The Sphere Effect

Not having a car is a very difficult thing, and you don’t realise just what a sense of freedom it gives you until you once again are provided with a set of wheels, in my current case with TWO wheels. Yes (mum and dad don’t read this next bit), Kath and I have been rediscovering our freedom and independence in Chiang Mai, on a pair of 125cc motorbikes. They are small, and have a max speed of 80kph, but oh it feels soooo good to be able to go exactly where I want to go, when I want to go.

I hate buses, and I’m sick of public transport. I love the wind in my hair, and the speed under my feet. I’m sold, and have to hire myself a bike when I get back to Perth!

We have found a Thai couple to be houseparents in the orphanage, and Kath and I have moved out into a hostel. We have still been returning on a daily basis, but feel that there are a little too many hands now, so we are staying away a bit more. We went to an english school for Thai children on Saturday, and it was an amazing experience. Absolutely loved working with the children and the couple who have a real vision for that area.

I have started putting some of my Thailand pics up on the gallery but there aren’t that many there yet - feel free to have sticky beak if you are interested.

After a lot of thought and prayer, I have come to the conclusion that I will definately be working with MSF next year. Now that I have committed myself to this course, I feel a lot more at peace in my spirit. I don’t know how many contracts I will do with MSF, as my preference in the long run would be to work with a christian organisation, but I feel that this is a good organisation and that I can give and receive a lot from my work with them.

MSF are running a welcome training session for three days while I am in Sydney, which is all very good timing so I will be attending that course while in Sydney.

In less that four weeks, I will be home in Perth. I can’t wait!!

It is interesting sometimes to see the way that God works, when we do not know he is working!

I am still struggling with what I am going to do next year - I am still thinking that MSF is probably going to be the way that I go, but I would like to have a little more assurance that it is the best thing for me.

The only real assurance that I have felt in the last week, is that I should go to Chiang Mai - so I booked my ticket last week to come and join Kath up in the north of Thailand. And this is where we see God’s hand at work, arranging things in advance, and making sure that his purposes are achieved. Kath has been volunteering in a new and very small orphanage in Chiang Mai. They currently have two small babies (Josiah - 7 weeks, and Samuel - 3 months) and a gorgeous little 3 year old girl - Esther. There were two Thai nannies working here, particularly looking after the two babies, and they both quit on Friday.

I arrived on Saturday and together, Kath (who arrived last Monday), another volunteer Jess, and I have been looking after the children since then. The people who run the orphanage are trying to find some new nannies, but they are fortunate that they have the volunteers here already and able to step into the gap.

It is such a big job. I have watched my friends struggle with their new babies and I was aware of what a full-time job it was, but having two small babies under three months of age, one of them who never stops crying, is very difficult. In addition, not having the bond between a mother and child which perhaps helps in those times when the baby is crying at 4am, ensures that it is a very difficult job.

I must admit that I feel a bit helpless, and that most of the night-time feeding (ok all of it so far) has been done mostly by Kath and by Jess. I am now getting to see Kath in full-on worker mode, and she is fantastic. She never stops…..

I am finding that I really hate travelling on my own, so I’m really relieved to be out of Bangkok, and here in Chiang Mai with friends. I miss Banda Aceh all ready, and the friends that I made there . I really do hope to go back there at some time in the near future.

As far as Hati’s moped is concerned, I have been advised that they were buying the bike on the weekend, but haven’t been in touch with them since. As soon as I get some pics, I’ll put them up here.

I’ll keep you updated as to how I go with the babies. Anyone who knows me well will know that I am not very good with babies… It’s a great learning experience…

I can’t believe I only have one day left in Banda Aceh. I am not ready to leave at all, but find that I have to as my visa is shortly going to expire.

They say it takes quite a few weeks before you really start to enjoy somewhere, and I can relate to that - it’s only in the last few days that I have really started to get a feel for this city and it’s capabilities. Now I am starting to get to know the people and I am really sad to be going. I could come back again in about a week’s time, but I feel that for now, my time here is up. There is still a possibility that I could return in January/February but that is a decision I have yet to make.

So I’m off on Wednesday. I will spend a night in Medan in Indonesia, and on Thursday I’ll make my way to Bangkok, Thailand. I don’t really have too many plans for Thailand except to take it as it comes. I have decided that I will head straight up to Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand to meet up with Kath and to help out in an Orphanage where she will be working. From then on, it really is just a case of seeing what I can do. I’d rather be helping somewhere rather than just travelling around, although I’d love to do a bit of that as well.

I have been reflecting on what I have done over the last few weeks, and I don’t really feel like I have achieved very much. I have mostly been learning from an incredible group of people, and I think I have gained much more than I have given. I have been able to do some IT work for them, which I hope will be useful for them into the future, and I have been providing some training over the last couple of days which I hope will be useful.

I have also managed to corrupt some of the children by teaching them to speak with an Australian (strine) accent. I now have a four year old and a nine year old walking around saying things like, “Oi!” and “Noiiiiiice”. They are doing quite well with the “G’day Mate” and the “Ow ya garn” is also progressing quite nicely. I think their parents will want to kill me before I leave.

I emailed around a few days ago to try and raise some money to buy a moped for a young Acehness woman and her family. She has suffered greatly from the Tsunami and afterwards, and they are living well below the poverty line, as her husband is only paid around $5 a week. We have some work lined up for the husband, but unfortunately they have no way for him to get to work - there is no public transport and he has no money currently for private transport.

So I am raising money for a moped, so that he can start working for a reasonable wage. I have done pretty well so far, but I am still short by a couple of hundred dollars. If anyone else would like to contribute to this very worthy project, please let me know.

I’ll be home in just under six weeks! Starting to feel little waves of excitement vibrating through my tummy now …. it’s been a long time!

A week on finds me flat on my back in bed with a nasty bout of ’something most traveller’s catch within the first week of a tropical country’ or so I am told. Actually I spent some time on Saturday morning gloating over how healthy I was feeling and how I had gotten over the hill of the first week without getting sick.

So after the last couple of days of fever, chills, aches, pains and other symptoms which I could but won’t mention, I am slowly coming around and starting back on the slippery slope to healthiness.

Last week I managed to catch up with Michael, a friend I had met in India earlier this year. He invited me away with a group of friends to an island off the coast of Aceh - Sabang. Eager for every new chance to see something new, and to meet new people, I eagerly accepted! But unfortunately had to leave early on Saturday due to horrible sick feeling in stomach… the rest was history.

But more about last week. I am working with a small Indonesian Foundation, whose goal is to provide employment to the local Acehnese people. The foundation has managed many projects since the tsunami, and currently runs several different businesses including handbag manufacturing, quilt manufacturing, card manufacturing, jewellery making, training centres, internet services, micro-finance, plus sponsorship of orphans and many other projects as they come up.

I have been living in a luxury guest house, most recently with a couple from Newcastle in Australia (Dan and Jo) and with Louise who is from California. Louise is here for a short while as she and her husband Roy are marketing the hand bag products made by the Acehnese in the USA. I could write a lot more about this, but she has a web site which says a lot more.

http://www.laga-handbags.com/

There are a couple of stories on this website - particularly Hanna’s story, which are really interesting, particularly since I now know and work with Hanna. She is lovely!

There are also lots of really nice handbags on the site, so if anyone in Perth or Sydney is interested let me know … I can hook you up , and it will help people in need in Banda Aceh.

As for me personally, my main projects while I am here include re-writing databases so that they are a little more useful, creating new ones, training people in some computer skills, and helping set up some new projects. It’s all very interesting, but I still don’t know what I’ll be doing at the end. I’ll just wait and see.