  
• Self-sustaining programs are being developed--including the sale of coffee.
  
• Three children are being treated overseas--Yulce, Vino and Kasih.
  
• 22 short-term foreign teams came to assist our work.
• We have over 80 full-time staff at our base--about 30 are medical workers.
  
• Two of our staff are in medical school, five in nursing training, two are training for dentistry, two more as midwives and a pharmacist.
  

The most rewarding part of our work is knowing lives were saved and a mountains of compassion was given to the poorest of the poor. Our care is based on need--no one is turned away. These are only the highlights, there are so many individual miracles and breakthroughs. We just want to be a part of changing the future of this region by investing in the people.

Now we look ahead to 2009 with enthusiasm and hope.

Narrow Roads

The roads on the remote island near our base are narrow. Those of you who have been there and know what it feels like to pass an oncoming truck understand the sense of relief after both vehicles pass untouched. There is no shoulder and it is not uncommon to have a pile of sand or even road crews on the road without any warning--no signs or flagmen. The dogs are the worst--they just lay down in the road daring you to hit them. Pigs, chickens, goats, and dogs just run loose. If you hit one you will have to pay the owner an unrealistic amount of payment for the animal They calculate the value of the animal and the potential off spring that would have been born due to the loss of the animal. It can be costly to hit an animal.

On Christmas eve three of our staff were coming back to our base after transporting a terminally ill patient to Tobelo. They were coming around a corner near our base and a speeding vehicle came around the corner and the driver had to make a quick decision. He had a moment to decide to turn into the ditch and take his chances instead of a certain head on collision--he turned into the ditch. Our driver is very safe and thankfully he was going slow around that corner. All three of our staff were not injured in the crash but the one riding in the middle broke the windshield.

Peter Scarborough wrote, " Whilst the damage looks extensive the car doors still open and close OK and the wheels are seemingly in alignment. The front headlights are undamaged. We will need to purchase a new bonnet (hood), front quarter panels, grill, bumper assembly, windscreen and a new radiator. Praise God it can be fixed.

We can fix the little truck--we are very thankful our three awesome staff are fine other than some soreness.

Cars--Boats--Air Planes

It was the afternoon before our team was to leave the remote island of Halmahera. Our team was scheduled to leave on a flight in the morning. We were in town purchasing some of the last items before we were to leave. We were just getting ready to drive to our base some 20 miles away but we were flagged down by the ticket agent who had sold us the tickets a week earlier. She told us that our flight had been canceled. That meant we had to work quickly and find a way to get to our international flight that was to leave in three days. Three days seems like plenty of time--but not on these islands. We had few options--we had no time to spare.

There were no flights off the island we were on for days but we were able to get the last seats on a flight leaving on another island the next day at around 1 p.m. I knew what that meant but my team didn't. We were also asked to help three Australian young people to get to that flight. They were in the same dilemma we faced. We were in for a long day. We got a private car to take us to catch a boat. We left at 5 a.m. and sped down the road to our base where we picked up the Australian's and now had a two car caravan. It is an experience you will never forget as you drive down the jungle roads at a high rate of speed in the dark--dogs , pigs, chickens and goats all in the way. Finally, the sun came up but we just kept flying down the road. It was beautiful but hard to enjoy the sights when they are just flashing by the window.

We made it to Sofifi around 9:30 a.m. and negotiated for a speed boat. We had to cross open water to reach the island of Ternate where our flight would depart in a couple hours. It is better to cross in the morning as the waves are not as big. I look at the number of outboard motors on each boat. The vast majority have only two motors and the most I have seen is five. The more motors the bigger the boat. These are water taxis. We were able to find a three engine boat and got a good price. We loaded all our luggage on the boat and we were on our way. I joke that the extra motors are for parts. It is rare that all the motors work. I was surprised when all three of our motors never missed a beat. It was a beautiful clear day and the seas were calm. We made good time and only hit a couple waves that tossed the boat. One of our Australian friends got a little stressed but we were able to help her feel safe.

We landed and got two taxis and stopped at the airlines office to get our tickets. The ticket agent told us that we got the last seats on that flight. A nice lunch awaited us at the airport and a few minutes of rest until we finally checked in and boarded our flight. This is not Singapore International Airport we had to ride a bus to the plane and walk on the pavement to board our flight. It didn't matter, we were on our way and in time to make our international flight.

In these remote areas you must have a back-up plan at all times. The options are few if something like this happens. We were blessed to get the last seats on the flight and thankfully the ticket agent saw us and informed us the flight was canceled. We were totally exhausted by the time we made it to our hotel and the hot shower I enjoyed would have been worth a hundred dollars.

Prince Daud

We call him a prince because he seems to have a domain of his own--he has a northern and southern kingdom. He was six years old when I first saw him. He came in the back of a pick-up truck. He had just had a very bad burn injury and was in a lot of pain. I remember him crying that first day and threatening to have his uncle, a police man, come a shoot the nurse who was treating his burn wounds. He needed urgent care and was in for a couple years of painful therapy. He was really strong and proved to have a lot of will power to improve.

I remember when he went with us a village about 40 miles north of our medical base. We were getting ready to leave and he told us he was going to stay there because his grandmother lived there--he wanted to spend time with her. He was then left in the care of his grandmother.

In about 10 days he shows up at our medical base. He was on public transportation and just came into the main base office and said--you will have to pay the driver. We paid the driver and we realized he had his northern domain (where his grandmother lived) and his southern kingdom (our medical base). We started calling him Prince Daud that day. His name is Nino or Daud (David) and he is now 11 years old. He has a special place in all of our hearts because he has been in our care for five years. He has made remarkable progress.

He generally doesn't smile but if you can get him to laugh it is contagious. He will get an entire room rolling on the floor. We love him and want him to prosper. He has a good heart and is pretty smart--even though he seems to miss more school than he attends. He is one of the little ones that will be with us for years to come. He comes and just pulls up a chair to the dinner table--he is welcome and he knows it. I hope to see him grow up to be a good man. I do know he will not be crippled or useless. He is normal and has little evidence of his burn.

He painted his face like a cat in the photo--you never know what a prince might do.

More Lepers

It was raining hard and then the skies cleared so I walked to the leper treatment center. I wanted to see Hendrik who was the first leper in our care. He was sitting in front of his unit. I called out his name and heard his call back to me. He inspired the building of these units to help other lepers. He was rejected by his village and lived like a dog for 15 years. He is now happy and loved by everyone.

Hendrik was not alone at the Tamariska (dwelling place of kings). The two buildings have four units each and they are completely full. I saw a young man sitting outside his unit and went over and shook his hand. He would not look up at me--it appeared he carried some shame about his condition. I was told he had a form of skin leprosy. It is highly transferable but also treatable. If he stays on his medication and builds up his health he can full recover.

The third building will be started in 2009. This will give us four more units and the ability to care for more lepers and T.B. victims.

Tison

Tison (pronounced Tee-sone) is seven years old and is so full of life and is always smiling. He runs and plays with his friends. He is a kid who will grab your heart very fast. He is normal in every way except is he badly burned over a big part of his body. He was standing a few feet away from his father who was holding a container of kerosene when it exploded in flames. His life changed in a moment. This little boy who has the beautiful smile was now fighting for his life. He has an unstoppable spirit and I know it was that tenacity that kept him fighting for his life.

About four months ago his father brought Tison to our medical base and has not been back. I know he felt like he could not do anything for him. He is from an island around 200 miles away and it was not an easy trip.

Tison is now well adjusted to life on our base. He could be found just about anywhere. He is surrounded by his buddies (I call them the "Three Amigos") and they are always doing something fun and exciting. They could be playing soccer or just playing hide-and-seek. He is always where the excitement is or maybe where he is there is excitement.

He was called the "Monkey Boy" by the villagers because the burn on his legs have limited how far the skin on his legs would stretch. He does look like a monkey when he runs. He does not let that stop him in the least.

He would see me walking down one of the paths on our base and yell in his strong voice--Hello Carl. Then he would grab hold of my hand and we would walk together until he found something better to do. He would see me sitting and then climb up on my lap. I think he knew he would get a hug and maybe a small candy. He was very busy but he was never mean or malicious.

I do not know what will happen to Tison. He needs some help with his burn wounds. He is badly burned on his right arm, right hand, legs, chest, face and ears. I feel Tison is tough enough to handle several surgeries if he could get help. He is also remarkably realistic and mature as he considers his condition. This seven year old boy prayed this prayer, “Lord, I want to be normal like the other children but if it is Your will for me to be like this I will accept it”. Someday he might he like the other children--by God's grace.

Coffee Time

It is time to see if after fours years of growth we can start harvesting coffee from our base in Northeast Indonesia. Jim and Cindy Aldrich set out to get some of those precious beans. It was not as easy as it would been and believe me every cup of coffee I drink now I savor it. It is a tremendous amount of work when you consider the experimentation to get the beans off the husks and the drying process. Jim studied about the process of harvesting coffee. Cindy picked a bunch of beans and our Indonesian staff in charge of the coffee also worked hard to get those beans processed.

Jim tried a wet process by soaking the beans for a day. Then the following day he used a screen and and forced the beans through the screen. The hot equatorial sun was perfect for drying the beans. Cindy and Jim had several interested helpers. Three of the helpers were burn victims--two of them had badly deformed hands due to their burns. They did their best to help sort the good beans from the pulp. There also was an old Indonesian woman who did not need any instructions--it seemed she might have done this before. These helpers and a couple others worked hours sorting and getting the husks off.

The dried beans were brought to the U.S. for roasting. They had to be sorted again and the best beans selected. Jim knows there are devices to do all this but what he wanted is to get the best beans he could to the U.S. and see if it is a good quality coffee. Will it be worth processing the coffee--we will find out in the next couple weeks. I do know that the cost of each cup of coffee will be over $ 100. It took hours and hours and many hands to get what is now ready for roasting. If it is good coffee we will call it copiriska which means "coffee of kings".

15 Seconds

Who would think 15 seconds would make the difference between making a flight or spending the day organizing new flights. We knew it would be close but when our flight from Alaska was delayed 40 minutes we had only 20 minutes to get to our international flight to Tokyo. We landed and just ran from the North Satellite with three train rides and a run up the escalator in the South Satellite. I was out of breath when I reached the top of the escalator and tried to locate the gate for our flight. Thankfully it was the closest gate. I walked around the corner as I heard my seat announced. The airlines agent was giving my seat to someone who was on standby. I told her that was my seat and she was just about to swipe his ticket and give him my seat. She said--"Just a minute. I can give you the seat." I told her I had three others traveling with me. She told me, "Unless they are there they will not be able to make this flight." I was not going to split my team up and I knew one of my team members had recently had knee surgery and she could not run up the escalator like I did--but they were coming. I asked her to give them a minute. She said the door is closing. At that moment the rest of my team appeared. We got a lot of grace and boarded the flight. When I reached the plane doorway the steward said something interesting to me. He said, " I do not know what your story is but this never happens." I do not know what he meant I was just thankful to be on the flight now we wondered if our luggage made it.

Later we landed in Bangkok early in the morning. It was an adventure and another miracle to make our flight to Jakarta. It was two weeks later that this Bangkok Airport was in total chaos when anti-government protesters took over the airport and the roads in and out. I support we were blessed it could have been a lot worse. International travel is crazy sometimes.