Likupang

Bring that beat back to me again. I'm already back home in Louisiana. I remember returning home to the south after studying abroad in Scotland, then in Spain and Costa Rica, another year. This time, I'm coming home from the farthest ever - East Asia, Indonesia, to be exact. What a flight, 16 hours!

Those 21 days flew by, though, and now I want to relive each one. That's the great thing about blogging. Each day gets to be lived out once again, this time, in words.

But first, the roadmap.

Likupang Clinics - June 25 and 26

Sapa - June 27

Travel day to Bunaken - June 28 

Bunaken Christian Clinic - June 29

Bunaken Muslim Clinic - June 30

Day Off - July 1

Nain Muslim Clinic - July 2

Nain Christian Clinic - July 3

Day Off - July 4

Nain Follow-up Clinic - July 5 

Travel Day to Tomohon (Manado) - July 6 

Makalelon - July 7

Nazaret - July 8 

Travel to Likupang - July 9

Sangkilang - July 10

Wineru - July 11, Talise - July 12

Talise Clinic and Water Project Ceremony - July 13 

Depart - July 14

It's funny how I remember each day so vividly. Each clinic had its very own distinct feeling, characteristics, people and gave a completely new experience. In this blog, I hope to capture those feelings in writing, the people I encountered, the insights I gained, my feelings about my experiences etc. 

From the time I arrived, I stayed at Tomohon Mountain View Resort for five nights. From there, we had orientation, traveled to Likupang two days, and Sapa the last day. I remember driving to Likupang the first clinic day in our Scooby Doo looking buses. Two buses transported all 50 of us and hundreds of pounds of supplies for all those days. 

I took Dramamine the first ride, as I was nervous about getting car sick from the mountainous terrain and windy roads, but it knocked me out. I slept most of the way there in the front of the bus. Groggily, I remember peering out of the bus window upon arrival and seeing villagers out on the porches of their bamboo and plaster houses lined against the street. Some waved, others stared. I was curious to see if they knew it us. It was probably the highlight of their year when the LTL clinics came through. 

It seemed like Likupang was the most reserved, or maybe I remember that just because Sapa immediately followed them. Sapa was laid back and loud! Any way, the team set up inside a church with white plastered walls and purple curtains blowing in the wind over the tall open windows. First thing each clinic (around 7:30/8), we emptied the supplies from the buses, set up about 10 stations at small tables where the clinicians would give consults, Yanti or Rachel would lead a team huddle, and then the chaos would begin. 

My role was to do height and weight and BMI at registration "rego" and take photos of all the patients. The first day of this was a learning experience. Cindy, one of our interpreters, and another would register the patient first and hand us the forms to fill out. We took all the patients in strides. 

The first time doing it, I'm glad I had Joel, Eca and Paul around to push the patients through. I had no Bahasa Indonesian language experience, so our interpreter was a life savior. She told all the patients to stand up against the wall to get meausured and told them to step on the scale to be weighed. I took photos with the iPad of each patient to document and at other times, I recorded the numbers on their forms. 

The hardest challenge of that process was to communicate holding their form to their chests when taking a photo, and to weigh the babies and small children. Us three and (sometimes four) were working in harmony. Joel kept me going with his singing and joyful personality! I felt like we got each other because we were two of the few people in the group who were experiencing it all for the first time. Two peas in a foreign pod. 

Joel was soaking up the language like a sponge. In between measurements, he would create a list on his phone of Indonesian phrases that were needed when greeting patients. Mohon tongu diluar (please wait outside), Salamat pagi (good morning), lopas sandal (take off the shoes), ukur tingi (height), tibong badan (stand there). Woohoo, I remember! 

The first clinic I remember feeling tired (probably still a little jet lagged) and a little emotional. I forgot about my worries when the rush of patients started coming and fed off of their smiles and good spirits. I remember letting go of home, of everything. Indonesia was pouring in.  

The rest of the morning went smoothly, and in the afternoon, I found Yanti to make a Facebook post (my daily job as communications coordinator) from her phone. When I looked tired, Rachel would say, go get a snack! And then I'd be back on the floor. It was tough standing up for all those hours. 

That afternoon, I found myself swarmed by the kids in the village. They asked my name, "siapa nama?" and this one little boy was singing "mister loba loba," which must be some rap song. I would make faces at them and they'd laugh. They probably thought I was one cooky "bulai!" A bulai is a white person. They'd also call that out to us if they spotted us walking down the street, on their turf. 

Part of my job while there was also to interview a patient a day to gather stories for our marketing! The first day, Kiki (thank goodness for one of our interps Kiki!), helped me pick a man named Seyang. He knew he was a villager who'd come to our clinics before and was also the builder of that same church. 

That afternoon, we walked over to his home a couple houses down from the church, and we interviewed him inside. Kiki introduced us (in Indonesian, of course) and got the consent from his family and from him to make sure we could use his story to help out LTL. It was an interesting process. I asked the questions and then Kiki would translate immediately to him. He would answer in Indonesian, and the Kiki would translate for me. 

Before I knew it, the team was packing up for the day and heading home. I think that evening we all unloaded the supplies at home, ate dinner and went to bed. I chatted with Margaret, my roommate, and then went to bed. We had early mornings, so a good bedtime was 10.

Stay tuned for the next day... and the next... and the next!