Roslin Orphanage Blog

Just few days ago we were so happy about Gerson being excepted into the medical school, short while ago another miracle has happened to our orphanage especially for Gerson.

Some 20 minutes ago some one very special who refused to be called an angel has told me that he will cover what Gerson’s needs to pay up his school fees for the next 3 years will be financed by him. The Lord has meeting the needs for Gerson indeed.

God has been working all along and His promise to be the providence has been revealed more and more by this news. God has been so faithful to us and it is for us to follow.

Our thanks to the Lord who has appointed this special person to be His angel.

Thank you angel person.

It was started by a visit from uncle Leo Nesnoni, lecturer Chris and pastor Jo Lenny on August 17th on one afternoon. They came because the head of Van Deventer-Maas Stiching Mr Edwin suggestion to visit our orphanage during which they students were having their leadership conference meeting at Kupang city. Uncle Leo is a well known figure for a hard working, sports person, active person upon promoting the area with great and positive activities and he is also the living Kupang KIngdom’s royalty person. He is also a very active Lion’s club member in Kupang. Basically uncle Leo Nesnoni is a down to earth person which I should learn so many things from him. The intention of the visit was to share things about the orphanage to the students while the orphanage is hoping to get some feed back about how we should do things better based from their observation.

a visit by uncle Leo Nesnoni, lecturer Chris and pastor Jo Lenny

On August 24th the group came and we were having a great time. The students were escorted by uncle Leo Nesnoni,lecturer Chris and pastor Jo Lenny while the Van Deventer is being represented by Mr Rob Hartman , Eng PhD. It was a very productive afternoon indeed. Even though the students are Indonesian nationality, the talk was conducted in English. The students were Katharina Laetitia, Herry Fridolin Lalus, David Flick Lede, Sherlinia Rambu Anawoli, Afrianus Aman, Theresia Mako, Kartini Susanty, Dian Amalia Rusnadi, Farina Harijanto, Angelina Putri, Agrisany Stevany K, Dewi, Inggrid Abraham, I Kagek Agus Artawan, Ayu Asri Devi Adityawati, Lenny Jo , Yesia Chandra Dewi and Mr Rob Hartman.

Every one was introducing them self and sharing with us how lucky there are to be selected as the Van Deventer scholarship recipients. But when we were listening to the story that lecturer Chris gave us , we are so happy that the children are getting a very solid example about how important to use your time wisely and efficiently. Lecturer Chris was almost stop studying when he was finished primary school. His father was a farmer and no ability to send him to study higher than primary school. One day when his father brought lecturer Chris’s primary school certificate to be laminated ( with plastic sheet) at a Chinese shop his life path has changed. The Chinese shop owner saw the certificate and he was so impress with the grades, The grades were so fantastic . The Chinese shop owner ask the father where is the boy is going for his education after the primary school. The father told him that the boy is not going any where because he can not afford it . He will be assigned to look after the animals and working at the farm , the main thing that he can read and write already. The Chinese shop’s owner ask the father to bring the boy to come to him and how is goes is later. When the boy came( Lecturer Chris was the boy) , the Chinese shop owner ask him to continue his study and he will finance him as high as he want it to be. Later on he is not only finance him but lecturer Chris has been made as his adopted son till now. Lecturer Chris was having the highest goal to be a primary school teacher when he was young but now he is a lecturer at University of Cendana and teaching Physic. He is also the leader representative of Van Deventer -Maas Stiching Institute and a figure that is giving back to the society in the form of giving free tuition about physic and many other things. His story was not only deeply planted to the children but to my self. Thank you pak Chris for your sharing to all of us. I must salute to the Chinese shop owner to have his heart and vision being so fantastic when he saw pak Chris’s certificate.

Miss Shierly showing such a joyful moment after watching Ivan (4) performing

Pastor Jo Lenny spending her precious time with the children

Educational toys from Van Deventer for the children, we really appreciate it

all of these children were “days old baby” when they came to us

Quality time among the orphans

It can be a simple thing but if we are doing it together it be a very positive and so many things can be done nicely. Looking at this picture alone , we can see how close they are and psychologically they are bonding  strongly.  They were able to seat together and they can play games using their hands only. Many other games are played by them and if there is  a penalty , it will be in the forms of singing or such activity which they can do it firmly but happily. It is always rewarding to see them when the older orphan are doing it together. It always involve some skill or knowledge transfer among the older one to the little one. This attitude is what we want to be practicing  to make their togetherness productive.  By doing so the older orphans are able to reduce our tasks which our time can be used into doing some other things.

one of their favorite time together at the library room

Peggy making up the girl’s hair while Irene is dealing with Peggy;s white hair

together eating on table

together eating on the floor

The togetherness is very important no matter what they are doing. For example eating together on the table or on the floor. These two simple things can generate some sort of survival skills about excepting things and dealing with it the best they could. Another case can be taught is to wash their clothes both manually and by using a washing machine. From the cooking side , we can teach them how to use the wood to cook and cooking with the gas stove. It will be nice to know things and able to do things in so many ways.

Your time is the most precious gift which you can give to the orphans. Simple knowledge about the animal in the zoo can be a great lesson to them. Showing what a train like and explain it to them is a grand thing to the orphan ( there is no train in Timor.  They are seeing aircraft every day as we are so near the airport but not a train). When we are looking at the dictionary which containing lots of pictures, we can tell them better. There is a great book of such which we bought them in Singapore some time back. The book has some 4000 pictures with solid explanations. From this book the older orphan is getting a big if they want to improve their vocabulary. The little orphans can start knowing so many things by recognizing the pictures.   I am planning to buy some more this afternoon , it is a really a great book to buy ( sad to say that 4 books were missing , 2 may be stolen and the other 2 was missing because of the big flood in Jakarta ha ha ha . That time I was asking my friend to bring the book to Timor  but while the suite case ( full of books) was at his house , the flood was washing off all of his belonging including the suit case. There were some educational videos too in it).  It is not easy to teach them English because they are also still learning their local language as well.  Teaching Two language at once at the early age ? Hmmmmmm. We need a lot of time and skill to do it properly. It will be easy to teach them a single language ( any language ) but not two at the same time. Any way we are doing our best with all of our short comings.

Just do it together

Janson, Ivan and Tia

Tia and Jen, sisters made at this orphanage

Things that being done not according to our will, will be a hard thing to and surely our mind will be unhappy and we will be tired physically as well mentally. In the other hand if things are being conducted with such a togetherness spirit , not only the result will be great but we will not endure the mental tiredness.

our own cleaning team cleaning the gathering place together

Pritty , a primary 2 student washing her own uniform manually

It was so funny to see Jen ( almost 2 years old) trying to sweep the floor while on the other hand is still holding the biscuit. We kind of let her do it as we want her to get the chance to have her freedom upon using the broom. After seeing the older one doing it every day , Jen was tempted to copy it without any instruction from others. We really value her initiative . As on the team cleaning picture , we are also happy to see them doing it without any unhappiness feeling. The spirit of togetherness is very important to keep and even to improve it. By doing so the cleaning matter and for every thing else will be quite easily conducted . The main thing to tell our self ( them) is how can we keep this togetherness spirit. To be self sufficient on every thing is very important and it has been the orphanage’s goal since in the very beginning. For Pritty , we are so happy since she was 4 year old , she has been able to help her younger “bro and sis” in the form of changing clothes, spooning the meals and many other things. Pritty has been washing her own uniform right after the lunch period. It is great to see practicing her awareness to make sure that she will be wearing a clean clothes every day by washing her own uniform timely. These time is ok on drying clothes because of plentiful sun shine but during the rainy months the Sun light will be much less and the air will be so damped thus quite difficult to dry up the laundry. The rainy season will be form 2nd week of November till February. So even though she does not need to ash it every day ( she has few uniforms) but seeing her doing it as to make her self a back up is really some thing that I can also learn from what she has been doing.

Many things can be done in the spirit of togetherness at the orphanage. For example we do not need to worry when the older orphans are around , they will be playing or making up a quality time with the little ones. It has been great to see them interacting and filling up the time with games and even in the form of assisting home works. There are sadness too if we are seeing that the older orphans were unable to answer the questions from the little ones . This is a frequent case if the subject is English ( because the older one are also very weak on this subject ha ha ha ). This is a good time for us to come in and assisting them. This is the very important factor that the people in this place is not able to make a big progress. By lagging in English language it will be hard to be able to progress further . It will be hard to make a break through else where. By having a reasonably a good English language knowledge , we will be able to explore more globally. One day we are hoping that we will be able to provide the orphanage with a person or some persons who is/are willing to spend time at the orphanage to teach the orphanage children as well as the village children. So far only my father in law which has been doing it beside our self but Cornelis Lakusa ( my father in law) is currently in Singapore for his medical matter.

As what we are having according to the previous entry, indeed we are so blessed that Gerson has made it into the medical school. It will be great if in the future we will be able to have an in house doctor who grew together with all of the orphans . It will be a very special thing to happen to our orphanage. This is a major and some sort grand gift from The Lord. Praise The Lord.

To add up the blessing for Gerson’s matter, my retired boss Captain Leonard Mc Cully called me some days before I left for Timor. He was asking me about the orphanage’s progresses. When I told him about Gerson’s test for the medical school , he cut short my telling and told me that he will help me with Gerson’s funding to enter the medical school. Praise The Lord. If you ever take the Singapore Airlines flight, you will be greeted by Captain McCully on the welcoming video. By then you will see the handsome gentlemen and now you will see him as well as a very kind and generous person for so many human being even though he never met them before. SIA being blessed for having so many great leaders and personnels in the company. To Captain Len McCully and bro Derek McCully , thank you for your support in this education matter.

There are so many more blessings that we are receiving from The Lord. One of them is the plentiful of water that is not only enough for us to cook, bath and sanitation but it is also enough to water the plants. By having enough water , our jack fruit tree is giving us so much fruit and indeed it is amazing as the fruit are not only hanging on its branches but they are also reaching the ground.

Jack fruit reaching the ground as well as hanging on its branches

There are other blessing that is really a big surprised to us during this trip. The road to the orphanage was made smooth and well paved right through the orphanage’s gate. The before and after was just so amazing. From now on there will not be any more bumpy road on the way in and out of the orphanage, Praise The Lord. It was Aug 26 when the road work was being started and it went on only for two 3 days to pass the orphanage’s gate. The contractor told me that this sector of road was not in the planned road work but he was feeling so strong about doing this section first before doing the rest. I do not know what but it is certainly God’s favor to us at the orphanage. Praise The Lord.

Upon doing the actual road work at our road, my self and all of the bigger orphans were assisting in the form of cleaning, carrying the stones and pebbles, leveling the surfaces and whatever needs that we can help out. Peggy and the girls were preparing two types of drink ( young coconut with syrup on the rock/ ice cubes and ice coffee drink beside the free flow of drinking water. Peggy and the girls also managed to provide meals during the break times for the all of the road workers ( 25 of them).

drinks for the road workers

making our gate entrance nice and smooth

Blessings can be flowing in as well as flowing out ( or within). The orphanage is not only a place for the younger one but some time it provides a care and place for the senior citizen too. For example it can host some of our friend’s relative or parent in the case the family members were unable to look after the older member. The orphanage will be more than happy to help and taking care the senior citizen too. It is great that we can provide some sort of comfortable place to host them. With this capability of helping them we are actually being blessed for learning what an old age is and what the meaning of having the comfort for having some one just for the purpose of having a casual and daily conversation. It is a need for each of us to have others to talk or share our ideas and to let out things in our mind. We are now able to tell the orphanage children more about how we must work together better and better and how we should help each other and how to keep a good network among them. Since most of the orphans are not having any known relative or siblings , we should deem more that all of the orphanage members are our own ” sibling and family” that we have. After all a senior person is not demanding any thing and not much of the need that we must do for them except a family kind of talk, a chat in the old days and things that All of us need , that is being love and some care.

uncle Daniel , a regular senior person staying at the orphanage

miss Shierly chatting with uncle Daniel

Indeed , blessings others does not need to be a material gift(s) but your time can be a very valuable thing to share . If you have some spare time to give , please come and visit us one day . The sharing time will be able to be remembered by the children and who knows that you can be a trigger for the children to do things better or your example can be a catapult for the children to reach their goal. Each of the children might be needing a different kind of personal approaches to get into their inner will ( the deepest sense) to open up.

We are expecting some great supply of mango by 2nd week of December. Most of our mango trees are full with its flower. Even though the ear;lier flowers were fell to the ground because of the strong prevailing wind which blows in July, some how many trees are showing the flower rather later than the usual timing yearly. It must be the timing that God has arranged for us to have the mango trees having its flower preserved from falling because of the strong wind. Now we are able to say that we will be having enough of fruits ( mango) by 2nd week of December onwards for at least 6 weeks.

Arum Manis mango tree full with flower at our orphanage

small Arum Manis mango

” Mana Lagi ” mango flower

Mana Lagi mango

BREAKING NEWS

BREAKING NEWS,  A GOOD NEWS FROM THE ORPHANAGE

THANK YOU LORD, THANK YOU LORD , THANK YOU LORD

THANK YOU TO FCAPers OF SINGAPORE FOR YOUR PRAYERS.

THANK YOU SIS LOIS EWALD AND THE HEPHZIBAH HOUSE MEMBER FOR YOUR PRAYERS

THANK YOU TO SINGAPORE MOTHERHOOD FORUM FOR YOUR SUPPORT

THANK YOU TO PASTOR TIM , PASTOR RENE AND THE CONGREGATIONS IN NEW YORK FOR YOUR PRAYERS

THANK YOU TO DR ARIS TANONE  AND BOLELEBO FRIENDS FOR YOUR PRAYERS

THANK YOU TO “GEROMBOLANERS” FOR YOUR PRAYERS

THANK YOU TO CAPTAIN LEN MC CULLY FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND YOUR WILLINGNESS TO SUPPORT GERSON .

THANK YOU TO ALL FRIENDS FOR YOUR PRAYERS AND SUPPORTS

THANK YOU.

NOW THE NEWS :

GERSON , ONE OF OUR DEAR ORPHAN HAS BEEN DECLARED PASSING HIS TESTS FOR ENTERING THE MEDICAL SCHOOL .

GERSON PASSING HIS TEST BECAUSE OF GOD’S FAVOR AND GOD’S PERMISSION FOR GERSON TO DO HIS BEST AND TRYING HIS BEST .

GLORY TO GOD THE ALL MIGHTY

PRAISE THE LORD.

GERSON HAS BEEN AN ORPHAN SINCE HE WAS 4 YEARS OLD.

PLEASE SHARE OUR JOY.

WE ARE SO HAPPY THAT HE MADE THE TEST.

NOW IT IS THE COMMITMENT FROM GERSON FOR THE NEXT 5 OR 6 YEARS THAT WE HAVE TO SUPPORT AND PRAY.

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE TO THE LORD AND TO THE PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE IN HIM,

Budi and family

GERSON AND ME PROUDLY PRESENTING OUR OWN JACK FRUIT

Gerson watering the mango trees

our new shelter will be

It was great to have our first shelter at the farm but the joy of having it has been gone as we are having a competitors to use it as our shelter.  The competitors non other than our fast growing wild chicken population. We can put it in the record that we are being ousted by the chicken ha ha ha . Started with 3 Hens and 1 male chicken , we are now having at least some 50 or more of organic chicken. The reason being the plentiful of food source for them in the form of locus, grasshoppers and some other insects .  It is a blessing to have all the chicken growing so fast. We can get the egg , the meat and we can also sell the chicken to the market if they are became excessive. The chicken will be eating the paddy during the harvest time , so we must take extra care of the harvested paddy ( rice) . The original shelter was made of a simple door less and windowless hut with the palm leafs as the roof but the new one is being made with a proper wood and equipped with windows and doors, as the roof will be the Zink roof. The wooden structure is made of the wood which derived from our own bush. Those thorny trees actually a very good wooden material for building structures. We must not wait until the wood is actually dry because it will become so hard for the nail to penetrate it. If it is dried completely , we must use the concrete nail other wise the nail will not be able to go it. For the room’s partisan we are using the palm tree’s stem or locally we call it as “Bebak”. We are buying the Bebak as we do ot have enough palm tree for it.

this original hut has been made into the chicken kingdom

the new master of the old shelter

the reason why we are building a new shelter

our weapon to cut up the wooden material manually

from our own bush with thorns into great wooden material

inspecting the log

freshly cut up wooden material for the roof structure

Bebak material for the room’s partisan

the view when we open the window at the new shelter is Fatuleu mountain

Not only the beautiful view that we are having at the farm but we are also having the great maestro which always performing at night . The frogs are playing their fantastic tunes during the darkness period daily without fail. The frog has its own function to us , that is eating all the mosquito , both the larva and the mosquito it self. The nature is certainly taking care of its existance miraculously.

THE ORIGINAL BUSH BEHIND AND NEWLY OPENED AREA

Since some 1 month ago before actually going to the the orphanage we have planned to open up some more land for planting rice. It is not an easy job to do it because the area that we must clean up is a hard thing to do. The bush to be cleaned up is full with such a thorny trees and the spike can be around  cm on its length. Initially we must cut the small branches before we can cut down the bigger trunks. An extra careful work must be carried out for not getting the spikes into our flesh. It was once happened to me when we did a clean up earlier. At that time there were 22 spikes went into my hands and foots . It was so painful and it took a long time to recover from the pain.  After cutting down the small and big trunks we left the little peaces on the ground and burn it. By doing so the thorn and spikes will be burned into ashes and not endangering the farmer when we are planting the soil tilting and planting the paddy. We were involving all of our bigger orphans during the weekend upon cleaning up the bush.

newly cleared bush

compared the finger and the thorns

cleared but still hard to be tilted by the tractor

softening the soil with “our mineral water ” ha ha ha

newly rich and fertile soil before being tilted by the tractor

newly opened thorny bush being made into rice field

Since it is a hard work , during this 3 weeks we are only able to add some 2000 M2, this is because we are also doing so many other things beside this land clearing.  It has been fun and when we are seeing the newly made rice field , we are so happy ( even though the extension is not so big).   We are planning  to open  the next  plot of land  for the next  planting season  ( may be about  1 Ha).  Before  doing it will be so  reluctance to do it because of the thorns but when we are actually doing it the hard work will be quite easy especially if many of us are doing it together.

It will be great if we can make our dreams into a reality.

It will be great if we can help others to make it happen for others .

It will be great …..

Here is an example of what to do while we still have the time .

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

This is the local musical instrument in Timor . It is called as SASANDO .

With this musical instrument we can sing any song and any tunes if you are good at it. We are planning to buy at least two of them and will ask the children to start learning how to play it. With this effort I am hoping that their local culture will be able to be preserved in the future.

Beside the musical instrument Timor is having so many different kind of cloth which are made differently both the designs and materials. It is a long time kind of work to make just one cloth. For example it can be done in 3 months or more just to make a piece of cloth. Different village means different designs , different region or different province means different design. So by looking at their locally made cloth or dress we can also understand from which part of this province a particular person is coming from. We are also planning to buy at least two wooden manually made cloth machines too for the same reason , that is to preserve their local culture’s values.