A notification was given to us from Kapan town area. A baby boy was said to be needing a place for him grow better as the original family is not able to afford a normal upbringing. An extreme poverty case has yet to be dealt with. Peggy has been so busy with so many things that she must do it by her self while I am working and not being able to be with her. A delay on picking up the baby will be worsening the baby's health only thus more difficult case to handle it later.accompanied by two sister visitor from Jakarta miss Susan and her friend , Peggy went to Kapan town area. It was some 3 hours and 40 minutes journey for us to get there.
Amazing scenery were existing when we are near the village as it is situated at some 1000 M elevation from the sea level and the rainy season was just ended. The road is not so good and wide but it has been the situation that we have been dealing with since 1999 .
Our trip villages have been somewhat interesting and full of fun at the same time. Some time we can not feel sad when we are seeing an extreme poverty situation but usually after the trip and when we are alone quite often we were crying when we are remembering the people that we were visiting. We were forced to smile when we are with the village people as we must not show our deep sadness for seeing their condition for we are coming to give them an encouragement and help as much as we can. It is not fun to find a child with a bad skin problems. To the people in Timor who are living in the village area , skin problem is difficult to be treated as ( usually) they do not have enough clean water in their house hold. Sanitation is just a dream for them to making it to happen. Things are based on their strength and immunity to stay alive . A wound dressing case has been quite routine for all of our visit to the village area. Our weapons are very basic First Aid Kits only but usually the children skin problems are healed in a few days time after we clean them an d giving them some ointments.
From this visit we are richer by one more baby and his name is Sandy Steven Raymond Bonoit. He has a mother which she must work hard at the farm for she is the main person to do it . The mother ( grandma of the child) is so frail already and not much physical thing that she can do properly. Sandy is our 57th child for the orphanage.
Indeed it is not so easy to look after a premature baby but it can be done is we are putting our efforts to it. As it was written earlier we are having a new baby joining us at the age of 2 months and he is having a weight of 1,9 kg. It was so difficult to make the baby drink the milk bottle but now he is able to drink properly ( in fact I call him as an always hungry baby) . We name him as Janri Marko Sebastian Rensini. Janri because he was born in January ,Marko is from our bro Mark Lee who is a close friend to Roslin Orphanage and my son Christian is requesting his name Sebastian too ha ha ha . Rensini is its family name. We want to make sure that the baby will know his roots and his own people when he grow up .
The baby is so happy every time we gave him a bath and right after he can easily drink up 90 CC of milk from the bottle. It was so difficult to give him a bath as he is so tiny. We hope that he will grow as a normal baby and will be progressing well like the rest.
Christian Joel Pascalis Funuk was joining us yesterday. He was born on Sept 16th at Oefafi village. Extreme poverty is the main factor for him to be with us. It was in a house which is no doors and no windows that this baby was living in. To top up the data how about no electricity, no water ( even dirty water just to wash their foot), no furniture and fixture, unpaved floor and no proper clothing. The baby was handed to us wrapped up in a dirty rag of a cloth with holes every where and it was from a piece of ruined sarong. No diaper nor anything underneath was being worn by this baby. What we found in the house was a made up stove from stones and no food item(s) was/were cooked. So basically they have nothing to eat as well. The baby has been so lucky to be breast fed but since the mother is not able to eat a healthy diet , the vitamins in the breast feeding may not containing enough nutrient for the baby. Continuously breast feeding the baby will only worsen the mother's health and also the baby's health. We named this baby boy after our son Christian Soehardi and after the names of two persons who are so special to us. We are hoping that this boy will be able to have a better chance in life by giving him a better upbringing and better education right from the start.
It was so sad to be witnessing a beautiful baby boy to be given to us but at the same time we are glad to be able to give the baby a better environment to live.
Oefafi village is one of the poorest village which famine is prone to happen if the rain fall is not coming timely. A small delay of the the rainy season will definitely linked to bigger infant mortality and that is why we are quite regularly visiting this Oefafi village. It is not nice to see people living based on a real survival living for their entire live. It is not easy for us to eat a proper meal(s) for knowing that we can do things for others but not doing the helping efforts to help them. It is a privilege for us to do so and we do it based on "the sharing spirits" as human kind.
Christian Joel Pascalis Funuk upon arriving at Roslin Orphanage
We will up date the picture later to show how bad is the baby's own home and why he is much better of to be at Roslin Orphanage.
Christian is doing a self service on drinking milk from the bottle at 40 days old
This last picture is the secret how we can feed more than one baby with milk more than one baby at the same time. Just place the baby as such with extra pillow or bolster . The baby can finished up the bottle as if we are holding the bottle.
Poverty in many area can only be cured by giving education to the locals. An injection of materials or gifts will only create a very short meaning on easing the problems. It has been our focus to eliminate poverty for good. It will not be easy and cheap but at least some progresses can be made by some people that we can reached out since 1988 , well before my wife and I started the orphanage. Here are some of the pictures of the houses where some of our orphanage's children were living on it before.
These 3 pictures are a place that some people call it a home. From this home , their two children ( Lisa and Iswan) are with us at the orphanage and we look after them the best we can. The new baby's home is not much different than this house.
This morning we are richer by one more child , it is a baby girl . She was born from a mother whom the father left when the baby was still some 4 months inside the mother ( Martha). She was promised that the man will marry her and will give her a full responsibility upon the child birth but actually the man has left Martha and gone no where to be found ( till now). Any way Martha was working at a shop in town area where the case was happening. God sent her to us through a friend whom we have known for some years. Any way it was borne as a healthy baby and we are planning to give her name as Roslin some thing ( but with a Roslin name attached in her name ) . The mother ( Martha) has been living at the orphanage since she was 4 months pregnant. Even though we have been sending Martha for a proper check up during her pregnancy , this morning we sis not have the time to go to the hospital and the baby was actually born with the help of a nurse who is living near the orphanage. Peggy was in the city area when she heard the news about the baby's birth's progress. She was rushing back to help out but the baby was born when she got home. Thank you to you All that this baby will not be having any problem with baby clothings. We are having lots of baby clothing as what we have collected from All of you ( friends).
Beside a baby blessing we are also blessed with all the mango trees which are showing lots and lots of flower and a great mango harvest can be expected in December. If you want some ripe mango please come in December , you may get it your self right from the tree. We do leave the mango on its tree until they are ripen. Will share with the picture to All when the mangoes are ripen ha ha ha .
It was so appropriate that this evening we were having madam Reena and her husband Dev came to our place and bringing a baby cote and a lot of baby clothing. It will be great for this newly born baby. We have been so lucky that every time we are having a new baby ( infant) we are almost getting another baby cote. Praise The Lord indeed.
madam Reena and hubby Dev
In few days time when Peggy is here , I will up load the newly born baby's photo.
