Ben & Sarah's Excellent Adventure

VIDEO!

2010-02-26T15:05:00.006+11:00

So we are back from our trip to Africa, we still have a couple of posts left to add here from Ethiopia. But we have a video from our 10 week trip last year to Asia that we would love you to check out!

Also Ben has got a new website online now, with all the photos from the Asia trip up on there, plus a new blog he has started:

www.benadams.com.au

blog.benadams.com.au

Ben & Sarah's Excellent Adventure from Ben Adams on Vimeo.

Meeting Alice

2010-02-11T19:45:00.005+11:00

On our last day in Kenya Ben and I got to meet Alice, one of our Compassion sponsored children. She is now eighteen years old and I have been sponsoring her for over ten years now. It was so exciting to finally meet her. She was a little shy, which is understandable, but still very happy to see us.

We met her family too, who are all just amazing. She has seven brothers and sisters! Her little sister Jessica loved blowing bubbles and she was just adorable. Alice showed us around her home and her dad's small farm.

Alice's father made Ben a bow and arrows too - Ben was beyond happy - he had been saying all trip how he wanted to buy some! All we have to do now is hope they let them through customs....

Here's just some of the family.

Sensational safari Pt 3

2010-02-11T17:52:00.005+11:00

Before heading back to Nairobi, we visited a Masai village. We got to hear the women singing and also visit one of their homes and learn about some of their traditions and customs. We also saw the chief start a fire from two pieces of wood. It took him about thirty seconds ad certainly puts all those people on Survivor to shame!

Sensational safari Pt 2

2010-02-11T17:31:00.009+11:00

We managed to fit in twelve and a half hours of "safari-ing" into our short time in the Masai Mara and saw more than we could ever expected. Our first sighting was a group of lions devouring a buffalo. We got so close to them and at one stage one of the lions came and sat down less than two metres from our vehicle (did I mention the vehicle has open sides??) - it was a little scary, but they honestly didn't seem to pay any attention to us.

Here's some of the other animals we saw:

Fighting giraffes...it's called necking and it was very funny to watch as they swung their long necks into each other.

We found a cheetah consuming a gazelle....later we came back to see vultures eating the left overs, as well as a very full cheetah - look at that tummy!

On the second day we went out early and after a few hours, we drove up to our 'bush breakfast' - which turned out to be bacon, eggs, pancakes, juice, yogurt, coffee and more...all set up beautifully in a secluded area next to a river. We were waited upon by two waiters and guarded by a few more men from any wild animals!

We got bogged on our last safari...we had to get out of the vehicle while they towed it out of the mud. It was very exciting, I'm just glad we didn't see any lions at that moment.

The biggest find of the safari had to be the leopard, which we found up a tree before it ran down into the long grass. Can you see it in the tree? We chased it around for a bit but it was really shy and in the end we left it alone...I was worried it was going to jump right into our truck.

More animals:

Sensational safari Pt 1

2010-02-11T17:27:00.002+11:00

Our trip to the Masai Mara was a long and bumpy five and a half hours - but definitely worth it. When we arrived a Olonana camp, we were blown away by the beautiful accommodation! We knew we were staying in tents, but I've never seen tents like this before. Our tents were next to a river filled with hippos and we had our meals on a deck overlooking the river.

Kibera Slum

2010-02-08T06:53:00.004+11:00

Tuesday saw us in Nairobi city once again, this time visiting Kibera slum - which we were told is the largest slum in the world. It looked much the same as Mathare valley, except it seemed to go on forever in every direction. When we arrived at the project and went through the gates, it was like stepping into another world. The project was on a large block of land with school buildings, a church, a garden, offices and a playground. Kids were running around smiling and there was no rubbish in sight.

Ben and I had a ball playing with the kids and taking their photos while the interviews went on in the office. We got to meet one of the little girls who is an orphan and lives in a cottage on the project grounds, along with six other children. These cottages are called HVC cottages (highly vulnerable children) cottages, and Compassion has a few in Africa, to help look after children who have lost both parents or were in abusive situations etc. They live with other children in the home and are cared for by a house mother.

We were really hoping to walk around and take some photos of the slum but it was not to be. We weren't allowed outside the project gates at all, for safety reasons. and even photos out of the car windows were a no-no.

Stay tuned for the next post...it has lions in it!

Masai!

2010-02-06T15:10:00.006+11:00

On Monday, we faced another long bumpy ride, this time to Najile Girls school. It's a school for Masai girls and is doing an amazing job. Compassion provided the funds for building the school and the running of the school and funding for some of the teachers is now provided by the Kenyan government.

Without the school, most of the girls there would already be married off and have no opportunities for an education or choice in their future. The school is extremely popular and competitive, so only the brightest can get in. It is so sad to think that those that don't make it won't have the chance to go to high school at all. There is a great need for more schools like this one.

Afterwards, we visited the Compassion project just up the road. We were greeted by lots and lots of kids and their parents - all Masai and dressed in the most amazing outfits! We were treated to the best singing and dancing we've heard the whole trip - it was magical. I could have listened and watched all day.

Ben had lots of great photo opportunities with all the children and some of their mums and dads. Here's a few of them :)

A great project

2010-02-06T14:34:00.005+11:00

The next day we visited a Compassion project in Nairobi which had some amazing things going on. They have a hair salon where the girls go to learn skills in hairdressing - I even got a free blow-dry! It was fun to watch them all doing each others hair in braids and practising platting on hair mannequins.

They also have a medical clinic where they were doing eye check ups and dental work. Ben filmed a tooth extraction (yuck) and we able to buy glasses for a little Compassion girl whose glasses had broken and her parents couldn't afford to replace them. There was a computer room too - the kids learn skills there and the community can also come and surf the net or use the printer for a small fee.

They also make school shoes and sell them to other projects in the area. They buy the soles and make the leather top of the shoe. These people were very innovative and we really enjoyed seeing all the different initiatives they had started at the project.

The team...together in a photo for the first time:

More mums and babies!

2010-02-01T04:02:00.006+11:00

On Friday we went to a project which runs a Child Survival Program (CSP). As we stepped out of the car we were greeted by about thirty mums with their babies on their backs, singing welcome songs to us and dancing. It was beautiful!!!

Once inside, we were grabbed one by one to dance with them - Ben had to be the funniest 'dancer' there - I took video footage, so stay tuned for a youtube video upload!!!

We got play with the little ones in their playroom - it was so much fun! They are all so adorable, I can't wait for our own little bundle of joy :) We also got to spend some time chatting with older students too and learning lots of Swahili from them - although I don't know how much we will remember in a few days.

The women had amazing testimonies. One lady had experienced three miscarriages before she joined the CSP program, and then she was able to learn how to take care of herself during pregnancy through pre-natal classes and regular health check-ups - and now she has a beautiful healthy baby boy named Samuel. Another women's husband claimed the baby was not his when he found out his wife was pregnant for the third time and he tried to get his mother to perform an abortion. But after he saw the pregnancy kit and supplies provided by the CSP and the support his wife was receiving, he changed his mind and they now have a gorgeous daughter. It was a very inspiring and uplifting day.

Babies and LDP

2010-02-01T03:47:00.009+11:00

Thursday saw me stay at home in the morning for some much needed rest while the others made the 2 hour bumpy ride to a project to do some interviews. If only I'd known there were going to heaps of mums and babies there, I might have faced the ride!

Ben had a great time photographing all the cute little bubs, with the help of his handy assistant Ben (Bernard). Ben is an LDP graduate - it stands for Leadership Development Program, and it's a Compassion program. When kids show outstanding leadership qualities, have great academic results and are also actively involved in prayer/devotions/church life, they are nominated by their Compassion teachers for LDP. Those that are chosen for the program are able to go to university, their fees are paid, they are given food/board allowances and also mentors. it's been amazing to hear the testimonies of some of the LDP students and their dreams for Kenya.

Ben walked with the team through corn fields at one stage, to visit one of the children's homes. When a siren rang, they were told to run - as rocks go flying everywhere everytime they set off explosions in the nearby quarry! Apparently each time the siren rings, the locals go running to the next village! I'm glad Ben was ok :)

In the afternoon I joined the team and we visited another project in the city of Mombasa. We had a ball taking heaps of photos of the kids in the classrooms and around the school. Some of the girls tried to do my hair, but it's too soft to braid - they can't believe how different our hair is to theirs! I'd swap any day of the week for some gorgeous African hair, although it'd look pretty silly with my pale white skin!

Mombasa

2010-02-01T03:27:00.005+11:00

Wednesday started at 6am, as we needed to catch our flight to Mombasa, which is on the coast of Kenya. Once there, we drove a very bumpy hour and a half to the M'bungoni Methodist Child Development Centre (CDC). Along with the centre, they run a HIV/AIDS support group for Compassion parents who have children who are positive or who are themselves positive - it's called "People Living Positive".

They provide education and support, as well as health check-ups and assistance in receiving treatment. The mums were full of so much energy and were all great friends by the look of it. It was, however, heartbreaking to see one of the mums with her little baby girl, both positive. She has hopes and dreams for her daughter, even though the life expectancy of children born positive is only 15 years. She holds out hope that a cure will be found.

In the afternoon we visited the home of a seven year old boy who is HIV positive. His aunty looks after him (as both his parents have died, presumably from AIDS) and he himself doesn't know he is infected. Most parents wait to tell their children when they are old enough to understand. The stigma attached with AIDS is another reason they try to spare their children the knowledge earlier on.

He was the happiest child we have met yet, and while his aunty was interviewed, we ran around with him, visiting his goat and grandmother, whose name happened to be Sarah too. She was fascinating - full of wonderful stories and energy. At eighty years old, she still cuts and carries firewood, thatches her roof, digs in the garden and more. She told us that bodies are like machines - you have to keep working them or they will break down!

Beautiful Rironi

2010-01-31T18:37:00.006+11:00

On Tuesday we drove to a project outside of Nairobi city and it was beautiful. Such a contrast to Mathare Valley. There was plenty of space and fresh air. Again, the children danced and sang for us. At one stage they even dragged a few of us up to join in the dance (yes, me included).

The weather was lovely - it was higher up which meant cooler weather than in Nairobi. Narelle and I skipped with the girls (briefly - before we lost our breathe and then just watched them skip!). Ben took heaps of great photos and Malcolm did some interviews with the kids and some of their mothers.

We then visited one of the girl's homes, which was great fun. She lives with her grandparents, and they have lots of animals and a massive garden too. Compassion gave them a cow, and when it had a calf, they were able to sell it and buy a donkey, to help cart water and also the milk that they sell from their cow.

The grandfather was really lovely and showed us through his garden. He has grafted multiple trees, some with three or four different varieties of pears or peaches on the same tree. We had a lovely afternoon there with them, and Ben didn't want to leave!

Mathare Slum

2010-01-31T18:11:00.005+11:00

On Monday, we headed to the slum in Mathare Valley, and while it is not the largest slum in Kenya, we have been told it is the worst. Nothing could have prepared us for what we saw - I don't even know how to describe it. Tiny little structures made out of corrugated iron and other scrap materials fill the valley. Large families live in rooms no more than a few metres square. There are no toilets - except flying ones...you do your business in a bag and then sling it through the air. Rubbish and waste is everywhere, and so are children. Beautiful children, often bare foot and hardly clothed, playing amidst the filth.

As we walked through the slum on the way to the Compassion project, we were greeted by these children, yelling out 'how are you?' and some shaking our hands. Martin (one of our Compassion guides) told us that when they go home, they will tell their parents that they saw six 'how are you's'.

Makeshift breweries line the river and are owned by very dangerous, wealthy cartels. We were warned not to take photos as we walked past, as what they are doing is illegal and they are very wary about the police. Later, we were able to visit them for 5 minutes and take a few photos (which we paid them for). But even our local guides were uncomfortable being there and we left fairly quickly. The 'illicit brew' they make has a very high alcohol content (with a bit of jet fuel thrown in there for punch), but it is the cheaper alternative for those who cannot afford vodka and want to leave their hard lives behind for while.

After winding our way through dark narrow walkways, we finally emerged at the Mathare Community Outreach centre and it was a breathe of fresh air. Gorgeous Compassion children performed songs of praise to God for us and we met some of the amazing people who run the child development centre (Compassion project). The difference in the children is wonderful. They are in school uniforms, learning, dancing, singing and they have such an incredible hope and faith in God.

They still have to cope with so much, as we saw when we visited two little Compassion supported girls in their homes. The first lives in a child-headed home, as her parents died five years ago. There are four children that live together, and another two that are are married and live elsewhere. The older sister's dream is to finish her studies in mass communications so she can get a good job and move her family out of the slum.

The second little girl lives with her mother, alcoholic father and six brother and sisters in a 5x5m concrete room, on the second floor of a rather unsteady looking concrete block of a building. Her mother welcomed us warmly and thanked God for us, for Compassion and also prayed that our trip would be fruitful - it was an extremely humbling experience.

What a day. Now all that is left to do is work through how what we saw today changes the way we live; about how we think about God, about what we actually need, about how we use what God has given us. Questions that won't be answered easily or quickly.

Note...

2010-01-31T18:06:00.002+11:00

Just a note to let you know a couple of things:

1. As we are shooting for Compassion, we aren't putting our best stuff up, as we feel we should be keeping it for Compassion! The photos we put up are hopefully giving you an idea of what we're seeing (but I wish you could see all of them - Ben's amazing!)

2. Whenever I talk about specific children and their stories, we won't be putting up images of them, to protect their privacy (especially stories about HIV or abuse). So, any images on these posts will just be random photos from the day and NOT the actual children/families talked about.

Our African Adventure begins

2010-01-31T17:46:00.007+11:00

It's taken a while to get this blog started (sorry) but from now on we'll try to be more organised and not so tired that we just crash at the end of the day.

Our flight to Kenya was a long haul...it included two 9.5 hour flights, a stop over in Bangkok in the wee hours of the morning, delayed departures and arrival (finally) at our hotel exactly 24 hours after we left Australia. After waiting a few hours to check in, we were finally able to have a much needed shower and a two hour rest before heading out for the afternoon with the team (who had arrived the day before).

We were able to take it easy for our first day, as it was a Sunday, so we headed to the "Bomas of Kenya" for an amazing display of traditional Kenyan dance, song and even acrobatics. Afterwards we saw some typical Kenyan huts - which included separate huts for the first and second wives!

We had dinner at a great Indian restaurant in Nairobi (go figure) before heading back to the hotel for sleep and foot elevation (I have discovered that pregnancy+long flights=extremely swollen feet and ankles. I could hardly walk my feet were so fat). WARNING: The image below is not pretty!

Last days...

2009-09-16T00:13:00.007+10:00

We have packed as much as possible into our time in Japan, and the last few days have been no exception. Yesterday we went walking through Harajuku and down to Shibuya crossing, the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world. We had a drink at Starbucks and watched the people pass by beneath us.

The public transportation system here is amazing, although peak hour can be crazy and very squishy! It seems you can always fit more people into the train carriage, no matter how full it may appear.

Our last dinner with Josh and Minae - Japanese schnitzel. Not too bad, but I definitely prefer sushi.

Today we went to a Grand Sumo competition - it was unbelievable! It only happens a couple of times a year and we happened to be here at the right time. It was so much fun to watch and we especially liked the more awkward looking moments, a few examples follow...

These guys are the big guns of the competition. We went back in the afternoon to see them and it was worth it. The fights were intense and the sumos were huge!

This guy on the left was massive, but all it took was a quick side step from his opponent and he was out of the ring in a matter of seconds - his weight propelled him over the edge!

After the sumo, we headed off to the baseball at Tokyo Dome. The game was between the Osaka Tigers and the Tokyo Giants, the two most popular teams in Japan. The stadium was packed and the crowds didn't stop cheering the whole game.

It was an exciting match and after 9 innings it was still 3 all, so the game went in to over time. I was going for the Giants, so of course Ben decided to go for the Tigers, and sadly for me the Tigers brought it home in the end, at 5-3.

Tomorrow we farewell Japan and start our long journey home, leaving here at 6am and finally arriving in Australia Thursday morning. We're looking forward to seeing everyone but will miss our travels and are already thinking about our next adventure!

Death by Fuji

2009-09-14T14:08:00.008+10:00

Saturday afternoon we headed off to Mount Fuji's 5th Station. Just after 9pm we started the long climb upwards. It was raining and the wind was howling, and apart from the small amount of light coming from our head lamps, it was completely pitch black. While we may look happy in these photos, it doesn't mean it was easy...it was anything but!

This was Josh's 4th time up. I can't imagine why you would want to ever do this more than once...

A few hours after starting, the rain finally stopped, which was such a relief.

A total of 8 hours climbing, and we finally made it to the top at 5.15am - just in time for sunrise. We were literally running up the rocks in the last half hour or so, past slower people, just to make it to the top before the sun came out!

Ben's gloves were literally frozen into this shape - he'd had them hanging on the outside of his bag after they got wet in the rain.

Sunrise.

Yay! 3776 meters above sea level!!

Our elation at reaching the top and seeing the sunrise was not long lived, as we faced the long and difficult walk down...4 hours to be exact.

We got down the bottom of the mountain at 9.30am, but it was a long trip home, involving a bus and numerous trains, and it wasn't until 4pm that we finally crashed on the couch and were able to think about what a crazy 24 hours we'd just had! It was a great experience, but never again!!!!!

Ben's B'day

2009-09-14T13:39:00.006+10:00

Friday the 11th was Ben's 25th birthday and what a better way to celebrate than to go to Tokyo Disneyland?! Josh and Minae bought us tickets (thank you!!) and we headed off early and didn't come back until late.

The famous cup and saucer ride!

We finished the day at a sushi train restaurant with Josh and Minae, it was delicious!

Chocolate birthday cake - yum!!!

Road Trip

2009-09-14T13:06:00.025+10:00

Last week we headed off on a road trip, first stop: Kyoto. We spent 2 days in this city and could have spent a whole lot longer - it was beautiful. Kyoto actually used to be the capital of Japan for about 1000 years and has some of the most amazing shrines, temples and gardens in the world. We visited Ginkaku-ji temple first and it was our favourite one out of the whole trip. It had spectacular gardens, with raked cones of white sand and exotic Japanese trees.

We walked down the Path of Philosophy and ended up at San-mon gate. We climbed up to the second story (after removing our shoes and carrying them up with us in plastic bags) and the view from the top was fantastic. We could see Nanzen-ji temple right next to us and out across the entire city.

We did alot of walking, and this is some of what we saw.

We walked through a cobbled alley called Ishibei-koji which is lined with traditional Japanese inns and restaurants and looked magical in the afternoon light.

Then it was off to walk through Maruyama park - the parks here are amazing - so peaceful and perfectly maintained.

Right next to the park was Yasaka Shrine...middle photo is mine.

More walking...my photo again (got to claim what I can!). We walked through the floating world of Gion and Pontocho just as night was falling - gorgeous.

Photo taken during dinner. More interesting than a traditional selfie.

Day 2 in Kyoto. We started the day walking through the Nishiki food markets. There were things I'd never even heard of there and it was all beautifully presented.

We went to Fushimi-Inari-Taisha, which consists of five different shrines spread out across the slopes of Inari-san. The shrines are connected by a 4km pathway which is lined with hundreds of red torii and it was so much fun to wander through them.

More walking on the way to our next destination.

Iwatayama Monkey Park! We walked for 20 minutes uphill before coming across the monkeys. They were roaming free around an observation area and we were able to walk around with them, while also enjoying an amazing view of Kyoto. The baby monkey in one of the photos even started climbing at my leg at one stage!!! I was told to stay very still and before I knew it the monkey's mother had raced over and grabbed her baby off my leg! Ben filmed it, so we'll try and blog the movie later...it was very funny :)

Our last stop for the day was Ryoan-ji temple, which had a lovely pond covered with water lillies and a famous zen rock garden.

Japanese lunch boxes - you buy them at the train station and we had ours for dinner on the bullet train to Hiroshima.

Day 3 - Hiroshima.
We stayed in a traditional Japanese hotel, with tatami mats and futons to sleep on. In the morning, we hired bicycles for the day and rode around everywhere on them - it was a lot of fun. We headed to the new baseball stadium down the road first before paying a quick visit to Hiroshima castle.

Then we cycled to Hiroshima Peace Park and visited many of the memorials there, including the A-Bomb Dome, the Children's Peace Monument, which was surrounded with thousands of origami cranes (in honour of Sadako and all the other children who died) and also the Peace Memorial Museum. The focus is on remembering the past and learning from it for the future and they are committed to eliminating nuclear warfare worldwide.

Lunch time! We had Okonomiyaki, a speciality in Hiroshima. It's a crepe with cabbage, noodles, shallots, garlic, egg and some other ingredients. It was really nice and great to be able to watch it being made too.

We then caught a ferry to Miyajima Island and the minute we stepped out of the port we were greeted by wild deers! They were everywhere...they just wander around the town and there are signs everywhere with warnings, including not to touch them...we didn't read them til after I'd patted one though, oops!

Ben with the world's largest rice spoon!

We also saw the Otori Gate, which is a massive structure, over 16m high and weighing over 60 tonnes, which sits out in the water surrounding the island.

Day 4 - Osaka. We visited Osaka Castle, which had an impressive moat!

Then visited Dotombori, a famous shopping and entertainment area in Osaka.

Last stop, the Osaka Aquarium. I don't like fish generally, but this place was amazing. We saw dolphins, otters, seals, whale sharks, penguins. Very cool!

Hello Tokyo!

2009-09-07T02:47:00.008+10:00

So we are in Tokyo! It's 2:00 in the morning and Sarah is fast asleep and I am up frantically blogging the last week. It has been a crazy/busy week, packed full of good times! We have to get up at 6am for our 'road trip' which will take us to Osaka, Hiroshima, Kyoto. We are going for 4 days and won't be taking a computer so I thought it would be best to stay up late and fill you in on what we've been up to!
I have about 6 blog posts to follow this one. They will be short on words, but full of pictures - that's how I roll!
Tokyo is THE coolest city! TOTALLY different to where we have been living in Indonesia the past 2 months. We arrived yesterday and have already done a whole lot. Will write more and add more comments about the images when we get back on thursday!

EARTHQUAKE!!

2009-09-07T02:44:00.004+10:00

So apparently there was a 7.3 earthquake in Jakarta...we were in a taxi and did not feel a thing. We came home to the mall to see hundreds of people on the streets!

Photos from the Streets

2009-09-07T02:40:00.005+10:00

I would have loved to do more of this. Only spent an hr taking these.

Fun Fun

2009-09-07T02:38:00.003+10:00

We discovered Timezone! We played Buck Hunter for ages! Then went to the movies. Fun Fun.

Photo night with the locals

2009-09-07T02:31:00.007+10:00

We got the awesome opportunity to speak to a group of locals about our photography and what we have been doing in Indonesia. We had about 30 people turn up, we had so much fun with them! We had a slideshow of all our photos, then hooked up a crazy booth to the big screen and had some fun!

Sunday: Church, photoshoots & Bday parties

2009-09-07T01:48:00.006+10:00

We took photos for the church elders after church. Then gate crashed a 2 yr old bday party - check out the size of the take home gifts!

Ox tail soup!

Photo shoot

2009-08-30T22:39:00.005+10:00

On Friday, we had the opportunity to go to a professional photo shoot- our friend Dedi hooked us up. We headed to Seibu, a really nice department store in one of the many malls here. The shoot was done in the store because they are really fussy about letting any of their clothes leave the store!

The camera was linked up to the laptop, so we could see the results instantly and the photographer could work out what changes he needed to make.

There was a make-up artist there, and the clients came mid-shoot to see how it was progressing. We found it all really interesting and inspiring and we were very grateful for the opportunity.

Afterwards, Dedi took us to another mall - Pacific Place - where there was a temporary art exhibition. It was fascinating!

There were paintings, photos, sculptures and things that I'm not quite sure how to describe.

We've been having a great time here, and can't believe we only have one more week in Jakarta before we head off to Japan! We haven't been as consistent with our blogging - sorry about that - so it probably seems like we haven't done much here, but don't be fooled by appearances. While there may be many mentions of malls and good food, we have actually done some work!

Chinese food and farewell dinner

2009-08-29T14:09:00.004+10:00

This week we've also been out to dinner with Evelyn's family again. We went to a fantastic Chinese restaurant called Nan Xiang, which has modern Chinese food and is quite different to what we have in Australia (much nicer and less fatty). It was in a mall called Senayan City, and it was very impressive!

We tried Xiao long pao. It's like a wonton, but filled with soup and chicken and prawn. You have to pierce it with your chopsticks and drink the soup before eating the rest- it was really yummy!

The table had a lazy susan on it, so we couldn't resist putting our camera on it and spinning it round to take a silly photo of ourselves :)

On Thursday night, there was a farewell for David and Judy Berry. They've been here for 7 weeks, teaching English, and everyone was very sad to see them go.

We had all sorts of interesting foods and drinks - this one is a mix of blue Pepsi and lemon cordial...it wasn't very nice!

Ben posing for a photo with Paul - he works for the church and is an amazing driver. Which is exactly what you want when you're in the middle of Jakarta with crazy traffic and no real rules as far as we can tell!

Us being silly again...

Farewell David and Judy!

Shooting for Oxfam

2009-08-29T13:58:00.003+10:00

This week we have done some shooting for Oxfam. We've visited a few union groups, who are lobbying for better wages for the Nike and Adidas factory workers. At the moment, they earn about 900,000 Rp a month, which is about $113, and it doesn't even meet their basic living costs - they need double that amount just to survive.
After shooting at the first office, we had something called Gado Gado for lunch. It's satay sauce with different vegetables, rice and prawn crackers - very nice!

Wherever we go, we get photos taken of us, whether we want to or not, so it was no surprise when we had to put down our cameras and pose for a photo with the union members.

We're shooting for Oxfam again today (Saturday) - not sure exactly where or what, but maybe a rally? Maybe not though - we just rock up and then find out what's going on - Indonesian style.

Compassion

2009-08-22T19:16:00.006+10:00

Last Tuesday, we started shooting for Compassion, and we had a very busy week. We have been at two projects and also visited six different children in their homes. It has been an amazing experience, one that is very difficult to describe. To see how these children live is extremely hard. It's heart-breaking. Hopefully these photos do a little better at showing what we've seen...

The little boy in the middle sitting down is sponsored through Compassion and this is his family home.

Wherever we go, we have a crowd of curious onlookers, you don't see foreigners in Jakarta very often, especially in the slum areas. This is one such crowd.

The second project we visited is right next to a rubbish tip, where many of the children and their parents work, collecting anything that can be cleaned and sold for recycling. When we visited the tip, many of the children that were hanging around us came along, and they loved having their photo taken.

This is one of the Compassion mums who works at the rubbish tip.

Goat fight at the tip.

Another Compassion mum with her children. She is in the Child Survival Program with her baby girl, and another one of her sons is sponsored too.

Bandung

2009-08-22T18:53:00.003+10:00

Monday the 17th was Independence Day in Indonesia, so everyone had a holiday! We went to Bandung, which is about 2 hours from Jakarta - we left at 6.30 in the morning to try and avoid the traffic. Bandung is known for shopping and eating, and we did alot of both! There are so many factory outlets there, we managed to get to about 4 of them, and that was about all we could cope with. We also watched some of the games traditionally played on Independence Day - they looked like lots of fun!

We had lunch at a restaurant in the hills, in the middle of rice fields. We had our own little hut, where we all sat on the floor on cushions and the waiters brought everything out to us from the kitchens - it was great.

Bandung is also known for its brownies, believe it or not, and they are really good! Yum :) We had a very full day and arrived home just before midnight, shopped out and stuffed silly, but very happy.

Bandar Djakarta

2009-08-19T20:16:00.007+10:00

That night, after our fish market ordeal, we went to an amazing seafood restaurant. Sarah and I are not big seafood people, but this rates as one of my top 5 meals of all time.....it was up there!

The restaurant was right on the water, it is the most popular seafood restaurant in town, I think they said there are 200 tables - the place was packed.

When you are arrive you go and pick out your meal for the night. Your meal being the fish swimming around in the tanks, or the live crabs with their claws tied up. Then you sit down and you have your meal all prepared,cooked and served to you in 20mins - it was so fresh, and tasted so good! This was the first time we had ever had crab, we also had squid, prawns, fish, chicken...

After dinner we went out for a quick ride on a boat, then went for a walk along Jakarta's one and only beach!

Habitat for Humanity

2009-08-19T00:47:00.002+10:00

Hi blog world, it's Ben here. We do promise to blog more as we have a bit more internet access now. This post is from Thursday last week - so we have a bit of catching up to do....
We spent the day doing photography for the church's Habitat for Humanity project. We are making up a brochure here for the church to help them raise more funds to buy more land, to build more houses. We got up at 6.30 and drove to the block of land they are planning to purchase and took photos of that. Then on the way home we stopped by the local fish market to take some photos of it, but unfortunately it was all over by the time we got there. All that was left was a few fish lying around on the ground....(kind of disconcerting considering that we were going out for dinner to a seafood restaurant that night).

Then we went back in the afternoon to take photos of the people and houses at the current Habitat for Humanity site. On the way we stopped by the Plastic Recycling Centre which is run by some of the people living at Habitat. It gives them 'better' work than they originally had. They collect plastic bags, wash them, dry them out, bundle them up, and sell them to the recyclers.

The rest of these photos are from the Habitat project. We spent some time taking a lot of photos there, the houses only cost about US$1300 to build. Sarah took this first image!

These are some twins from the project.

Inside one of the homes.

Jakarta News

2009-08-12T19:01:00.008+10:00

We don't have access to the internet where we are staying, so updating our blog has proved to be harder than we anticipated! We can walk over to the mall and get free wifi in some of the cafes, but today is the first time we've done it. We'll try and give a snapshot of what wev'e been up to in the last little while...When we arrived in Pontianak after our overnight coach trip, we waited out the hours til our flight to Jakarta in this little house on the river. It is very different to where we are staying now!

This is the apartment where we are currently staying. It is owned by Pastor Joshua and his wife Sannita. She does interior design (among other things) and this is a 'show apartment'. It is close to the church, and so it is often used by visiting pastors, and members of the church also pop in and out frequently. The contrast between the extravagant malls and apartments and the slums right next door is incredible - it's like two different worlds living side by side.

On Monday, we visited Evelyn's parent's bag shop/warehouse. They import bags from China and sell them wholesale to alot of retail shops in the area. They had just received a shipment before we arrived, so there was stock everywhere! They work extrememly hard and it was fascinating to see behind the scenes a little. I even got a free handbag from Evelyn's mum - and they also got us lunch from the local Soto shop - they are so generous and hospitable.

Evelyn's family also took us to one of the malls in Kelapa Gading (actually, it's 5 malls joined together). It was gigantic! There are malls everywhere - it's where everyone goes to hang out in Jakarta (there's not really much else to do, especially as it's so hot). We had Mixed Ice - which is like nothing we've ever had (or want to have again). It's shaved ice, mixed with all sorts of jellies, kidney beans, green beans, seaweed, coconut milk, brown sugar and more.

Afterwards, we went out to a noodle house (can't remember what it's called exactly) - the food was fantastic, I really love the noodles here. We also tried fish cakes, which were great as well. There are so many more flavours here than in Australia, and so many different fruits as well - I've never heard of half of them! We've tried lots of different drinks - the oddest one being avocado...it's blended up with condensed milk and chocolate syrup and actually tastes great (believe it or not).

We've also been to the Canon Service Centre to drop in one of our cameras which decided to break in Borneo. You take a number, just like in a deli, and then wait your turn. While it's not going to be cheap to repair, it's a LOT better than what it would've cost to fix in Australia, so God's timing is good!

This is a massive Reformed Presbyterian Church we passed on the way to Canon - Ben took the photo for his dad - thought he might be impressed!

Today we visited Rianno's printing shop. He is an elder from the church and runs a very successful printing business. He even printed out one of our photos for us on his new HP Indigo 5500 printer! Ben was very impressed and we've now got some ideas for things we can print out for our business while we're here...

The streets outside the shop were filled with cages - rabbits, guinea pigs, hawks, eagles, monkeys, snakes, lizards, owls...you name it. It was very sad to see. This photo was taken from the car, so it doesn't show much, but you can get the idea.

Anyway, that's officially way too much information, but it should keep everyone happy for a while! We are off to a media meeting at the church tonight and afterwards we are going to stay in another place, Taman Palem, for a few days. Tomorrow we are going to photograph some Habitat for Humanity houses and also the land they are purchasing to build more houses, so we are really looking forward to that!

In Jakarta

2009-08-10T13:39:00.002+10:00

We arrived safely in Jakarta on Saturday afternoon - after a very long journey! We have caught up on a little sleep, gone to church yesterday, ate at a Padang restaurant with Evelyn and her family, walked around the massive shopping centre here and even gone to the movies! It is a world far removed from where we have been in Borneo and while we've enjoyed these 2 days of rest and relaxation, we are keen to get back into it and experience some more of what Jakarta has to offer. Will post some photos asap. Love to everyone.

Farewell Borneo!

2009-08-07T19:32:00.005+10:00

Well, the time has come to farewell Borneo. We have had the most amazing time, and are sad to leave all these wonderful people. Last night, Ben shared his testimony at the worship meeting and then everyone prayed for us - it was so beautiful to hear hundreds of children's voices praying for us. Today, we've said our goodbyes and taken some last minute photos with the kids.

We're off to Nanga Pinoh now, where we'll catch the overnight coach to Pontiankak and then fly to Jakarta...woohoo!

Nanga Pinoh

2009-08-06T14:52:00.008+10:00

We went into Nanga Pinoh a couple of days ago - it's about 50 minutes away, and the closest town to where we are (Manggalla is a tiny little village down the road, but there is nothing there apart from a few houses, soccer field and a little church). We got to Nanga Pinoh on the back of a truck, with about 30 other people. It was a bumpy ride and we all held on tight and tried to keep our balance as best we could! This is how the school kids get to school too!

The trip was definitely worth it though...we had ice-cream for the first time in what seems like forever! And we were also able to buy a few supplies for our long coach trip back to Pontianak (we leave tomorrow night). This time we think we'll actually get to go on the air-conditioned coach, but we'll believe it when we're sitting on it, and no sooner.

During our walk around town, we saw a monkey, porcupines and a sloth! Sadly, they were caged up - so not exactly the wildlife we were hoping to see in the jungles when we were over here. They sell monkeys here for about $150 - and we did entertain the thought of a pet monkey for a few seconds - but knowing that they kill the mothers to get them puts it into perspective.

We also went down to the river - what a site to behold...and the stench was unbelievable.

Our time here is almost up, and we'll be sad to leave. But we're also excited to start the next leg of our trip in Jakarta and see what God has in store for us there!

Jungle Trekking

2009-08-03T14:26:00.005+10:00

Sit back and relax, this is going to be a long one! It started with four-wheel driving through the hills, up and down, winding round and round - with 9 people in the car and luggage too. What was supposed to be a 3 hour drive stretched out into 6 hours - due to 3 police check points. There is a lot of logging in Borneo and they are very suspicious of anyone coming into these parts (Central Kalimantan), especially foreigners, but we made it eventually!

At the first village we had some lunch and then tried the local fruit which is very popular over here - it's called durian - and it stinks like rotten cheese. It's reputation is that it smells like hell but tastes like heaven - but we think it tastes as bad as it smells! Later that night we went to a special service at the church, held in honour of our visit. We also visited a man who was very sick with TB and our doctor was able to help him. Then we strung up our mosquito nets and hit the hard wood floor for our first sleepless night.

The next day we visited the local school before heading off down the river on canoes to another village - it was so much fun!!

At each village we visited, the first stop was the chief's house, where we had to sit on the floor, drink tea, explain what we were doing there and then record our names in a little exercise book. Everything seems to take 5 times as long here, and it feels like a lot of nothing is going on, but it's just the way it's done here - so it's a good lesson in patience (especially when you can't understand the language).

After lunch, we headed back down to the canoes and traveled to our third village. While Wilika (the doctor) ran a clinic, we mixed with the people and took photos - they love to see what they look like on the back of the camera, although it takes a bit to warm them up.

Then it was back to the first village, where we hald a christian meeting in one of the homes and another medical clinic - late into the night.

We bathed in the river each night, which is also where the toilet is (see the little hut thing on the river? Yes, it's the toilet - try going at night when it's dark and you're trying to hold a torch and not fall in!). It's also where they do their teeth, wash their clothes and their dishes as well. I did quite a bit of praying over our health!

This is the people from the second village farewelling us the next morning as we made our way back to the first village we visited (which is where we had left the car).

Back in the village, we discovered a flat tyre - maybe they didn't want us to leave?! After changing it, we packed the car and were ready to head off...only to discover they had decided to rebuild the only bridge leading out of the village. Needless to say, we weren't happy!

Three hours later, we finally headed home. And thank the Lord, it only took 2.5hours on the way back!!

Off trekking

2009-07-30T10:50:00.001+10:00

We're going to visit a remote village in the jungle...yay! Trekking through the jungle to get there. Sleeping under the stars in mosquito nets. Will be back in 3 days and will let you all know how it went!

Sarah's photos

2009-07-29T20:32:00.004+10:00

Well, it was time to have a go at the camera myself. While I'm no Ben Adams, I do love shooting, and the kids are fantastic. They have been holding the portable flash for us and dragging round our heavy bag with all our camera stuff in it too. Ben wants to bring them home with us!

We've mainly been taking photos the last couple of days and have plans to go to a village tomorrow, it just depends on whether we can get the right paperwork or not. There's so much red tape and not a lot of people willing to help, but we'll get there.

Walk to the Workshop

2009-07-28T14:14:00.004+10:00

Yesterday afternoon we headed to the workshop to get some photos. This is Mark and in the background you can see his Kijang, which he rolled off one of the roads here a couple of months back. It is only by God's grace that he is still alive and he is a pretty amazing guy. You can also see a bit of their view - the beautiful mountains of Borneo - alot better then your average mechanics!

On the walk there, we took some photos of these workers - they are working on the trusses for the Bakery which is being built at the moment. Afterwards, it was back to the room for a rest, as we are both still not well, but are finally on the mend - thanks for all your prayers!

Grace Gradens

2009-07-26T17:11:00.003+10:00

Still Ben blogging. We have had a team of Malaysians staying here for a week, they have been teaching Chinese to the children here. They have also been working hard down in the 'Grace Gardens', this is where they grow a lot of vegetables and bannana's. The Malaysians have been digging a whole heap of new garden beds and planting vegetables, some of which have already sprouted - which they were quite proud of!
This is David, he was great to have a chat to, he helped me translate our design work into Chinese for us. They all left here on Saturday morning. Currently we English speaking visitors are being outnumbered by the dutch - they are everywhere!

Big Bad Boys from Birmingham

2009-07-26T16:53:00.003+10:00

Ben here, I have hijacked Sarah's blog - so say goodbye to any good writing styles for the next couple of posts! Its Sunday afternoon here, and there's not much going on, we were trying to catch a ride into town to get some sweet supplies - but we are not in luck today!

So the other day we went and took some photos of our British friends working hard in the orchid here. They had the unenviable task of digging up the soil around the 230 trees in the orchid to allow the water to soak into the soil. It was another stinking hot day, we felt pretty bad just rocking up and taking a few photos while they sweated out enough fluid to water all the trees. . .

These boys are a mean looking bunch - not to be messed with, especially the one in the middle - Rob (aka 'Bobert') the leader of the pack who also doubles as a tax advisor. . .

Swimming in the River

2009-07-24T10:24:00.001+10:00

On Thursday afternoon, we headed down to the river for a swim...it was so refreshing! I haven't been well the last few days, but I am so glad we went.

The river is where they get the sand to make the concrete for all the construction work going on here - they simple pump it out. Some men live down by the river in this little floating house to keep an eye on everything.

There's a rope swing too...and yes I did have a couple of swings and it was a LOT of fun!! A couple of the guys climbed up the tree and jumped in too, but I wasn't quite that brave (or stupid).

As it hasn't rained much lately, the water is fairly clear, which means it's ok to swim, as we can see the snakes...yes, snakes! We didn't see any, thank goodness, and it's so hot here even the thought of them in the water didn't put me off going in!

Graphics

2009-07-24T10:16:00.000+10:00

Earlier in the week, Ben and I designed some simple donation and sponsor forms for Living Waters. Ronny (who runs this place) is often traveling around speaking about what they do here, and encouraging people to sponsor a child or donate. While we're not going to win a prize for our designs, we did have a lot of fun doing them! We then had them translated into Chinese (thanks to some visiting Malaysians) and also Bahasa (thanks Evelyn).

Tuesday saw our team leave - we hope they had a safe, air-conditioned coach trip back to Jakarta! Tuesday also saw me rise at 4am to help with kitchen duties before devotions. I never knew I'd be chopping up cabbage at 4am in the middle of Borneo - but God did!

Welcome Jude!

2009-07-22T12:19:00.001+10:00

We are the proud aunt and uncle to beautiful baby Jude Lucas Baker! We are very sad to have missed his birth, but are very much looking forward to meeting him when we return. Until then, this will have to do...

Also, we have fixed up the comments option, so anyone can post a comment without having to sign in. Hope that encourages the Adams' family to comment, as Ben is feeling neglected.

Soccer in Mangala

2009-07-21T16:19:00.000+10:00

On Sunday, we had a sleep-in...yay! Then we had church, which was great. Even though we can't understand the language, it is still wonderful to be able to get together and sing and worship God with people from all over the world (Holland, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand etc). Half way thorugh the service, we went out with the children and they had Sunday school. We played Kings, Queens and Jacks first - and the kids thought Ben and my attempt to play was hilarious (we lost badly).

In the afternoon we went to Mangala to watch the Living Waters' soccer team play - it is amazing to see the difference between the two places, even though they are only 10 minutes apart. Living Waters has no rubbish, fresh water, clean clothed children etc while Mangala was strewn with rubbish, most of the houses were half finished and the children were dirty and many malnourished. It was very sad to see, but also highlighted the amazing work that is going on here and the hope and future it gives to the children.

Ben made friends with some of the local kids and spent the time playing with them (in fact, none of us really paid much attention to the soccer match)- here are some of his photos...

That same day...

2009-07-21T14:19:00.001+10:00

On Saturday before the treasure hunt, we also took photos of the new children for their sponsorship cards (children have sponsors here - similar to Compassion). There were 63 in total - and it was a mission to get them all! Luckily we had Evelyn and Candra to translate for us and someone else to round the kids up and bit by bit we got there.

Later that night, we headed off to celebrate Mark's birthday with real chocolate cake (it's been too long already) and yummy slice too. Mark and Kerry are missionaries from our church that live here and look after the mechanic's workshop and teaching.

Then we got together with everyone in the Training Centre for the monthly birthday celebration. Everyone born in July had to get up the front and dance! There were about 25 children and foreigners up there and it was very funny. They were given coke and chocolate, so it was definitely worth it.

Afterwards, we all sat around in groups on the floor and shared curry puffs and other Indonesian savoury snacks before the kids crowded around the small tv and watched Ironman before bed.

Treasure Hunt

2009-07-19T11:11:00.000+10:00

Sorry it's been a while - we will try and update more regularly I promise. We've been very busy the last few days and having a lot of fun of course!

On Saturday we helped our team run a treasure hunt for the kids - there were about 120 children running around having the time of their lives! During the week the kids had made their own bandannas, pompoms and team flags, so they looked fantastic. They had to complete 9 different activities and be the first back at station 10 to get their treasure map. Then they had to follow the map and find the buried treasure (lollypops and plastic medals). It was so much fun to see them running around and they really loved it!

Cute Kids

2009-07-17T21:58:00.001+10:00

Last night we also ran another kid's program while Judy talked to the adults about general health and hygiene in the Training Centre. We had different stations which the kids moved around - chalk drawing, games, photos, bubbles and craft. Ben and I had a ball taking pictures of the children - here are just a few...

Working hard

2009-07-17T09:20:00.000+10:00

The last three days have been a lot of fun. We've been up bright and early (5am) and after devotions and breakfast I've headed off to the building site with Ben and the other workers. We've been digging trenches for the plumbing and also jack-hammering holes through the concrete walls for the pipes to go through. It's hard work on the best of days, so with the heat and humidity, it's even tougher.
After what seemed like ages on Wednesday, I was so shocked to find out it was only ten past nine in the morning - that's one of the 'joys' of getting up so early! We've been having our smoko at 9.30am, which consists of coffee and biscuits (when we're lucky) and then it's back to work until lunch, which is at 12pm.

I don't know if I've mentioned it yet, but the food here is fantastic - it's like eating Thai take-away every day! I'm going to help out in the kitchens soon and am hoping to learn a lot about how they cook so I can do it when I get home. Ben likes this idea alot.
After lunch, the guys go back to the building site but I've been cleaning up and having a bit of a break before heading out in the afternoons to help with the kid's program some of our team are running. The kids have been having such a good time playing games, singing, doing craft and making paper hats. They are all so adorable and we are learning a few key words in Bahasa so we can encourage them.

After dinner on Thursday we played 'jacks' or 'knuckles' with a group of kids - they are all really good at it...and we're not! A lot of the kids carry around 5 small rocks and they play the game whenever they have a little time to spare.

We're loving it here and are excited that our adventure has only just begun - it's challenging and very rewarding!

Too many photos for one blog...

2009-07-14T20:28:00.001+10:00

Ben suggested the title - I couldn't choose which photos to show! Today has been a busy day. Up at 5.30am for devotions (this is a daily routine - argh!) then breakfast and off to work.

Firstly, we delivered the school shoes and socks which we brought over with us - 130 pairs of cute little black shoes :)
Then I went to the medical clinic and helped the doctor with some patient record filing. Wilika is from Holland and is here for 2 months. She has organised the clinic and written up patient files for all the children and has done a wonderful job of sorting through the medical supplies so there is some order in the clinic.
Ben went off to document the team's movements before joining the building team. They're digging trenches for the sewage pipes at the new medical clinic building.
After lunch we went off to the school and taught some basic first aid to the teachers - I was the patient and had fun having my arms and legs bandaged!
When we came back from the school we spent some time playing with the kids - they are all so beautiful and friendly. We let a few take some photos with Ben's camera - here is the one we took of Ben.
We've got a worship meeting tonight (they are on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays), so we're looking forward to that, and then an early-ish night before it all starts again!

Our first few days...

2009-07-14T00:35:00.001+10:00

Saturday started with an early morning flight to Denpasar, Bali - which was quite quick and uneventful (which is a very good thing when you're flying with Garuda Airlines). After the church teams had some immigration issues which meant we almost missed our connecting flight, we did make it to Jakarta Saturday night and loaded up the church bus with 28 people and LOTS of luggage.

We went to GVI church the next morning and then caught our flight to Pontiniak, Borneo. Our 'air-conditioned coach' turned out to be an old mini-bus with open windows and our 11 hour trip turned out to be 15 hours - probably has something to do with the driver stopping for dinner...and then to take a shower at his house...and then to have a sleep...and then to have a smoke...and then to have another nap...you get the idea!

We are now at Living Waters, which is amazing. There are orphanages, volunteer quarters, a training centre, workshop and heaps more. We're finally off to bed now but will update more on what we'll actually be doing soon.

Good bye hair

2009-07-13T12:22:00.001+10:00

So the day came to farewell my hair last Friday, and it was lots of fun! Ben loved shaving it off and I love not having any hair to look after for a while - so we're all happy.