I'm not quite sure what happened there..........

Apologies to regular subscribers or users of Google Reader if you received a whole lot of unreadable garbage as a notification of the last post, I have no idea what was going on. I think it was somehow connected to the fact that I typed a lot of the text in MS Word last night and then pasted it in this morning.Anyway, I think it's fixed now so sorry about that !

Back on two feet... (with apologies in advance for the photos)

Having got back from my holiday trip across Flores, I can now report that I’ve had a few visits to the outpatients’ clinic in the hospital to have a rather nasty leg wound dressed. This was as a result of a (previously unreported !) fall during our holiday while staying in the traditional village of Watu. While sitting in our host’s home, I asked where the toilet was. I was told it was “di belakang” (behind) but unfortunately they omitted to tell me that it was also “di bawah” (below) by about 4 metres. As a result, I walked around the back of the house in the pitch dark and promptly descended the 4 metres rather more rapidly than is to be recommended. The next day I had two sprained ankles and more cuts and grazes than I could count (toes, feet, both legs, both hands, one shoulder, head and nose), all of which rather restricted my mobility for the rest of the trip, to put it mildly.

However, all started healing well with the exception of one large but shallow leg wound which started to show signs of infection just after I arrived back in Maumere. 

 I resorted to the traditional Indonesian remedy of a heavy dose of antibiotics (one of the advantages of working in a hospital) and it started to show signs of improvement but then deteriorated again so I went along to the outpatients’ clinic to be seen by one of the hospital surgeons. Another five day course of antibiotics was prescribed (along with two other unidentified medicines) and a rather cursory wound cleaning was followed by the application of a lump of gauze. 

 My former colleagues in Smith & Nephew would be horrified by this (as I was) and I spent the next three days dreading the removal of this dressing (along with the accompanying skin, scab etc.) as the wound was still quite wet. After a repeat of this, I managed to get hold of two film dressings and decided to self medicate at home and I’m pleased to report that all is well now and healing is well underway.

Anyway, during this treatment, one of the milestones in every volunteer’s placement took place. This was my “final placement visit”, arranged by our programme manager at VSO and attended by her, a number of members of the hospital staff and me. During a VSO placement, each volunteer is required to submit a quarterly report outlining progress towards the agreed objectives and reporting on obstacles, successes and challenges. The final placement visit is an opportunity to review what has been achieved and discuss what could have gone better (and why). I found it a very useful and interesting exercise and it was encouraging to hear some of the comments from hospital staff about achievements and changes that they can see that I had either not noticed at all or had not considered worth mentioning !

Having a “final” placement visit really brings it home that my time here is almost at an end, and this was reinforced by the subsequent arrival in my inbox of plane tickets and a list of instructions from VSO about leaving my placement, arranging an exit permit etc. (you can’t just turn up at the airport and get on to a plane, you know!). So, it’s all fixed, I leave Maumere on Tuesday 8^th June and spend three nights in Bali, with a formal exit interview on Thursday. I’ll also be helping out with some briefings for a group of new volunteers who are due to arrive that week. I leave Bali on Friday 11^th, arrive in London on Saturday 12^th, and plan to be back in Ireland on or about Tuesday 15^th June.

  

Tour de Flores

Last Friday week, I headed off on the two day bus trip to Labuanbajo at the western end of Flores to meet my sister and brother-in-law (my first visitors since I've been here). They arrived in Bali on Saturday and then took the short flight from there to Flores on Monday morning. After a day's relaxing and catching up we then headed off on a road trip through Flores on Tuesday morning, arriving in Maumere on Sunday.

It's hard to do justice to the beauty of Flores in mere words and I don't think that my little camera is really up to the task either - the scenery is nothing short of spectacular with plunging valleys, soaring mountains (up to about 2200m), green rice fields, coffee plantations, banana trees, white beaches, volcanic lakes, and smiling children everywhere.

I've alteady posted some photos on Facebook (just click HERE if you want to see) but here are just a few of the highlights of the week :

In Ruteng, we were invited by Anouk (a Dutch volunteer) to visit Sekolah Luar Biasa, where she works. This is a residential school for almost 200 children with various disabilities (many are blind and others are deaf) but one these kids can do is perform ! As with most Indonesians, it seems that holding a microphone gives a confidence boost that is hard to believe. We saw and heard, dancing, singing, poetry and had to take hundreds of photos.

     

After leaving Ruteng, we visited Liang Bua, the cave where the bones of the "Flores Hobbit" were found. The cave is still the subject of ongoing investigation but it was easy to imagine how people could have lived there as it is very deep and high. We were even introduced to a local man who we were assured was a direct descendant of the "hobbit" !

From Ruteng, we travelled on to Bajawa, from where we did a one day trek cross country to the traditional village of Watu. This village has only recently had a water supply, made possible by the installation of a solar powered pump which gets the water up to the village. This project will feature in a movie (not yet released), being made by Malcolm Wyer, an American film maker.

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After Watu, we descended to the south coast near Aimere and then made our way northwards to Riung via the hot springs at Soa (no photos but very relaxing !). Riung was the location for a day's boat trip to the islands (where I was at Easter), and then from there to Moni and the three coloured lakes at Kelimutu. From there it was down to Maumere, arriving at lunchtime on Sunday.

Monday morning offered an opportunity for Rosemary and Helmut to visit the hospital. As they had been responsible for organsing the fund raising event in Ireland which raised over 37 million Rupiah, dr. Asep, the hospital director, was very keen to meet them and give a tour of the hospital and express his thanks for the funds.

   

The visit closed with a formal presentation of two pieces of locally hand-woven "ikat" and a thank you from the hospital management team.

The final episode in the visit was the drama of getting out of Flores. The flights that I had booked were cancelled as the airplane was "rusak" (broken) so we rebooked using another airline - the flight eventually took off four hours late and with minutes to spare before darkness fell (Maumere airport is not lit so there are no flights at night). 

All in all, a great week's holiday- Flores is one of the most beautiful places you could imagine and is still very unspoilt and untouristy. Well worth a visit - but be prepared, there are no 5 star hotels and travel arrangements are "difficult" !