What are we doing here?

There are many times when I feel disillusioned by the amount of time my coworkers spend chatting and seem to be working – as – slow – as - possible.  As a fully indoctrinated member of the American work ethic, it has been a challenge to get my head around the nation-wide prevalence of this activity level in Indonesian offices.  There are other times, however, when I am extremely impressed and struck by the profound importance and capacity for life-saving impact that is PKBI’s work.  This morning we had networking/informational meeting with midwives from two of the poorest sub-districts in Jambi city.  Midwives are the primary provider of maternal and reproductive health in Jambi and after noticing that we were experiencing a lack of communication and referrals between these midwives and our clinic, it became imperative that we strengthen this relationship.  Our clinic has higher medical capacity than home-based midwives, has a 24-hour staff, and offers services that midwives do not have the resources or skills to offer, such as abortion.  A large part of the meeting was devoted to educating midwives about the process, prevalence, and importantly, the actual legality of abortion.  It was an opportunity to expand our reach into new boroughs and communities in and around Jambi.  It also reminded me how much we are needed, not only by the clients we help each day, but by serving as an established leader in women’s reproductive health in a city where the government has yet to adequately address or acknowledge the widespread tribulations facing women.

More rice anyone?

I finally had that defining moment in Indonesian life and cultural adaptation: my meal was just not complete without rice.  It was Wednesday after work and a visit to the gym when I decided to try out its first floor restaurant famed for its culinary style.  Now I didn’t know exactly which dish was the famous one so I tried the one that was listed at the top but I didn’t recognize, the “Kondro Bakar.”  The restaurant proprietors told me it was like satay but with beef.  Ok, but they did not mention that the satay skewer stick in this dish was actually a bone with comparably thickness to my wrist.  So I took home the hunk of beef on a bone, smothered in peanut sauce, with a side dish of some sort of broth.  Even though by the time I got home from my workout I was starving, looking at this meal I just could not bring myself to eating it without rice!  I knew it would take half an hour to cook but without the rice the meal just looked so empty, even with this massive side of animal beckoning me.  So I cooked the rice like a good Indonesian and after an excruciating wait, finally got to enjoy the dish; satisfied and thankful I only ordered a half portion.  Usually I am the strange one at office lunches where I don’t finish my heaping pile of nutritionally devoid white rice, but this night saw me cross the divide.  Sometimes, I will admit now, it really does not count as eating if the meal does not include rice.

Who’s imbibing in Indonesia?

I was told before I arrived in Jambi that drinking and smoking would not be permitted at Sumi’s house and that it was generally frowned upon.  That welcoming kind of set the tone for my social life and was only more reinforced when I first saw alcohol sold publicly- three weeks into living in Jambi- in warm, single beer cans, surrounded by a larger number of nonalcoholic beers.  I was still intrigued by this unexpected but welcomed site and became curious as to who drank those cans and where did they do it?

Well after months of casual and infrequent beers with Carolyn at a little shack by the Jambi river- the ambience of techno music, cockroaches, and trash floating by below your feet can not be exaggerated- my move in with Povi finally enlightened me to a crowd of Indonesians my age that drink casually and aren’t sketchy about it.  What is more interesting is the complexity and secrecy that is required for these young women, my roommate and a few of her friends, to indulge in behavior that doesn’t even come close to the debauchery that goes on in college dorms in America.  Well first off, these girls did not even start drinking until after college.  At that time “no one was really doing it” and they were just focusing on school.  Sounds like good people to me.  Today though, these young women get giddy over half a beer and make sure that none of the neighbors can see their mischievous behavior or the empty cans the next morning.  During the daytime these college graduates hold steady employment teaching English and at local NGOs as translators.  They also pray five times a day and don a jilbab when entering the professional and public spotlight.  But when our friend Jay comes over there is no trace of a veil and her pack of menthols comes out as quick as her laughs.

What amazes me is the double standards and effort that goes into keeping appearances here.  If anyone were to know about my friends evening rendezvous’ with their boyfriends or blatant lack of morals for drinking alcohol, the word would spread like wild fire and tarnish their images.  Boys will start smoking cigarettes at the age of 14 but women should never- not that I am for smoking.  I also don’t need to brag to say that my drinking tolerance- despite serious hibernation here- is still superior to these girlfriends.  From my position though, Saturday night drinking and dance parties on the roof feels so normal and liberating, and for them it seems equally liberating in something they have seen in American movies but know that their culture, at least outside of Jakarta, does not permit.  I hope not to become too much of an enabler here, but I enjoy watching these young women have a good time and I appreciate even more the freedom and independence I have grown up with and still think my morals are doing alright.

The abortion debate continues

At the office last week we held an informal meeting with representatives from other women-focused organizations in Jambi.  The topic was safe abortion; the conditions where abortion is legal in Indonesia, the services our clinic provide for abortion, counseling, and family planning, and why the right to safe abortion is a health concern and women's right that cannot be overlooked.  It was interesting to watch the discussion, all were concerned about the effect on Jambi’s youth, particularly in the case where a 14-year-old had been sexually assaulted by a angkot driver but then also could not legally be allowed an abortion from our clinic.  The discussion between this diverse group of women took another turn when the self-proclaimed pro-life and pro-choice women voiced their views.  While I could not catch every nuance, it all sounded not unalike abortion debates in the US.  One jilbab-clad woman pointed out that after 5 weeks a fetus’s heartbeat could be detected, thus meaning it had a soul and the option of abortion should morally be taken off the table.  My supervisor Helfi argued back that while that is true, in cases where pregnancy can harm the mother’s health or she is truly not ready to have a child, whose rights are greater?  Those of the potential mother or fetus?  In our clinic we provide abortions, or inductions, up to 8 weeks into the pregnancy, and only for married women.

This reminded me of a day last fall when a couple came in to our clinic with the desire to obtain an induction.  After deliberation the couple had come to the difficult decision to terminate the wife’s pregnancy and sought out our clinic.  During counseling it was revealed that the woman's pregnancy was a mere one week over the eight week limit, making her ineligible for the procedure.  With abortion legally out of the question, the couple was left with no choice and took this news home solemnly, reflecting on the impact it would make on their lives.  They already had four young children and did not want to bring a fifth one into the world because the father did not have steady employment and they could not afford more mouths to feed, let alone the schooling and health care children require.  The mother had been taking daily contraceptive pills, but like most busy housewives in Indonesia she occasionally forgot to take a pill at the correct time, thus increasing her chance of unintended pregnancy. 

This issue is something even couples in the US have to consider when realistically determining the number of children they can afford to raise and feed in a healthy and strong family, and thus use family planning methods that suite their lifestyles best.  Unfortunately, family planning services are not as readily available or well-known in countries like Indonesia where limits are also placed on women’s access to safe and legal abortions.  In Indonesia abortion is in most cases illegal and when not, only stringently allowed.  My office is also only one out of the seven PKBI chapters around Indonesia that offer abortion services in those cases that fit the countries vague abortion laws.  But as statistics show, this stringency and denial of women’s right to self-determination only burdens families to bear the costs, frequently that cost is the mother’s life or the children's well-being.

Ibu and bapak, my Indonesian parents

Yesterday I made a visit to my previous residence at Sumi’s house to spend some time with her elderly parents and get my motorbike washed at her nephew’s bengkel around the corner.  When I moved out last month, ibu and bapak told me I had to come over frequently and I have kept my promise visiting every once in a while to chat and let them feed me (if you tallied up everything they have ever said to me, the most common phrase would undoubtedly be “makanlah!” eat!).  They really are the sweetest old village folk and have always been so generous with sharing their home and food with me, putting up with my preference for oatmeal over rice for breakfast, my late (6am) mornings, cup after cup of, egad, unsweetened black coffee, and my bizarre love of reading.

As I crouched on the kitchen floor helping, i.e. watching, ibu chop up vegetables and fry whole fish with a bright red chili paste, I entertained her with stories of my new place.  Our conversations are very simple but also very genuine, she likes to ask me about my "village" in America and tell me what it feels like getting old.  I told her how since there are a lot of trees at my new place it is significantly cooler, we connected over the power outage from the day before that had affected both our parts of town, and I told her how I missed their washing machine because hand washing clothes is hard work that I am not accustomed to.  She agreed with my first two points but then took an unexpected turn and insisted that hand washing was better anyways, “it gets the clothes cleaner.”  Cleaner than with the machine? Really?  Now, I have become accustomed to her seemingly unreasonable rejections of modern conveniences, boiling water to drink instead of using the 5-gallon/30 cent water dispenser in the house and cooking rice outside over a fire because it saves electricity from using the rice maker.   

She also frequently challenges my purchases, “How much did you pay for those mangoes?”  “60 cents a kilo,” and her shocked reply “I can get mangoes for 50 cents in the villages!”  I did somewhat redeem myself when she approved of the motorbike I bought for a “good price.”  But anyways, I could barely believe my ears are she argued the benefits of hand washing- this is a tiny 72-year-old woman mind you.  She may be inexorable when it comes to housework but I didn’t go on to tell her how I caved to the convenience of a laundry service shop on my ride to work.  After a good home-cooked meal and watching some of the popular Indonesian dating show Take Her Out Indonesia with the family, I got on my bike and promised to sleep over next time I visited.

The kite flyers of Jambi

When I got back from my month-long hiatus there were three things I wanted to take care: move out- check, get a motorbike- check, get a gym membership- check.  I found a little gym with decade-old equipment, of course, that is conveniently located on my route home from work everyday, but the real selling point was that there were three other women there among all the men, two of which were trainers!  At any other gym it probably would have just been lots of men trying to change their naturally skinny Asian bodies into the pictures of Western weightlifting champions that line the gym wall.  This gym also was more appealing (and fit better with my lifestyle/budget) than the fancy hotel gym that foreigners are expected to use.  Regardless, all I needed was a place to run and sweat profusely in the overbearing heat without having to many people around to stare/honk/point at me. 
The other day after one of my runs that make my face look not unlike a ripe tomato, I grabbed some water and head to the balcony for some stretching and kite watching.  I am assuming many of you have read Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and that is exactly what I thought of when I first noticed the abundance of dirty t-shirts and flip-flop clad boys that come out in the late afternoon hours to fly their home-made kites.   Each evening there are a different assortment but on Monday there was an unusual abundance of these boys lingering across the empty space below, flying kites from balconies a little ways off, a few in the street (!) and across the street in a school playground.  All eyes were transfixed upon the floating paper toys in the sky, I counted there to be about 11, careening to and fro and making my favorite time of the day even more atmospheric.  At 6pm when the beautiful colors of dusk have already begun forming from the pollution and dust, the evening call to prayer begins its relaxing melody and calls all Muslims to the mosque, and in this case the little boys home from their kite flying.

 This must be what those kids look like when they are still little.

Celebrating International Women's Day

Women of the world are being celebrated today as the United Nations marks March 8^th as International Women’s Day.  On this occasion I find it appropriate and necessary to draw attention to the vital role women play in Indonesia and around the world today.  Unfortunately, in many countries their own needs are often overlooked and their rights as individuals passed over.  In Indonesia, women are the quiet victims of an incredibly high maternal mortality rate, domestic violence, lower overall levels of education, economical marginalization, barriers to entering politics, discrimination and poor living conditions when forced to work as migrant workers.

The United Nation’s theme for this year’s International Women’s Day being “Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all.”  It is important for countries to realize how communities as a whole improve if women are allowed equal rights and opportunities.  When mothers are economically empowered in Indonesia they can provide better for their children and when women receive higher levels of education they can contribute more to strengthening and advancing the community.

Women in the West are already attaining, and even surpassing, levels and positions previously held by men.  This progress is indeed encouraging but there is much more to be done, and particularly in developing communities like Jambi. 

The International Herald Tribune is undergoing a very interesting year-long series of articles called The Female Factor where it highlights the role and progress of women around the world if you want to read more on the subject.

Housewives without modern conveniences

“We were made for washing clothes,” my roommate Povi said as she laughed at my exhaustion from hand washing my first full load of clothes.  I don’t know if it was the coinciding heat or if an entire load is just a lot harder than the selective pieces I have washed here and there back in the US.  Nevertheless, I have a newfound respect for Indonesian housewives after my vain attempts to imitate the daily chores of their deceivingly challenging role; it really is work.  As I mentioned before my new place has no refrigerator or washing machine, and don’t event think about a dishwasher in this country, spurring me to try my hand at frequenting the neighborhood morning market, cooking several dishes for the whole day, and hand washing my clothes.  I am honestly not sure how long the hand washing will last though, the machines we are so accustomed to were invented to save time for other things and I am finding no desire to devote more time than necessary to cleaning.

Me washing dishes:

Me washing clothes:

You will notice both chores are being done in the bathroom, or mandi, and with by using the giant tub of water and ladle I use to bath.  The simplicity and convenience of it can be hard to appreciate at times.

Now looking at the photos I am realizing that those of you in the US might be concerned by the precarious positioning of my dishes and the toilet.  I have to assure you that really this is ok, it is a very clean bathroom/multipurpose room and frankly it just doesn't matter here; I am thankful I have the conveniences that I do.

From one Planned Parenthood to another

With the thoughtful donations from staff at the Mt. Baker Planned Parenthood office in Bellingham, Washington, I was recently able to purchase a motorbike for PKBI and a few instruments for our clinic.  The motorbike has been purchased for PKBI to loan to current (me) and future volunteers in order to increase their mobility and thus, work capacity.  In just the short time I have been using it for commuting to work, attending program activities in the field, and daily life it has proved incredibly helpful.  I am so thankful for the donations and I know that future volunteers will greatly benefit from having their own mode of transportation right from the beginning.  My quality of life and ease of work have already improved drastically.  Just this morning I went to a village with a few staff members to share information on family planning and was able to catch this photo of me with the new bike:

I wish this photo could have been taken 30 seconds later when a mother and her two children got on behind me, implying that I give them a ride home.  So the motorbike is already appreciated by the community as well as my coworkers!

The setting of the meeting this morning was itself a sign of the need for family planning in Jambi.  The house we were invited to talk to local women was filled with mothers and to many toddlers scrambling around for me to count.  There were pregnant women, nursing women, young women holding babies and little kids just running around.  I thought dang we picked the right audience; I hope they pass this information on to their friends!  My coworkers and a midwife from our clinic came to explain the purpose, different types and methods of taking birth control and also about options to handle unwanted pregnancy.  However, it was hard for the women to keep their undivided interest with babies and kids demanding feeding and attention.  It was interesting though when the discussion began and the women started asking personal questions.  Some were worried about the side effects of taking birth control pills and others wondered how to feed their children nutritiously.  Some bought condoms and pills, and some had injected birth control, but at a whopping $2 a month that was considered the expensive version.  All had their blood pressure checked and as we said goodbye to all their smiling faces it was asked if I would take a photo with the children.

In this photo are the faces of neighbors in the poor neighborhood we visited.  It is  unfortunately common for girls to be forced to stay home to care for younger siblings and get married before finishing high school.

Reproductive health and bumper boats

I used to feel that it would have been more advantageous to have started my volunteer experience at the beginning of the year, when new programs are taking off, instead of more than half way through as I did last September when everyone was already settled into the routine of their programs' activities and even thinking towards the end of year program evaluation.  But now going through the beginning stages of this year I feel I am better equipped to start the new year with my improved language ability combined with my understanding of how the office works and how our programs are carried out.  Last Thursday the PKBI office had a refresher training to discuss the goals and mission of our NGO and look at what programs we have right now for this year.  The central focus was on our Global Comprehensive Abortion Care program and how we need to be coordinating with the clinic to get more patients and making sure our cadre of women leaders are reaching out into the community effectively.

The following day we held our monthly meeting with village women leaders at a type of amusement park in Jambi.  The desire was to combine the monthly review and discussion with a group bonding activity for overall program wellness.  Before the fun part we stretched out on the grassy hill and ate lunch while discussing village-level reproductive health and family planning education.  Condoms for distribution were handed out and the whole group was very much in favor of me bringing durian-flavored ones as souvenirs back to the US.  

Next, several of my staff members, I, and the 10 older women set off to try our hands at bumper boats, racing peddle boats, and an elevated obstacle course.  This sight of 40-year-old women laughing and crashing inflatable boats into each other quite was incredibly entertaining.