From the Logbook...Going Home

It's not often that I get the opportunity to take a past medical patient and his/her family back home after they have received care at the hospital.  This was the scene as I approached the dock and beach a few weeks back taking a past patent and her family home.

 The woman in the blue shirt was the patient; a complicated child birth.  She ended up have a C-section and was unable to return home due to the bad conditions of the roads.  Her new little baby is being held by the woman in the yellow shirt...only 18 days old.  I'm kinda hard to pick out, but I am in the picture.

After we took a group shot, I turned around to see the local boys making a jungle gym out of my airplane.  Look at the little guy in the pink shirt...busted!  If you look closely you can see a little boy in blue shorts under my airplane crossing over the spreader bar.  Little boys are little boys no matter where you live.

From the Logbook...Canoe Ride

I'm usually too busy in the course of a flight day to take a boat ride down the river.  I was thankful a few weeks back to have the time to ride downstream from our airplane to a nearby village where I was able to sit and chat with the local pastors over tea and cookies.  They are a great group of men that live under very challenging conditions.

Upon arriving in the village, I caught these guys getting ready to go fishing together.  It's always fun to see little boys being little boys, regardless of where they are from.

From the Logbook...Heart Attack

Not only was it difficult docking the airplane at the interior village above, but getting the patient from the river bank to the airplane was a challenge as well.  I'm continually amazed at what a typical patient goes through just to get to our airplane in order to be medivac'ed.  But, the alternative is even more grave as there usually isn't one.

From the Logbook...Forest Bounty

Travel to anywhere outside of your hometown quickly shows you that people around your own country and the world eat lots of different things.  Indonesia is no exception here.  The man above was ecstatic one morning when I tied up the airplane at his dock.  It seems this jungle pig was swimming from the other side of the river and landed near the dock...a prime example of wrong place at the wrong time.  A few spears and the help of his dogs made light work of the hog.  He immediately started gutting the pig right in the river; preparing it for later consumption.

I always like asking different cultures about their hunting methods and I asked the guy a lot about his recent prey.  He was gracious enough to give me a whole hind leg as a gift, which I in turn gave to one of the guys I work with.  His wife prepared it at home and then all of us guys at the dock shared it for lunch the following day.

The dock owners luck didn't stop with the pig.  A few days later I was in his village again and he showed me his recently killed lizard.  I'm not sure of the proper name of this lizard, although it is similar to a monitor lizard.  Regardless of it's name, I'm sure it made for a few good meals at his dinner table.

From the Logbook...Hot Summer Days

While approaching an interior dock a few weeks ago, I saw a group of young boys having a good time cooling off...something which happens a lot here in Kalimantan since we have perpetual summer.

After a little coaxing from me, the little guys really put on a good show and showed me all the flips and cannon-balls they could.  It was a good time.

One of these days, I just might have to join them.  Flying an airplane in the same hot weather over the course of a long day makes a jump into the refreshing river temping.  Someday...

From the Logbook...Stroke Patient

I'm back!!!  Lack of blogging usually means lots of activity and that pretty much sums up our life this past month.  We have lived a lot of life over the past few months and July was no exception.  I have now stepped into the Base Manager role at our MAF-PalangkaRaya base and the future still looks very busy.  But, I/We LOVE what we do!!!  Thanks for being a part of it!

A few weeks ago I was called out to pick up a patient that had suffered a stroke and was having complications as the interior clinic tried to stabilize her.

Thankfully, I was able to pick her up and bring her to better medical facilities where she hopefully made a full recovery.