Prosthetic Limbs, a School, and Water

This was a busy week. We covered the fitting of prosthetic limbs in Garut, the school addition in Bogor and a potential water project also near Bogor. Over 60 prosthetics were provided by the Church Foundation to 53 individuals in the district of Garut, some required multiple prosthetics. These prosthetics are much simpler than the ones you may have seen in the US but they are practical and we are able to serve many people in need. 

This is Tatan. He is 42 years old and has two children. His left leg was amputated below the knee a little more than one year ago due to a long illness that affects vascular circulation. At first they thought it was leprosy (yes, leprosy is still around in some parts of the world). Eventually they diagnosed a different disease which neither me nor Elder Lee have ever heard of. He is confident that he will be able to work doing carpentry now that he has a prosthetic leg. This is a very happy day for him and he expressed immense gratitude for those who have provided this service.

The humanitarian organization of the Church (which is called the Church Foundation) is constructing a two story addition to this little school on the outskirts of Bogor. Pak Imron, in the green shirt, is the headmaster of the kindergarten and his wife, Ibu Najla, wearing the hijab, is one of the elementary school teachers. The others left to right are Sister Lambson, me, Eder Lee, who leads the humanitarian service in Indonesia, Brother Darwin, who is an engineer and designed and oversees construction, Elder Stephens, who is a humanitarian missionary from Logan, and on the far right is Pak Iksan, who is secretary to Alwi Shihab who helped to facilitate cooperation with the school to bring about this project.

Sister Lambson and I work a lot with Brother Poliman who is in the foreground preparing his drone for lift off. This picture was taken near the top of Mount Salak, in the only clearing we could find. The drone gives us a birds-eye view of the landscape which will help to assess the feasibility of the water project.
Some of you know that I paint landscapes. This is a look back at the jungle when I was climbing mount Salak. I felt like I was in the Garden of Eden, the plant life was so diverse and beautiful.

Bananas are very plentiful here. I thought you might like to see what they look like when they are harvested. One tree grows just one bunch of bananas like the ones you see here. After that, you chop down the tree and the root is used to propagate more trees. There are many varieties of bananas here that are used in various kinds of dishes and treats. Cheri's favorite is fried bananas.

I will leave you today with this photo of some very special people. These are children that are affected by brain disorders such as hydrocephaly and microcephaly. Our hearts were deeply touched as we held their hands and spoke to them and they beamed back at us with innocent smiles. Their mothers are heroes. They love these children and dedicate their lives to tenderly caring for them. 














Comments

  1. Russ and Robin MissionAugust 8, 2022 at 9:32 AM

    Thanks for the latest update. You are very busy! In some respects, it seems you are Humanitarian Missionaries as much as you are Public Affairs Missionaries. I guess the two types overlap quite a bit. We are still waiting to hear about our visas. Nothing new on that front yet, so we wait...........

    ReplyDelete
  2. ChuckAugust 9, 2022 at 9:57 PM

    There is a lot going on here with humanitarian work so we thought we should try to report on as much as we can. In addition to the blog we are writing articles for the newsroom on these projects so that people know they are happening. Hope you get visas soon.

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