Six months already !

Apologies for the lack of input this week, it seems as if not a lot happens on a day to day basis but when I think back, it wasn't all bad...
I had a favourable response this week from one of the hotels I've been chasing in Bali who have very generously offered to let us have a few hundred bed sheets and blankets that they no longer require - all I have to do now is somehow arrange to get them collected and delivered to Flores ! (another challenge...)

I started work this week on a project connected with the HR aspects of the hospital. Initially, this will involve job descriptions and will move on to include some HR policies, a simple performance management system and hopefully eventually some agreement on competencies. (To any HR pros reading this, I know that this seems like the wrong way around but, believe me, anything will be an improvement and we need to start with some very small steps...)





My radio career continues unabated, it's now Saturday morning and I'm on the air again at 12 noon for another hour of waffle in English.

This week sadly we said goodbye to another volunteer from Maumere. Jess has unfortunately had to return home to the US early for personal reasons. When I arrived in Maumere, there were seven VSO volunteers here - now there are three. Two left when their placements ended in the normal course of events, one has had to return home temporarily due to the continuing visa problems, and this week saw Jess's departure. Of the group of ten of us who arrived in Denpasar on 9th February (six months ago exactly), there are now two left in Indonesia. (Two are temporarily at home due to family illnesses but are expected to return.) The visa situation has still not been resolved and this week VSO informed us that they have reluctantly had to cancel the (already delayed) group of new volunteers due to arrive in September. This means that the next intake will be in January, almost a year after my arrival. Normally, there are three intakes a year so you can imagine what effect this ongoing disruption is having on VSO's volunteer numbers and work here.

Tomorrow (Sunday) promises to be an interesting one : I have been invited to a party which is part of the pre-wedding formalities for a friend who works in the hospital. There is a strong tradition of belis (brideprice or dowry) here and (as far as I can understand) tomorrow's event is the formal exchange between the families of the belis. More to follow...