The end of this blog?

Well, I'm back in Long Beach now - my mom is here for one more day and returning to Nebraska tomorrow (Monday) morning. Already getting swept up in all the things I need to be doing - at home, in the neighborhood, and in relation to my work. I'll set aside all my wonderful materials from my trip in Indonesia until June, because final revisions to my book on Second Life are due June 1. Then I'll go back to it with fresh eyes and start writing, and of course all the while staying in touch with my friends in Makassar and elsewhere in Indonesia.

It's going to be a challenge, this master plan of mine - to keep two research projects going for the next several years, one in Indonesia and one in a virtual world. But I find they each cast light on the other in interesting ways, and it keeps my busy mind occupied as well. So we'll see how it goes.

It was a wonderful, challenging, and deeply rewarding trip and I'm so glad I did it and that my mom got to come for the last two weeks. I don't know what's going to happen with this blog now. I've never yet been one for blogging my everyday life here in the USA, probably because I'm so busy here with my anthropological writing, but we'll see what happens. For now I'll leave this blog up as a record of my adventures.

Thanks to everyone who read this blog along the way and who have supported me throughout. My best wishes to you all. Terima kasih banyak semua!

Tom

We're in California!

We just got back to California a couple hours ago and are home. Off to supper soon so this will be short; just wanted to let everyone know we are home!

Back to the USA!

Tom and I will be heading to the airport in a few hours - the time has gone so quickly and we have done so much, that it will take some time to think about it all. It has been a wonderful trip, and I met so many interesting and kind people.

Last night Tom and I had dinner with one of his graduate students who is doing research here. We ate in an Indian restaurant where there were no prices on the menu - you paid what you thought the food was worth. It was very good and we took the subway back to the hotel.

This morning we took a walk in a park near the hotel and were able to see the Singapore skyline really well. The number of buildings and the uniqueness of the architecture is really remarkable.

Now for the long trip to Los Angeles - we leave this afternoon about 4 pm and we will be in Los Angeles at 5:30 pm. It's not really an hour and a half flight, it is more like 16 hours, but we cross the international dateline and several other magical things happen as we regain the day we lost when we travelled here.

On Monday, April 16 I will return to Omaha with a new appreciation of my life in America, and a deeper understanding of the lives other people have in this world. See you all soon - Neva.

We're on our way!

We've had a wonderful couple of days in Singapore, lots of shopping and walking around, visiting a museum, and other fun too. Now it's Friday morning our time, and this afternoon we'll be getting on the big Singapore Airlines plane for the flight to Los Angeles! It's been a great time, but we're looking forward to getting home.

First Night in Singapore

We got off the plane in Singapore and as usual, a bit of reverse culture shock, to be in a First World kind of environment. Mom was pretty bowled over by the Fullerton Hotel, where we're staying - a bit on the swank side, in a beautiful building that was originally Singapore's post office. I'd decided a while ago to treat myself and her and stay in a place a bit nicer than usual!


Mom helped herself to the robes and sandals and seemed to adjust to the luxury environment quite quickly.


We walked out for an evening meal along the beautiful waterfront, packed with outdoor restaurants serving amazing food. Singapore's reputation as possibly having the best food in the world is well-deserved.


Now two days of sightseeing and relaxing before the long flight home!

Last Days in Indonesia

As always, it was hard to say goodbye to everyone in Makassar, though I'll be happy to see Bill and everyone back in the US. On our last day in Makassar, mom and I made American food for the staff. Everyone had fun learning how to make penne pasta with red sauce and banana pudding.


The following morning, we went to the airport with Akbar (the director of YGC) and met a couple friends who work at the airport, and with a warm goodbye got on the plane for Jakarta. After 5 hours' layover, we got on the short one-hour flight to Singapore!

Many Photo Opportunities

From Neva - As you can see I had many photo opportunities yesterday. Everyone wants to have their picture taken with us. It was great to see the customs of Indonesia and get to meet some more people. At the Mr and Mrs Makassar contest, we were introduced as honored guests, and one of the contestants acknowledged us in her introductory speech, and thanked us for coming. You see few "Westerners" here, and so they are anxious to meet us and they are very hospitable and kind.

It rained yesterday, and the humidity is always high, but Daryl told me that there was a low of 16 last night. Gee - hope it warms up or I will be in for a shock. One of the things about Indonesia that is unusual is that people take 3 or 4 baths a day to cool off and wash off the sweat. In the heat of the day, people stay in the shade and people get out usually just in the morning and evening to avoid the heat.

Yesterday we met with the HIV support group for positive women. Tom gave another talk explaining what HIV actually is, and there were many questions, and he was able to help clear up some misconceptions. The women were young and so they will have many problems to deal with in the future.

Weddings and Contests

Our next-to-last full day yesterday and things are hectic with getting ready to leave. But got in lots of fun yesterday too. Went to a traditional neighborhood wedding - very simple, but lots of family and friends there. Had to wade through mud and water to get to the house and get in - the bride and groom were so happy we came.


The guy who did the makeup for the bride is a friend of YGC - he dressed mom up as a traditional Bugis bride for a quick photo opportunity.


In the evening we attended the Mr. and Mrs. Makassar beauty contest - lots of great traditional dresses and entertainment, food too. The pageant took five hours but was fun.

Hello from Neva

Tom did a great job of explaining the trip, but I just wanted to say hello and let you know things are going great. The bus trip was wonderful, because we could sit and look at the countryside as it changed from city to country- we also entered mountains and the views were really beautiful. I could also sit and watch small towns and the people in them as they went about their everyday life. When we arrived in Toraja, the rest of the group stayed at Dadang's family house, but Tom and I stayed in what we were told was a hotel. It turned out to be a spare bedroom in an orphanage! But it was fun to be there. The children seem well cared for and the older ones do the laundry and prepare the meals. Then when guests come like us, they have a bamboo orchestra and play for us and do a traditonal dance in the courtyard. In the same bedroom area we stayed in, there was a young couple from the Netherlands, so we could do some English communicating. The wife was working with the orphans - I am not sure what her husband was doing. They had been there a month and were leaving the day after we left.

We were provided with three meals by the family and all 20 of us would sit down and eat. The family would stand back and watch us eat and were so concerned that I was not getting enough rice. They were so helpful and would provide a drink whenever we would sit down. It was a very interesting experience and I got to know the group from Gaya Celebes much better. They are great people and are hard workers.

That's all for now. Talk with you later.

Our adventures in Torajaland!

We are back from our wonderful four days in Tana Toraja (Torajaland)! I've got about 325 photos from the adventure - but my new camera's memory card messed up during the trip, so a couple short videos I made are so far un-downloadable. I'll try to get help with that when I'm back in the US. 22 of us went, a whole busload for the 8 hour trip each way...


The land of the Toraja ethnic group is up in the mountains in central Sulawesi. They are famous for their beautiful homes and carvings and their death rituals. We stayed at the traditional home of Dadang's family. Dadang is a staff member of Gaya Celebes.

Right in front of the house are some limestone megaliths placed there hundreds of years ago.


The view of the karst (limestone) mountains and rice paddies in every direction are breathtaking.


We had a great time meeting Dadang's family. Mom was especially taken by little Rio, one of Dadang's nephews.


The two full days we were there, we rented two vans and took everyone around on visits to interesting sites. For hundreds of years the Torajan people have buried their dead in limestone caves, some at ground level and some hundreds of feet in the air. They are buried in elaborate wooden coffins. As they rot over the centuries the bones fall out and mix together. In front of the caves they build effigies called tau-tau, about 3 feet high, in the image of the deceased, looking out over the rice fields.



Babies who die were often wrapped up in fabric and placed inside holes carved in giant forest trees, the hole covered with fiber until it closed of its own accord. These tree and cave burials still continue.

So much more to say about the trip but I'm quite busy with the preparations for returning to the USA, so I'll let Mom add an entry of her own.

We'll be awol for 4 days...

My mother and I are having a great time - I just gave a talk at a local university and my mom came along for the ride. Tomorrow morning (April 3) early we're going with the whole stuff up to Torajaland, a beautiful hilly area about 8 hours from here, a favorite of tourists. 25 of us will be going up and we'll be returning the evening of April 6. I won't be taking the laptop. So it may be April 7, Indonesia time, before we post again to the blog. Don't worry - we should have some great photos!

Fort Rotterdam

Mom and I have been having a lot of fun - it's nice to be in vacation mode for a couple days. This morning we went to Fort Rotterdam, the old Dutch fort here, just a few blocks from the hotel near the water. We went early, 8:30am or so, but it was already getting hot.


Lots of pretty flowers and interesting passageways on the grounds.


There were a lot of schoolkids there, many bused in from outside town so not at all used to seeing Westerners. So we were definitely part of the attraction, but we took it in stride and had fun talking to them.

Hello from Neva

Tom and I at an orchid place on my first day in Indonesia.
Sunset in Makassar from the hotel restaurant.

Hello everyone -
I have been thinking of all of you and wanted to let you know that things are going well. I've arrived safely in Makassar, Indonesia in the late afternoon, and Tom was at the airport to pick me up. The trip was long, but went well and I was able to see 5 movies inflight, movie fans. We went to the hotel and I was able to rest, and the next morning we went to Gaya Celebes, the organization he helped found, that helps those dealing with HIV/Aids.

The staff there was very kind to me, and had many questions about my life in the U. S. It was an impromptu English lesson and at times we got stuck, but it was enjoyable to meet everyone and try to learn their names. There were about 10 people there in the morning. Tom and I then went to a shopping area in town and picked up some things and ate, and later that evening we were back at Gaya Celebes where I set in on an HIV information session with staff and some local people. Tom showed a short film and talked about HIV transmission and treatment. I had to work hard to stay awake at that point - I was fading fast, but got back to the hotel and slept well last night.

My impression of the city is that the people are very kind and polite, but it is very crowded and I could never drive here. Tom won't even try it. We are preparing a short film to show you the street experience. The streets are crowded with cars, taxis, motor bikes, carts and pedestrians. Small shops are packed in to the edge of the street with no sidewalks and a rare stoplight. Zoning - who needs it. We would have 6 inches clearance between us and a motorbike with mom, dad and two little kids (forget the backseat carseat thing) while up ahead a pedestrian was crossing and someone was coming head on as they tried to pass someone!! Pictures and movie later.

One interesting thing is that there are very few Westerners here. So that when Tom and I are shopping, everyone literally stops and stares at us. Tom says the only Westerners they see are on TV usually, so they think we are movie or TV stars. We were in a little supermarket and one little boy was sneaking close to me - I could see him out of the corner of my eye - he reached for something on a shelf near me and was staring at me, and I looked at him and smiled and he ran away embarrassed. Usually when we go into a store, the manager comes over and they are giving us the royal treatment. The standard of living is much lower, and so they are doing everything they can to get our business. We take a cab from place to place and the starting price is 47 cents and the most we usually pay is $2.

We take cabs everywhere because of the humidity - it isnt the heat so much as the extreme humidity. And also because it is hard to navigate the streets. We take a few showers each day and go out in the morning and evening mostly.

This is a great experience and I will post more later. Next week, the group is renting a bus and we are going about 2 hours north of here to the mountains and a place called Toraja. About 20 will go and they will stay with the parents of one of the group. They are rice farmers. The native art and carvings there are remarkable, I am told, plus it will be cooler. Tom and I will stay in the hotel (wimps) and we will all spend a few days there seeing the sights.

My love to you all, and thank you for caring about me. Neva

Mom is here, safe and sound!

Mom got in yesterday afternoon - right on time, amazingly, luggage and all! We had a good first night at the hotel and how are at GC and Mom is meeting everyone. I'll post more updates later!

Mom's in Singapore!

My mother's plane has landed in Singapore! I talked with her right before she got on the plane in Los Angeles. In Singapore there's a good chance her cellphone won't work (the standard used here in Asia is different from the US standard), and it's a relatively short (2-hour) layover anyway. So no news is good news - she will be here by 4pm local time!

Mom's on her way!

Just talked to my mom - she's at the boarding gate at LAX, getting ready to get on her flight to Singapore. Everything is going very smoothly and I can't wait to see her!

A day with ODHA

Yesterday was a difficult but very rewarding day spent with People Living with HIV/AIDS (the Indonesian acronym for which is "ODHA"). I spent much of the day making rounds with Ade, a member of the GC staff whose main job is care and support for ODHA. Ade is a waria (male to female transgender) who's worked with GC for 8 years. Bill and I spent time with her in Australia in 2001 at the Asia-Pacific AIDS conference that year, and when Bill and I were here in 2000 we hung out with her a lot.

So yesterday she had a schedule full of visits to ODHA and invited me to come along - she wanted my help with a couple folks. First we went and visited someone I'll call "Sam." I blogged a bit about Sam last month - I had visited his house with Ade. Sam's living with AIDS and also hepatitis C and TB. His mother is a widow and is working so hard to help take care of him. He's got several siblings and a couple live nearby and are helping out too.

When I saw Sam last month, he was very thin and having some other problems too, particularly nausea. The last couple days his mother started calling Ade and asking her to come over because he'd stopped eating due to the nausea and was getting very thin and weak. But he was resisting going to the hospital; he'd slapped his mother in anger the night before. She was crying on the phone. So we got there and Sam's mom led us to the room where he was lying on the bed. He was clearly having difficulty breathing and the whites of his eyes were yellow from the hepatitis. He was extremely thin, staring at the ceiling. We sat down on the floor and started talking to him. Ade is a very experienced counselor and was just amazing. We talked to him about his symptoms and asked him why he didn't want to go to the hospital. He said he didn't want to make things hard for his mother. We talked about how him staying here not eating was also making things hard for his mother. Ade talked to him about not giving up, about how some of his symptoms were actually getting better (he wasn't coughing any more) so he needed to regain his strength, that's what would make his mother happy too. He started crying a bit. We kept talking and after 15 minutes or so Ade said "so if Tom and I come with you to the hospital, will you come?" He said yes. We told his mom and the 2 siblings who were there and they started making preparations. He tried to eat a bit - his mom brought up some rice and broth, and he took some pills - but after about 1 minute he started vomiting and it all came back up. It was hard to watch, someone so thin vomiting.

Eventually his insides calmed down and his mother got him dressed and we got him into a taxi. He can still walk, but just barely. We got to the hospital - a gigantic, chaotic place - and here again Ade was so useful, because everyone there knows her and she knows all the check-in procedures. It can sometimes take 2-3 hours to get checked in, but with Ade's help we had Sam checked in in just 15 minutes. He's going to get an IV so he can get some nutrition back in him and hopefully that will help with everything.

Once we were satisfied everything was in order with Sam, we went to the AIDS ward to check up on a couple folks we'd visited before. One of them was in very bad shape - nearly in a coma. He was sleeping and very, very thin, so we couldn't talk to him. Another person we'd met before was doing better, so we chatted with him and his mother - he was happy to see me again. There were 6 other folks in the room - all men - and each one had a person or two there helping take care of him, in every case a woman - wives, mothers, sisters. Next to us was a wife who talked to us in frustration about her husband - she was sitting at the foot of the bed and he was laying there, turning his head away from us. "He's angry because he thinks this is a death sentence." We started talking about how it wasn't a death sentence, that there is free antiretroviral therapy and other medicines available even in Indonesia, and slowly he turned his head back to us - wouldn't talk to us yet, but was clearly interested. We chatted with a couple other folks too - I did some impromptu "HIV 101" teaching. When we were getting ready to go, Ade was double-checking that our person had the right cellphone number for her, and several of the women taking care of other folks in the room pulled out their cellphones and asked for Ade's number too. It was touching to see how badly people wanted an advocate, someone to help them understand what was going on. And sad to see how few people there are like Ade - too few NGOs or government agencies are doing this kind of on-the-ground advocacy. So much money wasted on meaningless billboards rather than this kind of work.

After leaving the hospital, we went to the home of another ODHA, "Ray." Ade wanted me to come here because the family wasn't believing Ade's explanations about AIDS and they were afraid to wash Ray's clothes, share drinking cups, etc. So I came along and met Ray, his mother, and a couple other family members. Ray had apparently been in very bad shape a few months ago - still weak but really improving due to the medication. I explained to the mother about how HIV can only be transmitted inside blood or semen, that there wasn't a single case of transmission due to glasses and plates, or clothing, or even kissing. She said "sometimes my grandkids want to sleep next to Ray, but I am afraid." I said it was fine and a good thing for the grandkids to sleep next to Ray, because ODHAs need support and love, and when I said this Ray started crying. But the mother clearly really cared - she just needed reassurance.

Later in the evening, I spent time back at the hotel where the training for the HIV+ women was taking place. It was their last night in the hotel so I spent the night there - GC got a free room from the hotel. It was interesting talking into the night with these women about their futures. It's hard - they are trying to support each other, but several of them who should go on antiretrovirals are afraid to do so because they worry if there are side effects, no one will be there to take care of their kids. In several cases they are living alone, or their husbands have died and the in-laws are not interested in supporting them anymore and their own families live far away. But if they don't take the meds, then they will get more and more HIV-related diseases, which will make it hard for them to take care of their kids too. And most of these women are living on about $25 a month, which is quite poor even in Indonesian terms. These structural dilemmas are so hard - people like Ade at GC will do all they can, but they can't be there 24 hours a day and they are responsible for serving many ODHAs, not just one. Thinking through the relationship between these structural issues and everyday life decisions will definitely be part of what I write about in relations to this research.

20 for 300

Today was the 4th day of the lifeskills training for HIV+ women - it's been very interesting. The women are really opening up and talking to each other. In a couple cases they've only known of their HIV status for a short time and the difference a few days makes has been remarkable. One woman brought her 6 year old son for the day - we helped entertain him. It was hard because he has a father, mother, and uncle all positive, and his mother is pregnant and of course we don't know if the infant will be infected or not. Yet it's great to see the positive attitude this woman has - she is a real fighter, all of the women are.

So speaking of fighters, since we've been basically cooped up in a hotel for 4 days, I decided to take all of the women and staff to see a movie - that's 20 people. Here that means thirty dollars, basically taking 3 people to a movie in California, so very worth it. It was at a mall right across the street from the hotel, we surprised the women by saying we were going on an excursion and then they were surprised to find out we were going to watch a movie! The only things showing were 300 and some Indonesian horror films - Indonesians love horror films, but since I'm still sleeping alone at the GC office for another week, we decided on 300. We had great fun watching the film all together; a nice change of pace and I was happy to offer folks a breather. Tomorrow I'm on the agenda to teach a module on HIV immunology, which will be intense since they are all HIV positive, so good to have some fun beforehand.

The right place at the right time...

Sometimes it turns out you're in the right place at the right time - that's half of what anthropology is about, getting yourself in the right place for happy coincidences to happen. I was at the third day of the lifeskills training for HIV+ women (which is going great) when one of the GC staff got a phone call stating that Nafsiah Mboi, the secretary of the National AIDS Commission, was in town for a day and wanted to meet with NGO representatives this night. Akbar (GC's director) is in Jakarta for almost two weeks for a training, so we decided that I would accompany two GC staff to the meeting. We got there and it ended up being a meeting of only 15 people - I'm so glad we were there because we got to do some good advocacy work. Mboi is a remarkable woman, dedicated to the cause of HIV/AIDS and really understands the kind of networking and planning that needs to happen. All very interesting!

Time flying by...

Still doing the training and working on proposals for Gaya Celebes. One week from today my mother arrives, and three weeks from tomorrow I'll be back in the US! The time is flying by now... scrambling to get as much done as I can...

A training

Today was the first day of a 6-day training for HIV-positive women here in Makassar. Some of the women are folks who took part in all these Puskesmas events in which I've been participating (several are pregnant), others already knew of their HIV-status. For the picture below I've purposely chosen a picture with poor lighting and their heads turned, and it won't get big if you click on it, to protect their identities. I'm not a trainer for this training and I've got a lot of stuff to do back at the GC office, so I'll probably just try to spend part of each day at the training, helping out a bit and observing. The training is a "life skills" training to help teach the women how to open their own businesses and such - helpful, if for no other reason that one woman's husband has already died and another is ill.

Testimony

I can't remember if I've mentioned this yet, but there is someone known to GC who is HIV positive and willing to do testimony to the discussion groups. It's a powerful event - last night was the 7th I think time where I've been there, in most cases folks have never known someone openly HIV positive and they are full of questions. One person broke out in tears. It really makes it real for them. The person and I (we're good friends but I don't want to reveal any identifying information) have a whole setup now where we say there's a person living nearby who's living with HIV/AIDS and is willing to come, and if people are ready and we're sure they aren't going to discriminate against the person, the person says "why don't you call them, Tom," and I call and the person's cellphone rings right there next to me! And the person picks up their cellphone and says "yes, it's me." People are absolutely floored. I'm sure I'll be writing about it in a more extended fashion in the future...

Sultan

Got to spend part of the day today with Sultan - an old friend going back to 1993 who used to work at GC. Roomed with him in 1998 and he spent a lot of time with Bill and I in 2000- he says hello, Bill!

A laptop for GC

So the power cable for my laptop died - 2 months of Indonesian voltages must have been too much. Unless I can get a new cable from the US, I won't be able to use my laptop for my last few weeks here. So I decided to get a laptop for GC, which I'll use until I go and then it will be theirs. They don't have one, so this is a big, big thing that will help the organization. Cost about $450 - a couple nice dinners out in the US, really, so very worth it. They are so happy!

Yet another I didn't feel...

Whenever I see "earthquake in Eastern Indonesia" anywhere in the world press I'm getting in the habit of making these little "don't worry" posts - no one here even knew it happened, and even near the epicenter of this most recent one there are no reports of damage or casualties. I'm doing fine, looking forward to my mother coming next week, doing lots of things as usual and trying to relax a bit too!

At the university...

Yesterday was a simply crazy day - in the evening, two very interesting kelompok diskusi. In the morning, I gave a talk about "the Anthropology of HIV/AIDS in Indonesia" at the School of Public Health at Hasanuddin University, the top university here in town (indeed, in all of eastern Indonesia).


Ilmi, a good friend of mine and my academic sponsor for this trip, is a professor in the anthropology department here; Bill and I got to know her when we were in Australia in 2001. She was finishing up her PhD there and I ended up being a member of her dissertation committee. She arranged this talk. It was great - I talked about the HIV/AIDS situation in Makassar and my experiences. Akbar came along and sat up with me and helped field the many interesting questions afterward. About 100 students and faculty there; as you can see, the talk got written up in the two biggest newspapers in town, Fajar and Tribun Timor.

We're making plans to get the public health folks at the university, many of whom are very forward-thinking, working more intensively with GC on some research projects - all sides would benefit and it would be very interesting!

Henna marks

Andy invited me to his house tonight after the Battimurung trip - an aunt of his is getting married (she's younger than he is), and there was a ceremony before the wedding. The ceremony involved the bride-to-be sitting up on a platform all dressed up (as seems to be the case across Indonesia) and there was a Koran reading, partly led by the male relatives and she also read some passages with the little reading stick people use.



Then there was a part of the ceremony where the bride-to-be sits with her palms up and female relatives come up one by one and take a leaf of the plant from which henna is made, and rub it on her palms, so there's a red mark, and this is to ensure a happy and prosperous marriage - didn't get a photo of that part!

Waterfalls and butterflies

Today I took a trip up to the Maros area, about 20 miles north from where I live - basically the county north of Makassar. There is a kelompok diskusi there, and the members really wanted to meet me. I was in for a nice surprise - they had decided to take me to Bantimurung, a well-known tourist destination in the area. I'd been there about 10 years ago but didn't remember it well and there have been a lot of improvements.

Most of the time, I'm doing my work here in the Makassar metro area, right by the sea. Occasionally you get a glimpse of the mountains in the distance (reminds me of Long Beach), but it's easy to forget that most of the island of Sulawesi is quite mountainous. This "leg" of the island is particularly interesting. No active volcanos, but a whole range of karst volcanos. Karst topography (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karst) is really amazing - hills that just rise vertically right up hundreds of feet, then flat-topped, like giant teeth, or all kinds of crazy sculpted shapes. When my mom is here, we'll be going to the Toraja area, a real tour de force of karst topography, but if you just get outside Makassar a bit you can see some beautiful examples, like the karst hills at Battimurung.

There's a river running through the area with a pretty waterfall...

and lots of butterflies. It's a recreation area where lots of Makassar folks go on the weekend for the scenery and cool breezes.

So I got to go there with 3 GC staff and about 12 folks from the area. We had a great HIV/AIDS discussion in a pretty little hut right next to the river...

and after lunch walked around the area and had a grand time. An aide to the regional leader (like a mayor, but for a county) was there and asked some good questions too! This was because it turns out that in the last year, the current governor has deicded to really court the gay/waria vote, I kid you not. There is a "waria for so-and-so" political group that has its own table in the county party offices, and they do a lot of work getting out the vote. The head of the waria organization for the whole area came to the meeting and we had a great talk on the 1 1/2 drive back to the GC office - she and the other waria talking about how they're getting better treatment from society because they're taking a stand in the political area. Obviously, very interesting!

Learning to type (and bigger pictures)

I recently downloaded a simple "learn how to type" program so the staff could improve their typing skills, which are at present pretty much limited to henpecking. They were so excited - it was so cute to see them all trying - if you look here you can see that one staff found an old non-functional keyboard and put it next to the computer (the black one in back) so she could practice while someone else was actually using the program. Their skills will improve rapidly, I think.

Since I've got a better Internet connection nowadays, I'm going to try uploading larger versions of my pictures. If you click on any picture, you should now get a substantially larger version.

A hospital visit

Yesterday I went with 3 GC staff to pay a visit to one of the main hospitals in town where people living with AIDS are treated. We saw three people who are currently getting treated for AIDS-related symptoms, people who for various reasons have not started antiretroviral therapy. This is one of the best hospitals in town, but still by Western standards it's shockingly dirty, full of people - which in a way is nice, because when someone takes ill often the whole family or at least 2-3 members basically camp out with the patient to keep them company and help them out. But the bad side (particularly if you don't have much money) is that as in the case of this first patient, he came in the night before around 7pm and it took until past 10pm that they finally got him into a room. (Of course, there are many nightmare stories in the US where it takes much longer than that!) He was very, very thin, could barely lift his head. 10 years ago he left Makassar and went to another city where he was involved in lots of drag shows, was a well-known community leader. But a few months ago decided to move back here because he was getting so sick. To be near his mother, who was sitting there right beside him, calm but worried, with thick glasses. She knows everything and is very supportive. Hopefully GC can help get him set up on antiretrovirals as quickly as possible.

After spending 20 minutes or so with this first person, we said goodbye and went to the second room--like the first, a room where it's 4 patients to one room. When we walked in the second room, we walked toward the bed of the second patient and he called out Tom! Someone who knew Bill and I from 2000, so we caught up and he wanted to know all about my becoming a professor. I barely recognized him - not as sick as the first person, but also very thin and weak. Sitting up in bed but definitely not doing well - hasn't been able to work for two weeks. He was getting a T4 cell count (this is important for HIV management) done for the first time that very day and with that data might be able to get antiretrovirals soon. The cell count lab test costs 700,000 rupiah - a little over 70 dollars, which is a month's salary or more for many people here. The government is supposed to pay but apparently the lab folks where trying to get his family to front the cost - sounds like it got worked out.

The third room was the hardest - a larger room, 8 patients to the room, and all of them persons with AIDS. 7 out of 8 were injecting drug users, the 8th a gay man GC is providing support to. He's been here for several weeks and the GC staff are worried he's getting depressed and that's going to effect his health even more. As with the first two patients, there were family members there, so we talked to them a bit about ideas for cheering him up. We also talked a bit to the person in the bed next to him - an injecting drug user, but lonely for some company and advise, so we chatted him up to. There just aren't enough NGO workers to go around right now. The nurse in charge of the room, which is basically known as an AIDS ward, a young man, was very nice and clearly competent - I'm thankful for that. But I've heard stories of doctors and nurses walking right up to the beds of AIDS patients and saying "this is what you get for having sinned - you should think about that!" Looking at the room full of thin men - all men - and their families fretting over them, I couldn't help thinking, this is going to be the future of Indonesia if prevention efforts aren't scaled up. More and more hospitals where more and more beds get taken up by AIDS patients, more needless suffering.

Routine...

As I'm falling into a work/research routine, I don't always have earthshaking stuff to post, but I'll try to post every day, at least briefly, so everyone knows I'm okay. If I forget, though, don't worry if there isn't a post for a day or two!

One month from today I'll be back in California!

A movie...

Forgot to mention - Saturday night went with 3 friends - Andy, Aldi, and Robi - to go see a movie -we'd wanted to see "Ghost Rider," but it was already out of the theaters, so they decided to see "World Trade Center" instead! The Oliver Stone flick. An interesting ethnographic experience really - a 1/4th full theater watching the somewhat silly dramatization, folks all over the theater answering cellphone sms messages and not particularly taken in by the movie. Afterwards, Andy and I thought it was okay, but Aldi thought it was too boring - there were even any terrorists in it, so no action! Absolutely no anti-Americanism or pro for that matter, it was really just a movie to them. It is amazing how distorted a view of Indonesia and particularly Islam circulates in the West...

One down!

Today Akbar and I sent off the first big grant application we've done to try and ensure the future of this organization, since their current funding looks like it will run out in a few months. It took a few days of work, but was a great way to really get a handle on the various activities of GC and how they all fit together. And skills in grantwriting, above all in *English*, is one of the best things I have to offer in terms of helping out.

Yet another post-test Puskesmas visit...

4th out of 8, the 5th one will be tomorrow...

More fun with kelompok diskusi

Had another fun kelompok diskusi (discussion group) last night with 14 warias - a pretty big group - and 3 staff from GC - a couple extra staff were there for routine monitoring and just to join in the fun. It was a very lively discussion with some interesting stories about challenges those attending (and their friends) have experienced in regard to HIV/AIDS...

The last puskesmas

Today we paid a visit to the 8th Puskesmas where we're doing the HIV testing for pregnant women - the final one in the funded program (there are 30 Puskesmas in Makassar, so it's too bad the Global Fund money isn't bigger, but this is a pilot project). For the last 3 or 4 of these, we've settled into a pattern where Akbar (the director of GC) makes the initial presentation as he's done all along, but then when he goes into a room to be one of the 3-4 counselors meeting one-on-one with the women considering testing, I stay in the big room and do a question-and-answer session with the women waiting to get tested. It's fun and a great way to get a feel for the kinds of concerns average Indonesians have about HIV/AIDS. Today I got questions like "what if the baby is born with HIV; how do I protect its health?"; "I heard on the TV that there was a husband and wife who were both HIV negative but the baby had HIV, is that possible?" (answer: basically no unless the baby was raped or a dirty needle in the hospital ward or something); "if a woman is positive, can she still have sex with her husband?"; and so on. We still have the post-test visits to do for 5 of the 8 puskesmas, but the program is now winding down, and it's been great that the timing worked out so I was able to follow it all the way through.

Not again...

Now many of you will have seen news coverage of the plane that skidded off the runway in central Java. Once again, a long way away so don't worry. It's a little frustrating that the news only covers disasters in Indonesia and not the stuff that's going well. It's like there's an earthquake in California, and a plane skidding off the runway in Texas, and I'm in Chicago. It's obviously not a good thing, but just keep it in perspective - I'm fine!

Busy days

A busy day yesterday and another one today, so will keep this brief... another visit to a puskesmas - a large one as you can see. Then in the afternoon a return visit to a puskesmas for post-test counseling. We are finding some HIV-positive pregnant women through the program, so that's good, but of course stressful too. Even for a trained counselor it's hard to tell anyone, including a pregnant woman, that they are HIV positive (and in the case of a pregnant woman, that their child might be infected too). In the evening, another kelompok diskusi where a person living with HIV talked to a group of gay men and waria -very moving.

The other big thing is that I'm researching with the GC staff possibilities for future funding for the organization. Some of the proposals are AMAZINGLY complicated (with 150-page forms!), so this will be a major project for the next month and something I can actually talk about in my research. Quite interesting. Even busy form-filling work can be part of anthropology!

Another one I didn't feel...

Many of you will read about the quake that just hit southern Sumatra - a 6.3 quake. Remember Indonesia is big - the distance between me and this quake is roughly California to Nebraska. These disasters are terrible but nothing new in this "Ring of Fire" area...

Mediations

I won't go into the details, but had a good day yesterday in which I was able to mediate between GC and a group of gay men (mostly educated types, with good computer skills and such) who had essentially broken away from GC due to what turned out to be nothing more than a misunderstanding. They came to GC to see me as a "neutral person" to talk about their plans for the future, knowing that it would give them a chance to talk to the GC staff too. So I was able to mediate the conflict and now they're going to do some interesting events together, and also help the GC staff out with computers and such.

I've seen needless conflict undermine groups in Java and Bali so many times, so I've got some experience with this, and I'm glad I was able to help mediate this misunderstanding. We'll see what happens, but things look good. Every little thing that keeps the focus on the important things is helpful.

Computer training

It's very sweet to watch all the staff helping each other learn how to use Word, Excel, the Internet, email, etc., with the new computer they've just got, partially as a present from me. There are a couple computers in the office but they're in the rooms of particular staff and used for reports, accounting, etc., so it's hard for the outreach staff to use them without feeling that they are stepping on toes. The new computer is right in the main back room, in the middle of everything, so anyone can use it and people can watch and learn as they go along.

A Fishing Village

Yesterday had an adventure out of town with two folks from YGC (including Andy, YGC's treasurer) and a guy who works for an NGO concerned with rural empowerment. We took about an hour motorcycle ride down south along the coast (which given how slow traffic moves on the narrow roads here, means about 20 miles). We met up with a group of about 6 other NGO activists and then went to this little village right on the beach. Quite beautiful, with a little island right off the coast and a big nonfunctional ship right up on the beach:



Some smaller fishing vessels too:



These folks are quite impoverished - electricity, but no running water and such. So the NGO activists are helping the villagers develop alternate sources of income by making ceramics, weaving, etc., since the money from fishing is limited and not that much. We went up into one of the little wood homes and had a lovely lunch of cucumbers, beans, cabbage, and fresh grilled fish. Then had a meeting with representatives from four villages touching base on the alternative income project. Andy had come as an accounting expert and met with the persons from each of the four villages in charge of accounting - it was very helpful because they were making all kinds of mistakes in their bookkeeping and were getting confused as to how to manage the money allocated for the project.


It was great to see how the GC staff are becoming trusted by other NGOs as a source of knowledge.