Indonesian Hospitals

 Hello everybody!

Last week one of the kids in the Oasis, WK, had Dengue fever and we had to go to the hospital with him. Dengue fever is an illness transmitted through mosiquitos, just like Malaria. In the worst case, if you have Dengue fever, your thrombocytes drop dangerously low, which was the case with WK. When we arrived at the hospital, he was already so low on thrombocytes that he had to stay in the hospital for several days.

If the thrombocytes are too low, it is a lifethreatening situation.

This visit in an indonesian hospital left a deep impression on me. I hope through describing the circumstances there a little closer you will all appreciate your European or American hostpitals more.

First of all, WK was in a modern hospital that was newly build. On one end it is still not finished yet, on the other the ceilings are already moldering.

Me in action, swapping the two beds.



He also got a VIP room through Ade and Inge. That means an airconditioner and two beds. Only one of the beds were actually functional, the backrest of the other couldn't be lifted. WK of cause took the functional one, which was right under the airconditioner. WK had a high fever but the hospitals doesn't give out any blankets for the patients to cover themselves with. In the end WK covered himself with a bedsheet that Inge really had to fight for! In the end Inge and I had to swap the two beds ourselves so WK wouldn't have to sleep under the airconditioner.

The nurses in this hospital also don't do anything but measuring the bloodpressure every morning. When I was there the other day, they took blood from him to check the thrombocyte level, but they didn't even bother to wear gloves when touching the patient or taking blood. The hospital is so dirty that the cleaning staff wears mouthcovers!

Because the nurses don't do anything there always has to be a relative to take care of the sick person. The nurses don't wash the patients, don't help them to the bathroom and you don't get anything without paying for it in advance. I had to go to the farmacy in the front of the hospital to buy WK's infusions he needed.

Is there a case of emergancy there always needs to be a relative around, to buy whichever medicin the patient needs quickly. And often enough, the farmacy doesn't have all the medicin the patient needs. Because even in cases of emergency, you don't get anything without paying in advance.

So this was our experience in a VIP room. I don't even want to know what the 'economy class' is like!

I hope you gained a little insight into the indonesian health system.

I wish everybody a merry Christmas!



WK under his, hard-fought for, bed sheet.




The same food everyday. Smelled good though...




Update on Ipang

 News on Ipang!

He has gotten a lot bigger now and is a really intelligent dog. He speaks indonesian, can sit and give you his paw. And when you say 'hop' he jumps into your arms. Last Sunday he was hit by a motorcycle. We took him to the doctor immediately; fortunately he said Ipang didn't have any major injuries. Nothing is broken and he only has some scratches. His leg was swollen really badly, but it's already a lot better. I still worry though, because he still doesn't use his leg. It also doesn't hurt him anymore but he still won't even try using it to walk. Makes me think there might be something broken afterall...:(

Ipang, hobbling around Inge's and Ade's backyard.

He was so shocked by the accident that his second ear went up, too!

He especially likes to lay in peoples laps. He still does it, even though he is so huge now. Sitting on top of me while I am trying to sleep is also one of his favorites.

Sejarah Dunia - World History

 

Hello again!

First of all I would like to thank everyone for their wonderful comments to my posts on this blog. I really enjoy reading them and I am always very excited when I get new comments. I receive so much good feedback it always encourages me to continue this blog, as it is not easy for me to post regularly. At the same time I want to apologize for not answering to all of the comments, but be assured that I do read them and I appreciate every single one of them. Thank you. :)

And now to my actual post.

Starting last week we have been working on a special project with the children of my class.

It is a project about world history, or sejarah dunia in Bahasa Indonesia. Unfortunately I wasn’t feeling very well during the last week so I had to stay home for three days but on Monday I will certainly be able to go to the Oasis again, to make sure I learn something, too. ;)

In this project the children make a timeline with a long fabric. The timeline will contain all major events around the world from 3500 B.C. until today. So you can imagine that it is going to be very long. Afterwards we will hang it up in our little assembly hall. It should be long enough to wind it around the room in a spiral several times.

Later, we might let every child make a little presentation about one or more of the events and let them thus teach each other about the world’s history.

For most of the children, their world is pretty much limited to their own village. They don’t travel or anything, like almost every European does once in a while. Therefore learning about world history is important and interesting for them. Also because most of these things they never learn in school.

You can tell that many people here are pretty uneducated when it comes to history because there are many of them who, for example, actually like Hitler. Then again, people here also walk around in t-shirts with Osama bin Laden faces on them and some admire Gaddafi because “he was always so brave against the USA.”

You see that it is very important to teach the children history properly.

Enjoy the pictures. :)

The different years are seperated by colors.

Bunter and Ayu (picture above) sew the hem of the fabric, so it will hold longer.

The beginning!

 

Ida Ketut had to start because of his neat handwriting. :)

Ida Wayan and Budi

Made G and Toktek

Eka and Ani

 

Putu in full concentration mode.

 

For this project, teamwork is very important.

So much already! Everybody has got the hands full. :)

This is our little assembly hall in which we are going to hang up the timeline.

The temple's birthday

 

Last week was the temple's birthday. For the Hindu's here it is kind of like Christmas, and they celebrate it just as big. For several days there were ceremonies every night and also during the day. 

The kids in the Oasis were looking forward to this for a long time now, because many of the girls get to dance at the ceremonies. Those ceremonies start very late and sometimes last until early morning. 

Even though most of the ceremonies are very similar it is always a very exciting experience for me.

 Especially because many kids at the ceremonies are kids from the Oasis and they are always happy to see me there. And I am always happy to see them in their traditional clothing and all dressed up for the dancing. 

So cute! 

 I am really sorry for how the pictures are organized on this blog.

For some reason I can't turn them and they keep getting distorted.

Watching them in full size might be better.

 Me and Ida Made. Ida Ketut's brother.

If you look closely you can see half naked people holding swords in the middle of the crowd. 

It is actually not allowed to take pictures of them. They are obsessed people. Obsessed by the guardians of the temple. They stab themselves with the swords and dance to the Balinese music. This entire time they are in some kind of trance. In the morning, of the day this picture was taken, they also drank the blood of living chickens. Of cause, I didn't go to watch that!

The next day the obsessed people will claim not to remember what happened.

The little snacks outside of the temple.

Agus actually got to hold one of the big flags during the little parade before the ceremony.

 

I love to see the girls all dressed up like that. Those are some of the SMP kids I teach.

 

Here infront of the entrance of the temple.

Dion. He is our little trouble maker, but cute as can be! Because I am a little shy to go infront of the crowd and take pictures (people stare at me without me having to stand in the front) he had to be my camera-man.

 

During traditional Balinese dancing, the people have to hold an offering like these with an incense stick.

Every family brings a basket of offerings like these.

This is what fresh peanuts look like. They are actually still moist and very delicious!

Of cause I had to dance, too. This is my little offering I had to dance with.

And this is me, dancing next to Ilu and some other girls form the Oasis. Men and women dance seperately. Always in a row, like this, or as you can see in the pictures below.

The men, starting to dance. 

Moni, Itin, Ani and Eka, ready to dance.

Those were the little dancers. But only the 2. and 3. girl from the left are kids from the Oasis...at least I think so, it is kind of hard to tell! :)

Devi, Ayu and Bunter had their own dance.

 This guy is the guardian of the underworld. 

Of cause he has to have his own performance, too!

 

 Kadek and Putu also danced alone. An amazing performance, and I really liked their costumes! :)

I am sorry that the pictures are like that. I just can't get them the way I want. :/