5k Kate

Today was a big day! As the women came back from Malam just two days ago and the entire village will be returning to Malam to head to Wim in just a few days, we had only a few days to do a few big community events. And since events keep the village from doing other important work, we fit them all on the same day.  First up was the much anticipated anti-violence march, followed by a celebration of Diwa Nägäm, Wäli Wäziag, Dipa Nägäm, and Mangkol Sobam, the first Ende pastors and the stars of the documentary, Ende Tän e Indrang, then the closing of the technology class, which made this documentary, then some goodbye words for me, and finally the premiere showing of the movie.  The anti-violence march accomplished exactly what it set out and thus was a success I think. Mostly I wanted a forum in which I could tell the entire community exactly what I think about the domestic violence in Limol, support the women, and not enrage the men but push them to do better. I wanted this for ...

Today marks my second run day in a row since I took a break at the beginning of rainy season. It’s still a bit rainy but the paths aren’t as slippery as they used to be.  I felt the need to run after my birthday celebrations which left me feeling pretty overwhelmed and over socialized. Thirty minutes of heart pumping alone time did the trick and I’ve felt a bit calmer past two days.  The women came back from their ministry trip to Malam late this afternoon and I was so happy to see them! They were greeted with songs and a big feast of 5 animals in pots with frying pan sago. The men in general seemed pretty incapable of feeding me, themselves, or their children with the women gone. Every meal was late and many were just dry sago. A few Malam women here for technology class saved the weekend surprising me with a coconut, some bananas, or a fish. The incapacity of the men really infuriated me, though I guess it shouldn’t have surprised me. The running only made me hangrier, so pe...

A list of things I’m grateful for: I am so, so grateful for Andrey, Tessa, Elizabeth, and Grace who reply to my clunky sat phone messages, ask how I’m doing, and listen to all my thoughts. They google my random questions, keep me updated on the news, and generally supply me with a wealth of friendship that would be sorely missed without their wonderful stamina.   I am so, so grateful for my satellite phone app. I love being able to communicate with my friends and family with the ease and emoji inventory of my iPhone.  I am so, so grateful for my unlimited satellite phone plan. I love being able to send and receive as many messages as I want. I am so, so grateful for my satellite phone! It works and has worked constantly albeit with some weird glitches for two years now! I am so, so grateful for my mosquito/spider sanctuary. I almost couldn’t sleep the summer of 2016, because I was so freaked out by the house spiders. When I see one of these spiders, there’s something inside me...

What a magical birthday! And full of surprises! I went to sleep thinking that today would be nothing special. I knew I had a card from Grace and could expect some sat phone messages from friends, but I had planned my birthday feast for next Wednesday and planned to celebrate when everyone returned to the village (all the women left to do ministry in Malam two days ago!) Well, I should have remembered from how giddily everyone here planned Grace’s surprise birthday party that mine would be no different. I woke up to the bird calls at 6:00 am as usual, but this morning I also heard Jerry’s voice outside. Jerry lives across the village and has a very distinctive laugh and tenor. I knew something was up! I got up and instead of my usual morning routine of an hour of work and hydration before greeting the world, I got dressed, grabbed my camera and walked outside. The entire house was decorated in flowers, young bamboo shoots framed my veranda and stairs! Upon clearing the steps, I was gree...

Today was the yam harvest - a day I’ve been waiting for all year! The yams were planted rather late, around Christmas time, right when I arrived for my fourth trip. I was told they would be ready in April or May or June or July. With such a wide spread, I rescheduled my fifth trip to be here during that entire time so as not to miss it! I started asking people about it in April and May, making sure people knew I wanted to film it, especially the special dancing tradition that I heard rumors of amongst the older ladies. But as May turned into June and as June came to an end, I wondered if it would happen at all! But happen it did and very abruptly. Wagiba rushed into my room at 8am saying, “We are leaving to harvest the yams right now. I thought you were going to film us?” I quickly assembled the video camera, mic and headphones, packed a bag with extra battery, phone, gloves, umbrella, folding stool, water, and two bananas, slapped on my hat and hiking boots and we were off! Quickly we...

I was woken up to the sound of knocking  on the steps at around 3am. I called out in Russian and when that didn’t work I realized where I was and had to wake up and see what was happening. It was Wareka, Georgina was in labor and things weren’t going right. Could they take my fuel and stretcher? I slipped on my shoes and got the fuel canister from below the house. Just a few litres left, but should be enough to get to Upiara - at least most of the way. I followed Wareka to Georgina’s house and dropped the fuel, then headed straight off to aid post to get the stretcher, in case the transport had to be fast. Two women followed me and lucky because my headlamp died on the way. When we reached the aid post, we found Matthew there who came to help but didn’t know what the stretcher looked like. We grabbed the stretcher and some gauze then rushed back across the village in the fading solar light.  When we arrived at Georgina’s there were plenty of women gathered. About fifteen feet ...

I may have just enraged a violent village leader but (1) I’m on a post-birth high (see last post) and (2) he enraged me first.   Last week Geoff Rowak burned his wife with fire when she didn’t cook for him. Let me be clearer, HE HELD A FLAME IN HER FACE, BURNED HER NOSE, CHEEK AND NECK, AND LEFT BRUISES ALL OVER HER BODY. This is a man who has helped me many, many times, was the jokester at Christmas, shares a passion for writing lists on whiteboards...and he set his wife on fire! Because she didn’t listen to him! Well, after getting his wife some medicine, I took to the streets   street  path and told everyone how angry I was. Then I went to the women’s fellowship meeting and demanded that next weeks feast be replaced by an anti-violence march. I asked the very religious group - what would we do if someone burned the village church? They gave appropriate responses: take him to court, hold a meeting, make him fix it, hold community lectures to stop the behavior. I said, y...

This trip, though my longest, has not been a great one for blogging. This is partly due to the fact that (1) Grace was here for a little more than a month and is a wonderful listener, (2) a month of nearly straight rain eradicated my running and though it’s stopped raining, food supply is so low, that I can’t bear to be more hungry, and finally (3) my return home (home!) is drawing ever so nearer that in the evenings I often think of nothing else but avocados, regular exercise, and cuddles. Oh and my to do list which broke my app when it surpassed a million items.  I can tell you about the movie we are making -  but I hope it will also speak for itself when it’s finally ready. This trip was partially funded by the Firebird Foundation to support a project in which knowledge is passed on - from elders to youth and also from me to the community. This has manifest itself in the form of a community movie, in which the stories of four of the oldest Ende people are illuminated for th...

This Saturday, I went on a family trip to beat sago with Wagiba, Warama, Tonny, Wendy, Uba, Ibetty, Nicole, Nicky, and Willie.  Although I’ve witnessed sago processing before, I’ve never been actively involved besides carrying the heavy bags back to the village. However, most of the old women in the village seem to think I’m ‘built for sago’. Often when in close proximity to me, they mutter things like, “Ae mälla gullbe” (What a woman!) “Bogo ai dan aoli patkoll bîtne?” (How many sago bundles you think she could beat?!) “Matta? Ddîll?” (Eight? Ten?). This is a very flattering number and makes me forgive the otherwise uncomfortable chatter about my size. So off I went to see just how much sago I could beat. Sago processing involves (1) chopping down the sago palm with an axe, (2) debarking the tree with the use of an axe and a pointed stick, (3) beating the palm’s pith into the consistency of fine wood chips using a tool called an abor, an instrument with one hitting edge the size o...

Hello from inside my sanctuary but now I’m tucked into the far side of a large sleeping room in a tall house owned by an incredibly hospitable Lewada couple named Kila and Sibi. We arrived in Lewada this evening after a very long trip. We took off on Thursday morning from Limol. First stop was Upiara for Grace to catch an MAF’s Friday plane to Daru. The journey was a little stop and go, but we arrived with plenty of daylight to settle in at Kwale and Aruwa’s house and have one of Kwale’s famous meals. We did a bit of exploring in Upiara, which is a much bigger village than Limol. We normally stay with Aruwa on the school compound as he is the headmaster. The other families in this corner also speak Ende or Kawam. We got to greet plenty of Ende school children. We walked out to the furthest point in search of a man named Darema who was the main consultant for one of my linguist friends Phill. He gave us some updated files he had been working on for us to send to Phill with Grace.  F...