Humanitarian Work in East Malaysia, Kuching - The City of Cats, Crocodiles, and The King of Fruits


This week Cheri and I travelled from our city, Kuala Lumpur, on the Malay Peninsula to the city of Kuching in Sarawak, East Malaysia. The East Side of the island of Borneo belongs to Indonesia and the Western part belongs to Malaysia and Brunei. We went there to attend one of the humanitarian handovers and also to work on an important event that will be held there in May. We are holding a Humanitarian Partner Appreciation Day to which we have invited 13 of our humanitarian partners and some community leaders to come to the District Center in Kuching where we will recognize the great work of our partners and then enjoy high tea in the cultural hall. This is a rare opportunity to bring so many people together with the common desire to help their fellow men.
  The picture above is from the handover of new equipment that is used to perform cataract surgery. 500 lenses were also donated. This equipment will be brought to remote places in East Malaysia where doctors will restore sight for many people with cataracts who would otherwise not be able to afford the surgery. The people standing with our humanitarian couples are Rotary Club members. We work with many rotary clubs in Malaysia because they are constantly doing service in the community and we are able to support them with funds and the skills and competencies of our senior missionaries and the Church. The Church is managing hundreds of humanitarian projects across Asia at this time. In almost all cases we work with local partners to bring about the work of improving the lives of people in great need.
These nurses were at a display table nearby and I couldn't resist taking their picture. I'm not sure what is in that brown bottle one of the nurses is holding up.
Kuching means "cat" in Malay, so it is the city of cats. This monument was right next to our hotel.
This is us with the Stephens in downtown Kuching on the plaza that runs along the river.

We visited a crocodile farm. I'm still not sure why crocociles are farmed but they have a ton of them. They allowed us to hold this young crocodile with tape around the dangerous part. I have to tell you this is one of the most beautiful little creatures I have ever held. I was in awe and reluctant to return him to the handler because I wanted to to admire every feature of this animal from his crystal clear grey eyes to his long muscular tail and leathery skin. He was just amazing!


They have both saltwater crocs (top picture) and freshwater crocs (bottom). The freshwater crocs have narrow jaws.
Here in Malaysia, durian is known as the king of fruits. Not everyone here likes it but I would say most people do and some of them are fanatic about it. It is consumed in all places I have been in South Asia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia... As you can see by the sign it is sometimes banned because of the fragrance it emits. You will see these signs in hotels, trains, taxis and many other places. After you eat it you can taste it for hours and your breath smells like durian for hours too. Most western people don't like the taste or the smell but I have some foriegn friends who have aquired a taste for it and seem to enjoy it as much as the locals.
We were out in Sumatra last year and this durian had just fallen from the tree. That is supposed to be when they are perfect for eating. The people convinced me to try it again. This was probably the 5th or 6th time I have tried eating durian and even though they said this was really good durian it still tasted pretty bad to me.

Comments

  1. GrandpaMarch 13, 2023 at 6:58 PM

    We love the updates. Thanks for inviting us to "the party."

    ReplyDelete

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