MSI-Indonesia: Christal's Trip - Aug 2007

Kalimantan (Borneo)

For more photos of Kalimantan visit:
Kalimantan 1
Kalimantan 2
Kalimantan 3

I went with Paul and Faythe (a retired couple in their 70s who have been living between Indonesia and America for the past few years);

Leela (who will be living in Malang for the next year);

and Juliana (also new to the MSI team in Malang, she is Indonesian but can speak English and unfortunately for her had to translate all the time)

Pastor Rudy moved to the area 9 years ago to help the communities - building wells, schools, and working to find sustainable ways for the people to make a living, as well as preaching the gospel and building churches like the one in the picture. When he started out - before they got the speedboat to be able to travel up the river, he used to ride his bicycle for kilometers to reach the communities.He lives with his family in a very basic house that I’ve been told has already been very well improved since a few years ago. He has many people that stay in his house in addition to his family. e.g. Hendro – about 14 years old – left his family from another village to be able to attend school.

A dorm is under construction so that more boys like Hendro will be able to attend school.

Indonesia in general has a morning culture. On Sundays at 7 or 8am you can go out and see communities out for their morning 'health walk'. People apparently start making social calls by 6am. Our first morning staying at Pastor Rudy's we woke up to singing in Indonesian at 4am - it was actually a really nice way to wake up. Every morning they have worship and bible study so we joined them for it while we were there. It was kind of nice being up that early, but probably something I would only keep up if I were living there...

We were swarmed by the children when we first arrived.

The docks were planks of very old wood...with many gaps.

At the edge of the docks you can see people bathing and washing clothes. The river is their source of water, but unfortunately also where they dump...everything. The box behind the woman on the left is a toilet.

There are river communities all along the Kapuas River; we visited a few in the three days we were there. Each time we were welcomed into peoples' homes and sat around on the floor - there was rarely furniture - drinking tea...made from the water from the river possibly? if there wasn't yet a well there...

At one man's house we got some very good pineapple. It was so sweet but also very light...

They gave us some pineapple to take back as well as jack fruit.

This is one of the wells Pastor Rudy has helped a village with. The clear water coming out is much better than the well at Pastor Rudy's own house. At the moment his well is not deep enough.

The washroom: squat toilet and the shower - the hose hanging on the right.

We tried to avoid taking a shower since Faythe had told us the last time she had come you got out feeling itchy all over and dirtier than when you first went in (again the importance of getting a well). Juliana had also had an experience in a similar area where she broke out in a rash after showering.

On the second day we came back and found Faythe had showered and had no problem.

We all showered.

After sweating all day, playing volleyball, and being splashed in the boat on the river it felt so good to shower. Despite being outside, with a bug crawling up the 'wall', and the water trickling out slowly...

Pastor Rudy's three girls (the tall girl in the middle is a friend). I realized that it was no little thing for him to decide to move there. He grew up in another city, and went to university in Jakarta (Indonesia's capital) so he was used to living with all the conveniences and comforts in a big city. He moved around the time he got married; he and his wife were choosing to not only live in these conditions, but also to raise their children there.

Our first meal at their house. Home-grown rice.

The school they are developing is right outside their house. We got to teach a few English classes while we were there. There are still a lot of improvements needed but it has come a long way in the past few years when there was originally nothing.

There aren't enough textbooks, and there are very limited supplies. With the senior class we brought some cardstock and stickers. When we were preparing the lesson the night before I was thinking that it would be a little childish for them - but then I realized the next day that these kids rarely, if ever, get to see or use these materials.

After we left Pulau Kaladan we spent one night in Banjabaru at the guesthouse on the campus of another school site.