No-one expects the Inquisition
10 April 2007
The day started off quietly enough with my making a tour of the five vso houses – three have now got their roofs tiled but none are finished and still no sign of toilets, kitchens or doors. Window frames are in place but checking the priced specification there appears to be no allowance for casements or glazing so we may have to live without that luxury.
Arriving back at the office I find Athena, acting as interpreter for Leny – an investigator for vso and David from Spark, both of whom have been charged with checking out the results of the Spark funding programmes before they are wound up at a conference in May. Pak T.O. needs little encouragement to detail the history and evolution of his organization IPPHTI, its structure, objectives, goals and achievements. Leny for her part is keen to delve into the details of the organization – its policies on gender, education and its workings with universities and government departments. T.O. responds in kind without faltering, giving the impression of Mandungan as the centre of the universe, resisting attempts by national government to tempt IPPHTI into a ministry compound, and providing training over a few weeks for farmers that would take years in a university.
Eventually we get to my housing project where the involvement of vso was candidly explained by T.O. as being at the insistence of Spark as the only way that the wanted finance would be made available. Leny clarified that the volunteer was being fully financed by vso so at no cost to IPPHTI. Going into details of the benefits accruing from the project T.O. postulated that the Spark finance had persuaded the government to come up with its own grant proposals that are funding 62 houses in the village. He confidently predicted completion by the 27th of April (I could offer to eat my hat at this point) and described the selection process for the recipients of the Spark houses, families with small children living with relations as a result of the earthquake but ineligible for the government money (forgetting the middle aged bachelor who is getting the largest of the houses). An opportunity to view the houses lapses as Leny delves ever deeper into the project and its comparison with other villages in the district. As expected T.O. never falters – always a positive response backed up with anecdotes and other examples. No mention is made though of the five house financed by the banks or the 20+ bamboo houses/kitchens provided by the Red Cross.
Arrangements for the next meeting with another organization (the one Athena works for) have not been finalised and the Spark chap seems reluctant to phone or text them (maybe from his experience with Leny’s interrogative technique?). Eventually they announce that they will return to their hotel and meet the next victims tomorrow following which they would hope to return to the village to see the Spark houses in the flesh. Unless the meeting fails to take place I can’t see this happening but I text Athena to let me know if they set off from Jogya in the morning so I can be prepared.
I’ve managed, I think to retrieve a number of my photographs so that they are transferable to other computers but will have to test it on Thomas and Alice’s machine before celebrating and working on the bulk of the pictures. Also I create an Excel document draft with charts for the laundry – Thomas is sure to vastly improve on it but at least it keeps me thinking that I’m not totally past it!
There is time for a speedy m’bike trip down the road to the supermarket for some milk, cooking oil and mosquito tablets before sunset and fortunately avoiding the threatened rain. Dinner, French fried bread with cheese and green beans is followed by another lost game of chess with Diko, one of the agriculturalists left over from last weeks conference. No word yet from vso in Bali about the further drugs I need for my extended stay nor about any revised flights home booked for May but I’ll check out my emails at the wi-fi place on the main road in the morning.
The day started off quietly enough with my making a tour of the five vso houses – three have now got their roofs tiled but none are finished and still no sign of toilets, kitchens or doors. Window frames are in place but checking the priced specification there appears to be no allowance for casements or glazing so we may have to live without that luxury.
Arriving back at the office I find Athena, acting as interpreter for Leny – an investigator for vso and David from Spark, both of whom have been charged with checking out the results of the Spark funding programmes before they are wound up at a conference in May. Pak T.O. needs little encouragement to detail the history and evolution of his organization IPPHTI, its structure, objectives, goals and achievements. Leny for her part is keen to delve into the details of the organization – its policies on gender, education and its workings with universities and government departments. T.O. responds in kind without faltering, giving the impression of Mandungan as the centre of the universe, resisting attempts by national government to tempt IPPHTI into a ministry compound, and providing training over a few weeks for farmers that would take years in a university.
Eventually we get to my housing project where the involvement of vso was candidly explained by T.O. as being at the insistence of Spark as the only way that the wanted finance would be made available. Leny clarified that the volunteer was being fully financed by vso so at no cost to IPPHTI. Going into details of the benefits accruing from the project T.O. postulated that the Spark finance had persuaded the government to come up with its own grant proposals that are funding 62 houses in the village. He confidently predicted completion by the 27th of April (I could offer to eat my hat at this point) and described the selection process for the recipients of the Spark houses, families with small children living with relations as a result of the earthquake but ineligible for the government money (forgetting the middle aged bachelor who is getting the largest of the houses). An opportunity to view the houses lapses as Leny delves ever deeper into the project and its comparison with other villages in the district. As expected T.O. never falters – always a positive response backed up with anecdotes and other examples. No mention is made though of the five house financed by the banks or the 20+ bamboo houses/kitchens provided by the Red Cross.
Arrangements for the next meeting with another organization (the one Athena works for) have not been finalised and the Spark chap seems reluctant to phone or text them (maybe from his experience with Leny’s interrogative technique?). Eventually they announce that they will return to their hotel and meet the next victims tomorrow following which they would hope to return to the village to see the Spark houses in the flesh. Unless the meeting fails to take place I can’t see this happening but I text Athena to let me know if they set off from Jogya in the morning so I can be prepared.
I’ve managed, I think to retrieve a number of my photographs so that they are transferable to other computers but will have to test it on Thomas and Alice’s machine before celebrating and working on the bulk of the pictures. Also I create an Excel document draft with charts for the laundry – Thomas is sure to vastly improve on it but at least it keeps me thinking that I’m not totally past it!
There is time for a speedy m’bike trip down the road to the supermarket for some milk, cooking oil and mosquito tablets before sunset and fortunately avoiding the threatened rain. Dinner, French fried bread with cheese and green beans is followed by another lost game of chess with Diko, one of the agriculturalists left over from last weeks conference. No word yet from vso in Bali about the further drugs I need for my extended stay nor about any revised flights home booked for May but I’ll check out my emails at the wi-fi place on the main road in the morning.
posted by bairuide | 10:36 am
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