Blogs from Timor, Indonesia, Asia - page 3

3 weeks on from the fire and we are back on track. We have a new computer training room and managed to salvage 5 computers from the fire and have 3 others that have been donated by VSO in Bali. So 8 useful computers - some with burn holes in the cases but they work!!! Immediately after the fire we met with the hospital management who were really keen that we re-establish the training room. So that is what we have done. They still plan to buy the Hospital Computer System in November as the money that has been allocated and will not be diverted to re-building the burnt out building. Buildings come cheap here -land and labour is cheap but technology and expertise is in short supply so they are keen for us to stay ... read more

4 weeks later…… Been here 4 weeks nearly and feeling quite settled - funny how things which were so strange to start with I now don’t notice. In my first week I was terrified of falling down a hole in the pavement into a storm drain -now I’m used to jumping holes, dodging scooters in the road and have abandoned the foreign concept of a safe pavement. Can’t say that about the rubbish strewn everywhere - Kupang is one massive fly tip zone. Folk keep their private patch clean but no one cleans up the public spaces and where locals once tossed banana skins that wrapped their food and rattan baskets they now toss plastic wrappings and bags. Colin and I live in a room in a small compound within the hospital complex. We virtuously reuse ... read more

Blog 0 - July 2008 Our travels in 2008 have brought us to a noisy, busy seemingly chaotic town Kupang on the dry dusty island of West Timor at the eastern end of Indonesia. The nearest town you’ve probably heard of will be Darwin, Australia, approximately 1000 miles SE of us. Colin and I are here, in Indonesia with Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) to help install a hospital information system in the town’s public hospital. The project was initiated by the German Overseas Development agency (GTZ) and Colin worked with them last year for 6 month doing the systems analysis and strategic plan. This project is the follow up to that work. It may seem strange to you (it did to me) that money is being spent on ICT Training (my job) and installing hospital information ... read more

....so mal wieder einen onlineknotenpunkt erreicht ein kleines update: wir sind am 24.1. von bali nach kupang geflogen und weils es so schoen war ueber den wolken und so sind wir von kupang nach kalabahi mit ner kleinen propellermaschine... die droehn droehn klapper klapper um dann den luxus eines buschtaxis zu geniessen (keine stossdaempfer bei schlechter strassenqualitaet) direkt zum pier vor pulau kepa (kepainsel). naja da waren wir fast am ziel. nur das man uns zu einem unmoeglichen preis die ueberfahrt von ca 300m geben wollte. also wie sooft in indonesien : warten . mittlerweile haben wir uns schnell mit den dorfkindern angefreundet und allerhand interressante geschichten ueber die gegend erfahren ...sie sind dafuer in den genuss meiner unmusikalischen floetenkuenste gekommen (habe eine bambusfloete dabei...und ich sollte mehr ueben) zum dank gabs dann noch ... read more

Sumba was the next stop, and with a 36 hour ferry ride ahead of me I felt like I was sailing to the end of the earth. A mix of characters amused me for the duration and with a wooden plank for a bed and an infinite supply of cockroaches and bugs I had to quickly adjust to this change in lifestyle. Luckily I could see it as just ‘being one of those things’. I was offered gifts and food, people just wanted to sit next to me so they could see the only white man on the 2000+ passenger ship and it wasn’t long before I was invited to stay at peoples houses, fortunately it just so happened their houses were in the same direction as where I was going. My arrival in waingapu at ... read more