Jailolo - Day 1

Jailolo – Day 1
Wow, what an amazing week in Jailolo. First, I will start with how it ended. This morning, before the helicopters came to pick us up to go back to the ship, I was sitting in front of where we were staying when I was jolted out of my chair. A big earthquake! Much more intense than I ever felt in all my years in California. Later an aftershock that seemed just as big. We were on flat land near the ocean so couldn’t help but think about a tsunami. Well I did read this was a highly seismically active area. Weird thing was that I didn’t scare me. Okay, so instead of writing one really long blog I will post a recount of each day over the next week, internet permitting. At some point I will add pictures which is not likely until Darwin. The week began last Sunday when we awoke anchored off Ternate. It is a cone-shaped island, basically an active volcano sloping down to the ocean with a city built on one side. There is a huge mosque right at the shoreline. The city was evacuated in the 90’s when the volcano erupted. Really quite a view but then there are so many such amazing views here in Indonesia. In the early afternoon we helo’d to the village of Jailolo which is on a larger island nearby. I was definitely as excited as any kid to get geared up and take a Navy helicopter to our site. Hopefully Vanessa can get a picture on showing us in our gear. When we arrived, SUV’s were waiting to whisk us away to the local hospital. Our driver sped off and immediately began honking his horn and then about 15 seconds later (and approximately 150 yards, a short walk) we were there. The hospital is a complex of one story buildings but you could immediately tell there was no ac and there were no screens in the windows (the mosquitoes here carry malaria, Japanese encephalitis, and Dengue fever). More about the hospital in later blogs. There some local men out front and I noticed all were smoking and it smelled like cloves. This is the Spice Islands after all. The locals were all smiles and throughout the stay they were very friendly and always smiling and laughing. Initially I wondered if we looked funny our something as they always laughed we went by but soon came to realize just a cultural norm. Made me think of back home where some people will stare and scowl when strangers come around and I decided I prefer the laughing. We went to our building and my roommate and I got a tiny little room with two small cots and mosquito nets. Our first task was to put up the nets (there were no poles or anything). We went out back where a local man macheted some bamboo for us. Different people used different methods but I put 4 bamboo poles of equal height at each corner of the bed, secured them with twine, and put up my net. It was high enough to sit up in bed and looked pretty good. Not bad for never having been a boy scout. There were no showers, no ac of course, and no flush toilets. You must see our bathroom and I will post that picture when I can. There was running water but we couldn’t use it for brushing teeth, etc. There also were no screens on the windows. Oh, and we started sweating the moment we got off the helicopter. The rest of the crew arrived and we unloaded the cargo and set things up and then our local dinner arrived. Originally we were going to have the prepackaged MRE’s 3 times a day (the packaged rations that last 20 years) but they were able to arrange delivery of local food for breakfast and dinner. Every meal we got consisted of rice, fried chicken or fish (small whole fish), some type of egg, tofu or noodles, hot sauce or salsa, and fresh bananas or papaya. Pretty good although I couldn’t eat it for breakfast every day (had a stash of poptarts as an alternative). After dinner we saw some young women in white outfits and asked some interpreters if they were nurses. Of, first about the interpreters. We picked them up in Jakarta. Almost all were nursing or medical students or were working nurses or doctors. They are all extremely nice and so, so helpful. Think I already told you about out interpreter in Tebelo who insisted on buying us some local treats. Anyway, both the interpreters turned out to be working nurses in Jakarta. I asked about their education and working conditions and sounds pretty similar to nursing in the US. However, that is Jakarta (the majority of the population lives on the island where Jakarta is located). Out here there it is a different story. Both resource and education-wise much less advanced (perhaps analogous to New York City versus Appalachia). It turns out the young women in white were nurse’s aides who were also in nursing school. They were 16 and 17 years of age. I was impressed with how their uniforms were so white and pressed and how professional they looked despite the tropical heat and humidity. Think Miami in August. We had an early morning the next am so I went to bed but didn’t sleep a wink that night (but I did sweat a great deal). Well finally the adventure I came for had begun.