Roslin Orphanage Blog

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.

the beginning stage of a good mango harvest

We are so happy to see the mango trees are showing lots and lots of flower . We are doing our best to make sure that we are giving enough water for them so that the flower will be strong enough for not falling too easily when the strong wind blows. It will be a great blessings in the form of a good mango harvest some times in December and January.

Another blessing was given to me as my idea was recognized by SIA . It is a blessing for me as the certificate was given to me on July 17th by the head of the department. Blessing can be gotten if we are doing things with the spirit of volunteering . By being recognized by the company , I can feel my happiness each time I am working . It was the company’s action of implementing my ideas to the work that I am doing. I wish that I can participate more in the future.

receiving a certificate of recognition from SIA

On July 19th another blessing was received by Peggy . It was the recognition from The Rotary International for the work that is has been doing with the orphanage. Praise The Lord. It was a great evening because I was getting also a recognition for a voluntarism matter. Praise The Lord for a double Joy

Peggy receiving the award from The Rotary International HQ

Peggy’s certificate from Rotary International

District Government Chris handed the certificate from The Rotary Foundation

The next picture was taken when there was a package from madam Ade Gregory , from San Francisco . Each of the orphans were getting new San Francisco Tshirt. Also each of them were receiving a box of vitamin which is enough for them to consume it for a month. Praise The Lord for the multiple blessings.

new Tshirt and vitamins for the orphans

Blessing does not mean that we must get or receive some thing but to meet up with the people that we love is also a blessing on its own. For example , it is a blessing for us to have a visit from my father in law . He has been doing so much for the little orphans at the orphanage , now it is the turn for my own children to have him for a while in Singapore. He is coming for his regular check up here in Singapore. We know that the little orphans want him back as soon as possible but my children want their grandpa too. I hope that one day I will be wanted by my grand children too ha ha ha ha . It must be some thing else to be with our grand children .

Favorite Grandpa and his grand children sharing a quality time

I am also feeling so blessed every time I am in New York or Los Angeles . Yes it is far from home but God let me feels at home where ever I am . I have been given new friends , new brothers and sisters and good times. It is a blessing indeed if we can have good friends and people around us in another country. For my self to be able to be in the USA at least twice a month is a blessing indeed ( considering I was from a small city , in my home town in Indonesia.

some of my “family” while I am in New York

some of my new ” family” in Philadelphia

This morning I was blessed by having a new friend which I have never been seeing him in person, Mr Rahmadi live near my home in Jakarta. What happen was , I went to Jakarta yesterday and I am supposed to bring my daughter’s air ticket so that she can go back from Indonesia to Singapore. I was mistakenly bringing the ticket back to Singapore ( ha ha ha ). It is a blessing that my friend Mr Rahmadi is a neighbor to our home in Jakarta , so I just sent the soft copy of the ticket and after he printed it , he was actually deliver the ticket to our home ( even though I have told my helper to go to his house to pick it up). Praise The Lord that the blessings can be in the form of so many things. It is us to see it as a blessing but some time we are unable to see it that way. To Pak Rahmadi , terima kasih sekali atas bantuan nya.

There has been so many more of blessings which I can not write them all for now. Will keep you up dated later on.

Can you imagine that these children came to us as ” days old babies” ?

Yes they came to us as one , two or 3 days old babies and they can grow well with love.

It has been a blessing for us to have them under our care

will you be apart of their growth ? Come and share your time with us any time .

A new day means a new blessing , a new sun rise, a new sun rise and a new praise to The Lord. July 14th, It was a super day for us to see those ” days old babies” to be enrolled to their first day at school( primary school). Blessings has been given to us so that we can look after those infants from some 6 years ago. If last year we enrolled them into a kindergarten, now they are entering the primary school. If in the past they can only be fed , now they can do things for them self and going to their formal school education. we enrolled them into a Catholic school , a private school. It is known to be a better school rather than the other schools near by our orphanage. What we are hoping now is their ability to adopt their new school and able to learn the curriculum accordingly.

Elis Edu dan Ako when they were small

Lala when she was a baby

we were babies before so we can fit in together

Markus a boy who was abandoned when he was 1 day old

As you can see that they have grown , from infancy into their schooling age and so far so good that our care is according to our plans. Indeed a big change as we all can see now that they can prepare them self upon going to school without getting any help from the older orphans. It is the best for them to be self sufficient and independent since they are young. We wish that we will be able to stay healthy and capable to look after them better and seeing them reaching their adulthood too. May The Lord grant our wish.

prepare things by them self for their first day at school

No more kindergarten for us as we are baby no more

going to school by our pick up for the 9 orphans

” Kindergarten no more for us”, these were the actual words that Edu, Markus, Ako ,Lala , Chris and Elis were saying as they woke up in the morning of July 14th 2008. They were so excited to go to their new school. They have prepared things ( school bag, school book, shoes and clothes/uniform) before they went to bed and tried to sleep early so that they will not be late going for their first day at school. The school is giving them a new look as they were wearing their new uniform.

Not only for those 6 children but also a special day for Lody, Michael, Prity and July. For these 4 children we moved them from the government school into this private catholic school. The reason is for a better education quality and to prevent them being walking in the mud during the rainy season. With all of them attending at the same primary school , we can take them to school with our pick up and to pick them us after school at the same time. Lody is joining primary 6, Pritty, Micahel into primary 2 while July into primary 3.

A good news was given to us by God. One day before I left Singapore for New York , my former senior pilot called me . We were having a casual chat and at the end he was asking me about the orphanage’s progress. I told him that one of the orphan has graduated his high school and we intend to send him into medical school ( according to his will too). Gerson has been a good boy and obedient to us and also his grade is also acceptable for it. My senior pilot told me that If Gerson is accepted at a medical school , he is willing to finance his fee ( it will not be cheap but he is willing to do it). Praise The Lord. Now it is time to pray for it and it is time for Gerson to prepare him self for the tests. We have bought him many books about biology, physic, math etc. We are really hoping that he can get in. With God’s favor we can get it.

Good evening to All,

I just finished discussing with my wife Peggy on the phone.  An idea just pop out and we are incline to do it gradually. As we are having continues water which flowing at our farm , we are planning to shift the older orphans to live at the farm instead of at the current orphanage. We are planning to send them to the school near by the farm and still within walking distance . So much positive things can be done but there is a down side that the student will not be getting education as good as now . The current school are nearer the city and the teacher is better in term of their availability and their knowledge about teaching the subject. No more great library for them except books in our mobile library.

A simple but healthy shelter can be build but they will be some distance away from the orphanage . Control will be lagging but their initiative can be grown better .

We are planning to give them assignment for each of them with a plot of land individually so that they can do things according what they like and good at. If each of them is assigned some 2000 M2 , after school they can spend their time planting veggies or even doing fish farming. We will support them with their education needs but they can get extra funding from the land that we assigned to each one of them. The land is there and the water is available for it. An effort must be and can be shown.

Each of them can show us about what they can do individually and how they can divide their time wisely so that the schooling and the farming are good ( or the other way around ). It is possible that their needs can be funded by the assignment if they are really putting the efforts into it.

Peggy and I are still thinking about it .

Any idea ? please let us know .