Comparisons

It is hard for people who have never been to a third world country to understand the differences between Indonesia and Europe or the USA. So to all the spoiled people in the world who think of them selves as 'unfortunate' I would like to remind you of how good your life is by showing you the 'Indonesian'- way.

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While you are taking a hot bath in this beautiful bathroom over which you are probably always complaining because it needs to be cleaned so often...

 ...most Indonesian people are currently taking a cold 'bath' here.

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This is where you probably shop. While it has everything an Indonesian person could dream of, you are probably frustrated about how small the selection of extra soft triple layered toilet paper is.

This is where the average Indonesian person probably shops. The best thing you can hope for is ONE layered tissues. Yea right, not very tearproof!













 
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This is the machine that kindly does your laundry. Stupid thing is always too loud, costs way to much electricity and water and just takes too long.
















Well, this is what does Indonesian peoples laundry. Oh wait, it doesn't do your laundry, you have to so it yourself. No further explaination needed.















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This would be your kitchen. Just like the bathroom it needs a lot of love and cleaning. And of cause if someone else emptied the dishwasher you will never find what you are looking for! Frustrating, right.

If you think this is frustrating I would like to remind you, that other people cook
<===HERE!











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This is the change you might get after going shopping.

















In Indonesia, you might get repaid with candy. You would think it's an acknowledged currency here. :D
















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So I hope I could give you a little idea about how HUGE the differences are. People, you may feel better about your own life now. ;)

Bad news

I was so glad to be able to post yesterday, that everytbody had already recovered. Turned out I was wrong. This morning Mayang was hospitalized. Also with Demam Berdarah. She is one of my SMP kids and has been missing at the Oasis for several days. Because the weather was so bad these last few days it wasn't surprising that some kids stayed at home so we weren't worried at all. But after having missed for almost a week, since she usually comes every day, we went to her home to check up on her and it turned out that she had been hospitalized this morning. We directly went to the hospital to visit her. She seems ok, lets hope it's just not getting any worse. Whats bad though are those terrible conditions in the hospital. When WK was hospitalized we made sure he had a private room. But Mayang is in a room with 6 others and their whole families who sleep on the floor. The room is dirty and full of mosquitos. Which is the stupidest thing ever since people with Dengue fever are treated there which will just be spread by mosquitos! Some cats were eating the leftovers from tablets that were put on the floor when we came. IN a hospital, can you imagine???

Hopefully she will be fine and can leave that horrible place.

We are thinking of you, Mayang. 

Get well soon!

Back to the "everyday routine"

Everything returned to normal. The kids are studying like usually.

 Hello everybody,

After a couple of very intense weeks life here is back to normal. We opened the Oasis one week ago after making sure that there were no new infections. Fortunately everybody is feeling well again!
Of cause Dengue fever was a big subject during the last weeks. Let's hope that this will not happen again anytime soon!

They have all recovered and are happy that the Oasis is open again.

Due to serious malnutrition most of the kids are probably more likely to catch illnesses. Thanks to a sponsor, to whom we are very thankful, we started giving them vitamin pills. One pill each day to strengthen their immune system.

We were a little shocked when the kids told us that they already know these vitamin pills. Not because they ever took one but because their parents give them to the chickens to make them fit for their chickenfights. It's sad to see that people here find the money to buy vitamins for their chicken instead of their children. Gambling is a big problem here. Chickenfights are just one form of it.

WK is still learning how to play the guitar, he is actually quite good now!

Currently the Oasis is working out the concept for our next project. To prevent diseases like the Dengue fever or Malaria from spreading a good sewer system, a clean environment and a good health are essential! So our next project will contain these three aspects, building suer systems, developing a solution for the big trash problem and teaching about what to eat and to do to stay healthy.


Let's hope that this project will be a success!

 

Happy, happy, happy everything went well!

Happy to be able to play Lego at the Oasis again.

I am happy to be able to play pranks on my friend Leber again.

And they can finally finish their self-made bags!

Chronological order

I would like to remind you all that my posts are not in chronological order, since I don't have so much free time as to post something new directly after it happened. So issues I'd like to talk about in my blog tend to pile up a bit. We did NOT go on vacation while our kids from the Oasis had Dengue. Everybody who read the post about the Rinjani to the END should know that, too.

Since we had so many cases of Dengue we,

- closed the Oasis out of SAFETY reasons, not beacuse we felt like this was the right moment for taking a vacation!

- we spend the entire last week searching for sponsors to build sewer systems in the village.

- We had a meeting with the villagers and the health department of West Lombok to educate the villagers in how to handle the sick people and prevent the disease from spreading.

- we arranged a grand clean up which every villager had to attend...it ended up only being the Oasis and about 6 women that helped during this clean up.

-we also arranged for garbage collection by the government.

- the village was fogged two times with insecticites.

- We visited the sick people and advised the families in how to handle the illness.

- we spend hours at the hospital, which is 60 km from our home to help the people with all arrangements there, and speak to the doctors. Since most of the villagers have no idea how to handle this situation.

- We arranged for the poorest of the families to get a kartu miskin, a document that states that they have no property whatsoever, so that the families could get a free medical treatment in emergency cases.

I can assure you that we are not bathing our bellys in the sun while the village has to go through such a major crisis. I would advise everybody who got the wrong idea to read my posts again. Just looking at the pictures might get you the wrong idea.

Lara (Not the Oasis)

Lombok waterfalls

On our way to the Rinjani and back we also visited a couple of waterfalls.

The first one was deep down in some kind of canyon at the foot of the Rinjani. We had to take the stairs down and back up again. I was so exhausted, my legs were shaking!

This was the first one. Since this waterfall is far away from any touristic location there are only native people who visit this waterfall. It is believed that bathing at this waterfall is good for the health, so many indonesian people come to take a bath.

Me infront of the waterfall.

Afterwards we went to a traditional village on the mountain. So this is where the poor people still live. Which means almost everyone in Lombok lives in villages like this one.

Normal village houses.

On our way back we stopped at a place with three waterfalls. Those were a little more exciting though, because it was pretty hard to get to the waterfalls. And a little dangerous, too.

This dog doesn't seem bothered by the giant bug on his plate.

There are so many chickens in Indonesia but this was the first one I met with only one leg. And he, too, doesn't seem to be bothered by it.

This was the kitchen of the people who make the tours to the waterfalls.

Cocoa.

The first of the three waterfalls. Rather small in comparison, but directly after the waterfall...

...comes the abyss. Me and...

...Ade standing on the edge...I have to admit that I was a little scared at that part...

...because it goes deeeep down. This is actually a tiny part of rainforest. Who comes to Indonesia to see rainforests is definately wrong here. Most of the rainforest is already gone and with it the one that counted as the most species-rich one on the planet. It is sad. The prognosis is, that until 2022 98% of the Indonesian rainforest will be gone.

The second waterfall goes deep down, too. But this isn't where it starts yet....

 and it doesn't start here either.

THIS is where the second one starts. Awesome, right? Ade and I are swimming underneath.

And off to the third one!

For the third one we had to climb all the way down and follow this little stream up. I was a little scared of snakes and what else might be lurking around there.

Coming to the third one.

This waterfall had several levels. But you could only climb up one. This wooden letter didn't seem very trustworthy.

Ade, too, did some climbing. ;)

Those are the two upper waterfalls from afar.

It was a great trip. I've never seen real rainforest before. Or what you can still call 'rainforest'. And standing, or swimming, underneath a waterfall is something everyone must have done once in life!

Though I hope to come back soon to do it again! ;)

So that is all I did during my Christmas break.

Just now a tree fell on Inge's and Ade's house. It didn't do any damage but the weather has been this bad for several days now, and I am growing a little tired of all the wind and rain!

I hope the weather in Germany is a little better.

Greetings from a stormy Lombok!

Trip to the Rinjani

During Our Christmas break Ade, Inge and I decided to go to the Rinjani for two nights.

It was quite an adventure to climb the third biggest volcano in Indonesia with my old moped. Sometiems the road was so steep, I almost had to push my moped up the hill!

We stayed at the Rinjani Mountain Garden, Inge and Ade have been there several times. It is a beautiful tiny resort on the northern slope of the Rinjani. Beautiful view!

And the owners are German so I got my long awaited homemade German food!

The journey to the Rinjani turned out to be a real odyssey though. We passed so many great places that we just had to stop and take pictures. It took us a long time to get there.

 

After we stopped in Senggigi to buy snacks and water, we took a little break here, to take pictures of the view. Behind Inge and me you can see the Gili Islands.

 

And again, the three Gilis. Gili Trawangan, Gili Menor and Gili Air...if I remember correctly.



Concession stands are all over the place because tourists stop here often to enjoy the view.
And people always try to sell you stuff. Sometimes they sell young coconuts. They cut the top part open, put in a straw and you can drink the fresh coconut milk.

  

One of the many bays at the west cost f Lombok. Nice vacant beaches with clear blue water.



Our next stop. Ade's and Inge's moped had a flat tire. Poor Ade had to push the moped all the way to this repair shop.
Funny how they fix a flat tire here. Because the people have no money they have to be really creativ when it comes to fixing things. To repair a flat tire they melt the part with the whole back together. Tada! Works! Who needs a new tire?

 

The next stop. We are getting closer, the sand is already dark from the volcano ashes.



This time, it's a coffee break. It is so exhausting to be on a moped for so long in the heat.



 I also met my new friend there. Isn't he so cute with his yellow back. The first huge spider I saw here and Inge keeps saying 'Oh, this one is still small!'....aaahhhh

 

Our last stop was rather undeliberate. It started raining heavily and we decided to stop and wait for it to stop. This is me in my rain cape.



We finally arrived and it tuned out, the long journey was worth it. :)



Inge and Ade slept in this Bungalow. Of cause they slept in the top part, this mattrass was just to relax during the day. And we did, all day long. It was awesome!



 

  

And here again, an amazing view.



Inge and I. She read 'White Masai' and I 'Kafka on the shore'.
There is no better way to relax.



And this was my humble abode. It was a luxurious version of a 'ricefield house'. While the workers were working on the ricefields they stayed in little provisional bamboo houses. And at the end, when all the rice was harvested, the houses were burned down together with the rest of the rice plants.

 

Ayu and Rocko. Rocko is only 2 months and a huge puppy. Ayu, his mother, is already very old. Those two live at the Rinjani Mountain Garden.



You meet all kinds of animals in the middle of nowhere. No Idea what this was but it looked harmless.



This fellow, however, didn't look harmless at all. This is not my first Komodo Dragon I have seen on Lombok, but it's always exciting to meet one.

 

The Rinjani Mountain Garden is surrounded by ricefields.





The Rinjani.



There's a fish pond in which you can swim also.



Ade, going for the duoble-decker...



...and failing. :D

 

But I didn't do any better. :D

 

 

Ade and me, sitting in a berugak. On our way home we stopped for dinner in a restaurant at the beach.

 

 We were watching the sundown while waiting for our orders.



It was a really nice trip and I am looking forward to going there again next month with my brother and my father who are coming to visit me.

We also went to a couple of waterfalls on our way back, but more to that later.