July 15 Today we take ferry to Tello Island - long 6 hours with terrible techno music. We see Mr Ohay with chondro-carcinoma of his knee with Mr Given.   Mr Ohay is agreeable to amputation of his leg as he is unable to move because of pain and heaviness of leg. He says he has had the problem for 2.5 years now and would have gone for the surgery long ago but he has no money to pay for it. He believes that he is unable to get the surgery done in Indonesia without having to spend lots of money and he is poor.

July 16   Danny, volunteer organizes over the course of a day a Kartu Miskin,so that Mr Ohay can have a reduced cost X-ray of his leg and this will put him within the rules of the governmental social health care  system. This card costs 25,000 rupiah from the Kepala Desa for qualifying people, who are the poorest in the village. This card then allows these people - once they reach the nearest appropriate public hospital to get their treatment and surgery free. The medicine that they will need to pay for is the medicine that the hospital does not stock routinely.  Danny took Mr Ohay to the X-ray at Pulau Tello Rumah Sakit and was able to negotiate a 33% reduction in the price of the X-ray from 300,000 to 200,000 rupiah for an AP and lateral X-ray of his L. femur.  Unfortunately the family was not very assertive about getting the Kartu Miskin as the Kepala Desa said they had run out of the appropriate cards. Only by going through the Camat, were we able to finally achieve the Kartu Miskin for Mr Ohay, and by this time it was 4 pm.  Meanwhile the rest of the team carried on with a medical clinic at BengHong’s house with minor surgeries and removing badly decayed teeth.  

  July 17   We are back on the 6 hour ferry to Teluk Dalam with Danny, Katie and Margaret (enthusiastic volunteers) Mr Ohay, Melioni and I.   Mr Ohay stayed on a mat on the vehicle deck on this large inter island ferry that services Pulau Tello once a week.  Once in Teluk Dalam we picked up the Troppodoc ambulance from Rumah Sakit Stella Maris and we drove to Gunung Sitoli - arriving there at 9pm at night.

Rumah Sakit Umum, Gunung Sitoli is a newly built hospital supplied by Malaysia Mercy NGO since the destructive earthquake of 2005. Beautiful facilities with a population of 800,000 – they have had no General or Orthopaedic Surgeon there for more than 2 years.

We arrived on Saturday evening and we agreed with the admitting doctor to keep Mr Ohay in hospital until Monday morning when the Administrative office would be open so that the appropriate stamp could be accessed and used on his referral letter to the Public Hospital in Medan ( Rumah Sakit Adam Malik).

July 18   While waiting for time to pass in Gunung Sitoli, we visited the Saint Alma Home for physically and mentally handicapped children (which are practically across the road from the Miga Beach Hotel). This is a new facility since the 2005 earthquake which has 32 children and their long stay care is being taken care of by three Physiotherapists, one Speech Therapist, and other Sisters from the Catholic Church.  A lovely facility this is,and the children are well cared for. We also went to see Viktor, the burns victim from before the tsunami who I need to buy new oil for to soften his scars. I wonder what the possibility is of benefit if I was to perform repeated scar excisions under local anaesthetic to free up the movements of some of his severely limited joints. These joints are limited in movement by severe skin burns scarring rather than by joint disease.

July 19   We pick up Mr Ohay from Hospital Gunung Sitoli, plus the appropriate referral letter, which all takes considerable time but we are able to make connection with the plane to Medan in the afternoon and take the taxi direct to Adam Malik Hospital at 5 pm. Apart from driving slowly via peak hour Medan traffic, by the time we arrived at the hospital and usual procedure time, it was only at 10pm that he was admitted to the hospital. New X-rays were taken, exactly the same views that we had paid to have taken the previous day and had given them upon arrival!!!    Fortunately all the paper work was in order, and he was started on cefoxitin/omeprazole/metaclopramide and opiate pain relief. These were all administered intravenously despite the fact he could eat and drink normally, and wasn’t vomiting!!

On the way back to the Pardede International Hotel we met up with enthusiastic volunteer Jan Beamish from Tauranga who had been met the previous day by our great supporter Erik Brandt, as she arrived into Medan.

July 20   Much time today is spent organizing Melioni’s Burkina Faso visa. The agreement for working beside SIM in BF has arrived but unfortunately I was unable to download and print the required form for the visa - I tried on more than one computer!!  We saw Sister Stefani, Mick Stevens and visited the Dinas Perhubungan to work through the issues of support for the helicopter being transferred from West Sumatera back to North Sumatera. They were however, unwilling to write the required letter as they said they had no power!!!

In the evening Margaret and I attended a meeting with the Rotary Club, Medan Central, the home club of Erik Brandt, we tried to raise support for Mr Ohay in terms of regular visiting for him at the Hospital - every 2^nd day.

July 21   Today the paper work has been lost by the hospital and the hospital administration has called Erik Brandt to say Mr Ohay will be asked to leave the hospital in the afternoon if we cannot supply the hospital with his Kartu Miskin.!! So I return back to the hospital with Margaret.  Fortunately we are befriended by a very kind Indonesian Doctor undergoing Paediatric Specialist training who speaks excellent English.  We explain the situation to him and after some time he finds all the required paper work still in the Emergency Room.   He makes copies of everything and he personally takes these to the Administration and Insurance offices as well as the Ward that Mr Ohay is bedded in.    This enables Mr Ohay to stay for his operation in the near future. We wonder, with dismay, what would have happened if we had not been there to assist Mr Ohay, or had not met the enthusiastic Specialist -in training in this very important matter.

Meanwhile, we are also trying to track down the promised compensation for my guitar which was broken on the Lion Air airplane on a flight with Margaret from Singapore to Jakarta.

July 22   In the Pardede International Hotel and still sorting out Melioni’s visa application for the flight to Burkina Faso transiting through Paris (the cheapest option) and possibly onto Ghana if Burkina Faso cannot be accessed successfully. We need further letters from SIM for the visa application at the border. Meanwhile friends in New Zealand are telling me of the temperatures in west Africa is topping 50 degrees Celsius daily!! Finally we go to a Kentucky fried chicken outlet and use the free computer there which easily downloads the required visa application form and SIM support letters effortlessly, but there is no printer.

En route to see Mr Ohay in hospital -this is a 45 minute becuk (motorbike passenger vehicle) ride; we are able to stop at an internet café and at last get a printed copy of these forms!!!!

July 18   While waiting for time to pass in Gunung Sitoli, we visited the Saint Alma Home for physically and mentally handicapped children (which are practically across the road from the Miga Beach Hotel). This is a new facility since the 2005 earthquake which has 32 children and their long stay care is being taken care of by three Physiotherapists, one Speech Therapist, and other Sisters from the Catholic Church.  A lovely facility this is,and the children are well cared for. We also went to see Viktor, the burns victim from before the tsunami who I need to buy new oil for to soften his scars. I wonder what the possibility is of benefit if I was to perform repeated scar excisions under local anaesthetic to free up the movements of some of his severely limited joints. These joints are limited in movement by severe skin burns scarring rather than by joint disease.

July 19   We pick up Mr Ohay from Hospital Gunung Sitoli, plus the appropriate referral letter, which all takes considerable time but we are able to make connection with the plane to Medan in the afternoon and take the taxi direct to Adam Malik Hospital at 5 pm. Apart from driving slowly via peak hour Medan traffic, by the time we arrived at the hospital and usual procedure time, it was only at 10pm that he was admitted to the hospital. New X-rays were taken, exactly the same views that we had paid to have taken the previous day and had given them upon arrival!!!    Fortunately all the paper work was in order, and he was started on cefoxitin/omeprazole/metaclopramide and opiate pain relief. These were all administered intravenously despite the fact he could eat and drink normally, and wasn’t vomiting!!

On the way back to the Pardede International Hotel we met up with enthusiastic volunteer Jan Beamish from Tauranga who had been met the previous day by our great supporter Erik Brandt, as she arrived into Medan.

July 20   Much time today is spent organizing Melioni’s Burkina Faso visa. The agreement for working beside SIM in BF has arrived but unfortunately I was unable to download and print the required form for the visa - I tried on more than one computer!!  We saw Sister Stefani, Mick Stevens and visited the Dinas Perhubungan to work through the issues of support for the helicopter being transferred from West Sumatera back to North Sumatera. They were however, unwilling to write the required letter as they said they had no power!!!

In the evening Margaret and I attended a meeting with the Rotary Club, Medan Central, the home club of Erik Brandt, we tried to raise support for Mr Ohay in terms of regular visiting for him at the Hospital - every 2^nd day.

July 21   Today the paper work has been lost by the hospital and the hospital administration has called Erik Brandt to say Mr Ohay will be asked to leave the hospital in the afternoon if we cannot supply the hospital with his Kartu Miskin.!! So I return back to the hospital with Margaret.  Fortunately we are befriended by a very kind Indonesian Doctor undergoing Paediatric Specialist training who speaks excellent English.  We explain the situation to him and after some time he finds all the required paper work still in the Emergency Room.   He makes copies of everything and he personally takes these to the Administration and Insurance offices as well as the Ward that Mr Ohay is bedded in.    This enables Mr Ohay to stay for his operation in the near future. We wonder, with dismay, what would have happened if we had not been there to assist Mr Ohay, or had not met the enthusiastic Specialist -in training in this very important matter.

Meanwhile, we are also trying to track down the promised compensation for my guitar which was broken on the Lion Air airplane on a flight with Margaret from Singapore to Jakarta.

July 22   In the Pardede International Hotel and still sorting out Melioni’s visa application for the flight to Burkina Faso transiting through Paris (the cheapest option) and possibly onto Ghana if Burkina Faso cannot be accessed successfully. We need further letters from SIM for the visa application at the border. Meanwhile friends in New Zealand are telling me of the temperatures in west Africa is topping 50 degrees Celsius daily!! Finally we go to a Kentucky fried chicken outlet and use the free computer there which easily downloads the required visa application form and SIM support letters effortlessly, but there is no printer.

En route to see Mr Ohay in hospital -this is a 45 minute becuk (motorbike passenger vehicle) ride; we are able to stop at an internet café and at last get a printed copy of these forms!!!!

  July 17   We are back on the 6 hour ferry to Teluk Dalam with Danny, Katie and Margaret (enthusiastic volunteers) Mr Ohay, Melioni and I.   Mr Ohay stayed on a mat on the vehicle deck on this large inter island ferry that services Pulau Tello once a week.  Once in Teluk Dalam we picked up the Troppodoc ambulance from Rumah Sakit Stella Maris and we drove to Gunung Sitoli - arriving there at 9pm at night.

Rumah Sakit Umum, Gunung Sitoli is a newly built hospital supplied by Malaysia Mercy NGO since the destructive earthquake of 2005. Beautiful facilities with a population of 800,000 – they have had no General or Orthopaedic Surgeon there for more than 2 years.

We arrived on Saturday evening and we agreed with the admitting doctor to keep Mr Ohay in hospital until Monday morning when the Administrative office would be open so that the appropriate stamp could be accessed and used on his referral letter to the Public Hospital in Medan ( Rumah Sakit Adam Malik).

July 18   While waiting for time to pass in Gunung Sitoli, we visited the Saint Alma Home for physically and mentally handicapped children (which are practically across the road from the Miga Beach Hotel). This is a new facility since the 2005 earthquake which has 32 children and their long stay care is being taken care of by three Physiotherapists, one Speech Therapist, and other Sisters from the Catholic Church.  A lovely facility this is,and the children are well cared for. We also went to see Viktor, the burns victim from before the tsunami who I need to buy new oil for to soften his scars. I wonder what the possibility is of benefit if I was to perform repeated scar excisions under local anaesthetic to free up the movements of some of his severely limited joints. These joints are limited in movement by severe skin burns scarring rather than by joint disease.

July 19   We pick up Mr Ohay from Hospital Gunung Sitoli, plus the appropriate referral letter, which all takes considerable time but we are able to make connection with the plane to Medan in the afternoon and take the taxi direct to Adam Malik Hospital at 5 pm. Apart from driving slowly via peak hour Medan traffic, by the time we arrived at the hospital and usual procedure time, it was only at 10pm that he was admitted to the hospital. New X-rays were taken, exactly the same views that we had paid to have taken the previous day and had given them upon arrival!!!    Fortunately all the paper work was in order, and he was started on cefoxitin/omeprazole/metaclopramide and opiate pain relief. These were all administered intravenously despite the fact he could eat and drink normally, and wasn’t vomiting!!

On the way back to the Pardede International Hotel we met up with enthusiastic volunteer Jan Beamish from Tauranga who had been met the previous day by our great supporter Erik Brandt, as she arrived into Medan.

July 20   Much time today is spent organizing Melioni’s Burkina Faso visa. The agreement for working beside SIM in BF has arrived but unfortunately I was unable to download and print the required form for the visa - I tried on more than one computer!!  We saw Sister Stefani, Mick Stevens and visited the Dinas Perhubungan to work through the issues of support for the helicopter being transferred from West Sumatera back to North Sumatera. They were however, unwilling to write the required letter as they said they had no power!!!

In the evening Margaret and I attended a meeting with the Rotary Club, Medan Central, the home club of Erik Brandt, we tried to raise support for Mr Ohay in terms of regular visiting for him at the Hospital - every 2^nd day.

July 21   Today the paper work has been lost by the hospital and the hospital administration has called Erik Brandt to say Mr Ohay will be asked to leave the hospital in the afternoon if we cannot supply the hospital with his Kartu Miskin.!! So I return back to the hospital with Margaret.  Fortunately we are befriended by a very kind Indonesian Doctor undergoing Paediatric Specialist training who speaks excellent English.  We explain the situation to him and after some time he finds all the required paper work still in the Emergency Room.   He makes copies of everything and he personally takes these to the Administration and Insurance offices as well as the Ward that Mr Ohay is bedded in.    This enables Mr Ohay to stay for his operation in the near future. We wonder, with dismay, what would have happened if we had not been there to assist Mr Ohay, or had not met the enthusiastic Specialist -in training in this very important matter.

Meanwhile, we are also trying to track down the promised compensation for my guitar which was broken on the Lion Air airplane on a flight with Margaret from Singapore to Jakarta.

July 22   In the Pardede International Hotel and still sorting out Melioni’s visa application for the flight to Burkina Faso transiting through Paris (the cheapest option) and possibly onto Ghana if Burkina Faso cannot be accessed successfully. We need further letters from SIM for the visa application at the border. Meanwhile friends in New Zealand are telling me of the temperatures in west Africa is topping 50 degrees Celsius daily!! Finally we go to a Kentucky fried chicken outlet and use the free computer there which easily downloads the required visa application form and SIM support letters effortlessly, but there is no printer.

En route to see Mr Ohay in hospital -this is a 45 minute becuk (motorbike passenger vehicle) ride; we are able to stop at an internet café and at last get a printed copy of these forms!!!!

July 18   While waiting for time to pass in Gunung Sitoli, we visited the Saint Alma Home for physically and mentally handicapped children (which are practically across the road from the Miga Beach Hotel). This is a new facility since the 2005 earthquake which has 32 children and their long stay care is being taken care of by three Physiotherapists, one Speech Therapist, and other Sisters from the Catholic Church.  A lovely facility this is,and the children are well cared for. We also went to see Viktor, the burns victim from before the tsunami who I need to buy new oil for to soften his scars. I wonder what the possibility is of benefit if I was to perform repeated scar excisions under local anaesthetic to free up the movements of some of his severely limited joints. These joints are limited in movement by severe skin burns scarring rather than by joint disease.

July 19   We pick up Mr Ohay from Hospital Gunung Sitoli, plus the appropriate referral letter, which all takes considerable time but we are able to make connection with the plane to Medan in the afternoon and take the taxi direct to Adam Malik Hospital at 5 pm. Apart from driving slowly via peak hour Medan traffic, by the time we arrived at the hospital and usual procedure time, it was only at 10pm that he was admitted to the hospital. New X-rays were taken, exactly the same views that we had paid to have taken the previous day and had given them upon arrival!!!    Fortunately all the paper work was in order, and he was started on cefoxitin/omeprazole/metaclopramide and opiate pain relief. These were all administered intravenously despite the fact he could eat and drink normally, and wasn’t vomiting!!

On the way back to the Pardede International Hotel we met up with enthusiastic volunteer Jan Beamish from Tauranga who had been met the previous day by our great supporter Erik Brandt, as she arrived into Medan.

July 20   Much time today is spent organizing Melioni’s Burkina Faso visa. The agreement for working beside SIM in BF has arrived but unfortunately I was unable to download and print the required form for the visa - I tried on more than one computer!!  We saw Sister Stefani, Mick Stevens and visited the Dinas Perhubungan to work through the issues of support for the helicopter being transferred from West Sumatera back to North Sumatera. They were however, unwilling to write the required letter as they said they had no power!!!

In the evening Margaret and I attended a meeting with the Rotary Club, Medan Central, the home club of Erik Brandt, we tried to raise support for Mr Ohay in terms of regular visiting for him at the Hospital - every 2^nd day.

July 21   Today the paper work has been lost by the hospital and the hospital administration has called Erik Brandt to say Mr Ohay will be asked to leave the hospital in the afternoon if we cannot supply the hospital with his Kartu Miskin.!! So I return back to the hospital with Margaret.  Fortunately we are befriended by a very kind Indonesian Doctor undergoing Paediatric Specialist training who speaks excellent English.  We explain the situation to him and after some time he finds all the required paper work still in the Emergency Room.   He makes copies of everything and he personally takes these to the Administration and Insurance offices as well as the Ward that Mr Ohay is bedded in.    This enables Mr Ohay to stay for his operation in the near future. We wonder, with dismay, what would have happened if we had not been there to assist Mr Ohay, or had not met the enthusiastic Specialist -in training in this very important matter.

Meanwhile, we are also trying to track down the promised compensation for my guitar which was broken on the Lion Air airplane on a flight with Margaret from Singapore to Jakarta.

July 22   In the Pardede International Hotel and still sorting out Melioni’s visa application for the flight to Burkina Faso transiting through Paris (the cheapest option) and possibly onto Ghana if Burkina Faso cannot be accessed successfully. We need further letters from SIM for the visa application at the border. Meanwhile friends in New Zealand are telling me of the temperatures in west Africa is topping 50 degrees Celsius daily!! Finally we go to a Kentucky fried chicken outlet and use the free computer there which easily downloads the required visa application form and SIM support letters effortlessly, but there is no printer.

En route to see Mr Ohay in hospital -this is a 45 minute becuk (motorbike passenger vehicle) ride; we are able to stop at an internet café and at last get a printed copy of these forms!!!!