The Children's Home, Dormitories, and Jessi Laiya

As I mentioned in a previous post, a children's home was established at the request of the church leaders on Nias after the earthquake of 2005. These children are the poorest-of-the-poor from among our church members on Nias. Here they receive good nutrition, a comfortable place to sleep, medical care when needed, an education and lots of tender, loving care. In the villages they probably would not go to school and would rarely receive any medical care and perhaps not even adequate nutrition. When we visited the home last week, there were 38 children in the home.

Jessi Laiya is the acting director at the present following the early death of the previous administrator who died in his sleep. He is the son of T. Laiya who first invited me to visit the island and had so much to do with the growth of the church on the island before his death in 2007 (?). Jessi met Bailey and me at the airport and drove us around the island Thursday and took us to the airport the next day. Thank you, Jessi, for being such a big help to us. We really appreciate your hospitality as well as the fact that you are carrying on the work of your father. We pray for God to continue to bless you and your family.

In addition to the children's home, three dormitories have been purchased for use by those from the villages who wish to further their education in the schools of Gunung Sitoli. There are students attending Middle schools, High Schools, as well as University. They are allowed to live in these dormitories rent free but must do their own laundry and cook their own meals. There are two dorms for girls and one for boys. The unidentified young man is Sechi Zebua, a graduate of the local university with a Bachelor's degree in English and teaches English to the children in the home. The older unidentified man with his wife administrates one of the dorms. The blond is, of course, our Bailey.

The Beauty That Is Nias

Nias is a small island with about 1 million people most of whom claim to be Christians. It is located off the west coast of Sumatra; however, while small, it is well known among surfers of the world. We had several surfers on our flight to Nias this time. Big waves are to be found on the west side of the island which faces the east coast of Africa and there is little between the two to slow down the waves. I first went to this island about 1974 invited by a friend and fellow worker in the church. We spent some time teaching in two villages in the interior and eventually established the first two congregations of churches of Christ on the island. With the help of God and other missionaries, there are about 86 congregations today. Back in 1974 I found few roads on the island. In order to get to our destination we rode the bus to the end of the line which wasn't too far out of Gugung Sitoli. We crossed several bridges before we reached the end of the road and each bridge was in worse shape than the last one until we came to one that had no road across it at all except for two planks. Everyone got off the bus while others guided the driver safely across the planks. The next river had no bridge at all. Here we started walking up the river and crossed it 13 times before coming to a village located at the top of the chasm wall. I don't know how many steps there were cut into the side of that wall but it looked to me like Jacob's ladder reaching all the way to Heaven. There were no angels going up and down, however. When we reached the top, we had a wood floor to sleep on and were fed a meal. They told me the next morning that I had visited with the village chief using Bahasa Indonesia and had eaten a meal the night before. I remember neither of these things. We continue our hiking all the next day reaching another village with a house with a wood floor where we slept the second night. About 10:00 AM after an early start the next morning we reached our destination and immediately began answering Bible questions. This went on for the next couple of weeks resulting in the establishing of the two congregations mentioned above. We pushed and pulled each other up and down the mountain trails through the forests. Since I was slower than the other two in our team, they placed me in front. Every time we came to a fork in the trail I would turn to look at them to see if we continue to climb or if by some chance we might be able to go down the mountain for a while. I soon stopped asking, however, because the answer was also the same..."Climb!" We drank the milk from the coconuts and it tasted better on a not day of climbing than bottled soda water. Fortunately there have been significant improvements to the infrastructure on the island and it is no longer necessary to hike through the forests to get where you need to go. There are several places on the island that I think are especially beautiful and I've taken a few photos of my favorites. I hope you enjoy viewing them.

The Karo Batak Adat House

There are 300 different tribes in Indonesia, each with its own language and culture. The Tapanuli Bataks greet each other in the morning by saying "Horas," the Karo Bataks greet each other with "Mejuahjuah, while the Nias people of N. Sumatra greet each other with "Yahobo." Many of these tribes have their own traditional housing units for tribal members. Many of these are long houses where several families live together. Pictured below are two traditional houses of the Karo Batak people that are still standing and still in use. Most families today prefer to build their own house but some of these traditional houses originally built without nails have remained in continual use for well over a hundred years. They are called Adat Houses and typically house 8 families. There are no partitions inside the typical Adat house. There are four sand boxes built into the floor of the house where two families can build a fire for cooking. Wood is used for fuel. Imagine the smoke that results which goes up into the high roof and into the little house built on top of the big roof made of thatch. This little house is built on top of the big house so that the spirits will have a place to live. Most of these Adat houses are as tall as a three story building and they are always built up high off the ground with only a ladder for gaining access. Children sleep on the floor while the adults sleep on a ledge built along the long side of the house. There is no privacy and no secrets. If one family gets into a squabble, all the other families can join in. When the children become teenagers they are usually moved into an Adat made just for them. One for girls at one end of the village and one for the boys at the other. Here are the photos of the Adat houses of the Karo Batak People of North Sumatra:

The Old House is Still Standing

My oldest granddaughter has been working with a congregation in Singapore for the past 6 weeks and came to Indonesia for the last 2 weeks of her summer. I met her in Medan, North Sumatra, and we spent one day looking at places where her father lived when he was a boy. The house in Medan itself has been torn down to make room for the enlargement of the central market of the city; but, the other house is located up in the mountain area among the Karo Batak people near a city named Berastagi. The house used to be out in the country all by itself, but now is surrounded by thousands of people in a whole new city. I didn't recognize the area when I saw it. My first thought was that they had sold the property to make room for some of the businesses that make up the new city, but as we were going by, I noticed the house partially hidden behind some trees and bushes. We stopped the car and I took some photos of the old house. It was like meeting an old friend. We have so many memories of that house and the events that took place in it or around it. I was very pleased to see that it was still standing and that it had been improved upon and was still well maintained. My granddaughter and I didn't ask to go in, that wasn't necessary. It was enough just to see that the house was still there. Even the large yard where the children used to play has remained unchanged. The swimming pool in the back looks to have been covered over, at least, and perhaps even filled in. I don't know; but, when we lived there we covered it over and used it for a classroom where Jeanie taught school to our children using the Calvert Correspondence Courses. These are some of the photos of the house and the yard.

Demonstrations

Decided I needed some fish for lunch today since I don't get enough Omega 3. Went to Outback Steak House and had grilled Salmon. Delicious. On the way back arrived at the traffic circle around the Hotel Indonesia and found a huge political/religious demonstration in progress. Had to take a side street to avoid the crowds. I avoided most of it, but did get close enough to the heart of it to take the three photos here. They are demonstrating against Israel and in favor of the Palestinians. Their signs read, "Save Gaza."

Batiks For Women

Okay, I was asked about Batiks for women. So, I went to the mall and looked in a couple of stores selling Batiks and found the women's section. These are the photos. I think traditionally the women have usually used Batik for their sarongs not their tops; but, as you can see, Batiks are now used for everything including handbags. I also paid attention to the shirts of the men walking around in the mall and noticed (I'd never paid attention before) that about 1 out of every 4 were Batiks.

My Batik Shirt Collection

My collection of Batik shirts. I wear them over here from time to time because they are considered formal wear or at least semi-formal wear and relieve me of the discomfort of wearing a suit and tie. All my current shirts are cotton but I've been given several silk ones in the past. I prefer the cotton. It's cooler. Batik is printed in a very special way using wax to separate the colors and the pattern markings. The material is dyed and the wax boiled away then re-waxed and new dye applied. Years ago it was all done very tediously by hand but now "chops" are made of copper or other metals to fashion the design desired and then dipped in the wax and pressed unto the cloth. Batik is found in many countries of the world but Indonesian Batik is especially famous. Modern Western patterns have become very popular among quilters in America and my wife has made a ton of quilts from Batik many photos of which I've posted at various times on Facebook. You can go to my timeline and visit my photos to see them. For more information on Batik, do a Google search. Enjoy.