Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Sulawesi Introductions. . .



Sulawesi Introductions. . .

It’s been a few days since I arrived in Indonesia for my initial visit. The first two days were spent in the highlands of Bali, quite a dramatic contrast to where I am currently based in Makassar, Sulawesi. Makassar, is a port city, the provincial capital of Southern Sulawesi with a predominantly Muslim population of about 1.4 million.

In the midst of trying to acclimate to the extreme equatorial heat, humidity and intensity of
such a large city, I am beginning to gain some familiarity with this conservative Muslim culture. This involves learning about social protocol and customs in order to get work accomplished. My colleague Karen has been working in Sulawesi for 4 years and as a result has learned the ropes and acquired basic, but vital Bahasa Indonesia language skills. She has been a strong advocate for community health education in the vulnerable slum communities, helping them to gain health services access. This access has been painstakingly established by working with the whole spectrum of leaders, from local to national level. While Karen’s extensive professional knowledge and experience have helped with her achievements, her personal qualities of infinite patience, flexibility, compassion, sensitivity and humor have played a large role in her success. 

One of the highlights of these first few days has been meeting Dr. Baharuddin Abidin, an entrepreneurial visionary, who has been collaborating with a US based NGO since 2009. He acquired his PhD in naval engineering in Germany, but has a wide variety of interests and projects to help Indonesia’s people. Dr. Abidin is the director of LPTM, the Sulawesi partner NGO affiliated with USA based Medical Exchange International, Inc. LPTM has involvements with community health and advocacy primarily focused on TB. (Dr. Abidin is a recovered TB patient so he is especially committed to helping others and empowering people with proper health education and dispelling stigma.) His other projects include training excavator operators, solar power, nature conservation and eco tourism with the underlying objective to promote and develop public/global health with direct and indirect strategies. Throughout my time in Sulawesi I will begin to work with the LPTM and Dr. Abidin in achieving these goals. I will elaborate further as the days pass as to how this unfolds.

Upon meeting Dr. Abidin one becomes immediately aware of his extreme affability. The glint in his eye and smile gives him almost elfin qualities. His physical fitness (we have bonded over our mutual love of swimming!) gives him the appearance of being a couple decades younger than his 69 years. His devout Muslim faith and devotion to his wife and family (father of 6 and grandfather of 6), is paramount, but he is extremely committed to leading his community. It has been wonderful to be introduced to his wife and family and welcomed to Sulawesi with such warmth and concern.

Going into a Makassar slum my first day here, accompanied by Karen and our faithful translator Kasman, I was able to get an ‘in-the-trenches’ snapshot perspective of the challenges faced by the people residing there. We met with formerly identified women community leaders who have had previous health training and scheduled more training for the coming week. In the process, I did basic health assessments on their children. Despite their obvious struggle with the provision of basic shelter, clean water, food and garbage disposal, these people exude cheerfulness and hospitality. As always, I feel honored to have the opportunity to help these women and their families.

Helen


 Helen doing child assessment.
Photo used in local newspaper
Helen meets Dr. Abidin

 
Helen with  baby

Helen with Abidins

 Makassar canal

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