Saluram Induk Materam

Into my heart, an air that kills from yon far country blows. What are those Blue Remembered Hills? What spires, what farms are those? That is the land of lost content. I see it shining plain. The happy highways where I went. And cannot come again.

Tears before bedtime 16 March

Ivana



It may very well end in tears, but in the meantime I am like Toad of Toad Hall, King of the Road. With my throbbing beast between my legs (well 125cc is bigger than most people here have), carving out a pathway along country roads or through the streets of the city. In the countryside its just a matter of swerving round the potholes which is fair enough in daylight at least, the dirt roads are less amenable to stability and have to be taken cautiously. In the city however we are into the thick of it with the shoals of bikes weaving their way at speed as though the Merapi volcano had just erupted. At the back of the pack you may be picked off by other traffic, even pedestrians and bejaks (pedal taxis). At the centre of the pack and you have to keep six inches clear of bikes all around you while gently edging your way to where you need to be. The head of the pack is the place to be, and with twenty or thirty speeding machines just behind you, even bus drivers can be intimidated! Consequently it’s a race for pole position at the traffic lights and last one off at the green is a sissy. Move off too early though and the waiting policeman will get you unless you are quick enough to change the maneuver into a left hand turn which is legal at most junctions. Even so, racing along at sixty and some hairy biker or little totty is sure to appear from nowhere and go racing past at eighty. Mustn’t think of anything else while driving though, looking for particular shops or at attractive girls is a dangerous activity – must stay alive and not bump into anything – this is a computer simulation made real! I have gradually discarded extraneous clothing like long trousers and the heavy coat in the interests of ventilation but am not seriously tempted to remove the regulation vso helmet if only because I would not want to be responsible for the medical bills in the event of an accident.

Bye the way have you seen the new washing machines that are more revolutionary than the Dyson vacuum cleaner? They use air instead of water with oxygen as the waste product!

10 March resuscitation

picture of lunch break during computer rebuild... Ivana, Tito, Alice and Thomas

If people here spent less time, effort and money on advertising and on religion I guess it could be a reasonably pleasant and rich Country but there we are – I daresay Indonesian visitors to the uk could come up with some equally pithy observations.

Ten years ago it would have been inconceivable but today it happens and its like losing your right arm (left, if your left-handed of course) – a computer virus, Mr Coolface (aka My Princess) took control of my laptop after saving a document from the web onto my ‘flash’ memory stick in an internet café and then loading it into my machine back home. I find a couple of possible data recovery contacts in Jogya from the web but whiz kid Tito, just completing his computer studies course volunteers to rescue what he can, re-format the hard drive, building partitions and re-installing the operating system, Microsoft Office etc along with any rescueable data files that can be moved about and disinfected between the laptop and Alice’s machine ( also affected but at least now retrieved from the hostel). Coincidentally the office computer in the village has also gone down (but happily not with Mr Coolface so I guess its not down to me). Now, two weekends later and with two steps forward and one step back we appear to be making progress as I try to recall vital financial and vso data entries.

Having at last tracked down some long grain rice, to replace the local round grain rice that I associate with primary school puddings to go with the food parcels from home with the curries I’m ready to try out a kedgeree as a trial for the party next week. It’s a success but will try once more to ensure its ok on the night.

Finally a postscript to the Thomas and Alice saga. Thomas appeared out of the blue, possibly in response to all the text messages but neither from one of Pak Biwa’s ‘safe’ houses as Alice feared nor from the Catholic seminary as I had guessed. For the moment he remains sleeping in the hostel but not working and curiously with no attempt by him or Biwa to discuss matters. Alice, in her temporary girls hostel is planning with Thomas to set up a laundry business in a student area of the town and I doubt if I have ever seen them so happy together – perhaps they should lose their jobs and living quarters more often!

Report to HQ 28 Feb 2007

His Munificent Excellency the Geand Sultan of Mandungan.

Placement Report - Pat Warren Jogyakarta


An early concern about the potential for double funding was allayed after researching the details of the family re-housing lists, plots allocated for government aid and details of the aid being provided from other sources.

With all the construction work underway throughout the region supplies are an inevitable problem. As a consequence I accepted that for the first two houses, in order to get them started we could use a reduced specification for the reinforcement providing two thirds of the originally planned strength.

These first two ‘vso’ houses remain under construction and must be at least a week away from completion.

House number one is more than twice the size of the approved design but I have not objected, on the basis that it will still be occupied by the nominated individual even though offering additional meeting rooms and that this will be at no additional expense to Spark. The toilet and kitchen feature I am assured will be added to the dwelling once the external scaffolding is removed.

House number two has lacked any work on it this week and the initial couple of hours work on the toilet/kitchen feature following my insistence has not yet been followed up.

I am assured that the further three vso houses are about to be started and that they will be completed by the end of March as planned. This is all part of the efforts to achieve complete village rebuilding and repairs in time for a celebration before the first anniversary of the earthquake but I seriously doubt that this is achievable.

In cautious preparation for any difficulties it would be useful to learn of the probable Spark reaction to substantial but unfinished completion of one or more of the houses and the reaction that could be expected should the wc/dapur feature not be provided.



Development on site of the of the initial study cabin for a Muslim retreat in the hills near Magelang city continues apace if not completely to my specification but the recipients appear very satisfied and I hope to see more of the development before I leave.

On the non-work aspects of life in Jogya, I have become confident, but I hope not over-confident with the use of the motorcycle. My informal interpreter and wife from the initial accommodation appear to be losing their jobs, their flat and possibly their marriage, which has been distressing particularly in watching the local employment practices and an unfamiliar culture.

Otherwise I look forward to my final month’s placement and hopefully to a successful conclusion to my contribution.