Role Call Part 3

The final installment!

Sally "I Can't Believe It" Thompson: this title is a compilation of three occurrences. The past few months Sally has been living in Indonesia and, as such, has been introduced to a lot of new things—from scenery, to language, to horrible traffic, to cultural practices. Hiking into a jungle village in a remote corner of the globe was bound to have a number of first time experiences as well. It seemed that every day Sally was commenting on a new experience. The first day, it was “I can’t believe I’m in Papua!” and we, with her, were all marveling at how beautiful it was, how remote it was, etc. Two days later, it was “I can’t believe I’m hiking up a mountain in a rainforest!” and we all were marveling at how beautiful it was, how remote it was, etc. Two days after that, it was “I can’t believe I’m on my knees vomiting into a squatty potty!” and we all were…thankful it wasn’t us. Needless to say, she didn’t let a little 24-hour bug get in the way of enjoying her new experiences to the fullest! It was great to be able to share the country with someone and re-experience the things from my childhood with someone who was experiencing it for the first time.

Birage “Insta-friend” Tandon: a relief to anyone who spends a lot of time in the kitchen is seeing the words “Instant ______. Just add water”. In your head you’re thinking “It can’t be that easy!” But you try it anyway and realize that all it took was that little addition of water to bring about the delicious result. Now, the trouble with friend-making is that it usually takes a while to get through the awkward get-to-know-you’s, get a feel for the others’ comfort level, etc…similar to a recipe with a lot of prep and preheating. The reason we named Birage “Insta-friend” is because getting to know her was as easy as just adding water. She was everybody’s best friend and had something to contribute to every situation. Each member of our group was very different (as you can tell from the previous entries), yet Birage was able to relate with everyone on multiple levels. Being so easy-going and friendly put everyone else at ease because no matter which group she was put with, when we needed to split up for flights or hikes, everybody knew they had a talking/walking companion and a friend.

Kathy "Biggest Panties, Smallest Wardrobe" Wacek: if you have perused any of the photo albums from the trip, you may notice that, although our scenery changed a lot in the 10 days, mom’s outfits…..did not. Aside from the dedication outfit she brought that was a little dressier, she brought only one or two extra shirts for the EIGHT OTHER DAYS. Whenever I am trying to give the illusion that I “change clothes” or “have good hygiene” or whatever it is most people do regularly, I will pick a t-shirt that can easily blend into the mix—a light blue, a tan, or a generic white. Kathy’s always been a tad unconventional and chose instead a BRIGHT blue t-shirt with a huge image of a pair of whitey tighties fit for a double-x woman. As if this weren’t enough, across the front of the underwear are plastered the words “Put on your big girl panties and DEAL with it!” It’s subtle, quaint, and blends right in with Papuan village life. Jokes aside, what this wardrobe malfunction highlights is mom’s ability to keep a light-hearted attitude in any situation and can blend into any setting (while her clothes may not J). Kathy has the ability to crack a joke in the middle of a grueling hike or make hitches in plans seem like no problem at all.

Rick "Baby-Kissing Moses" Wacek: I don’t claim to be the Bible scholar that, say, Larry and Linda are, but I do recognize that there is no recorded scripture reference to Moses kissing babies. It may have happened, but that’s not what I’m referencing here. What this title is referring to is Rick’s incredible ability to a) find and hold the nearest child, and b) attract crowds of people. The baby-magnet aspect of this title is probably due to the fact that most Papuans have never seen anything so hairy and want their kids to get a picture with it….oops, I mean him. No, just kidding. In reality, I think it is because my dad LOVES children…he is willing to jump, yell, play, roll on the ground, or do just about anything to get a little kid to laugh. And, really, that same determination is what accounts for b) above, attracting crowds of people. Just as Birage can relate to anybody about anything, Rick can tell you anybody’s life story within about ten minutes of meeting them. He truly has a passion to get to know people and an ability to set people at ease instantly upon meeting them.

Ben "Helping Hand" Wacek: this title is a tad mis-leading, as Ben was willing to use whatever he had to offer to help out. In any weather (rain during the parade), at any time (he’s already sitting down to dinner), and to anybody (we all got to experience this), Ben was willing to help. I didn’t know that spending ten days in a mountain village would be some of the most relaxing days of my life. But, between the always-ready Papuans who would have carried ME up the mountain had I asked, and my cousin Ben who would have carried the Papuan who was carrying me if need be, I was surrounded by servant hearts. The others in the group can back me up on this, but it seemed like before our mouths had even started the sentence “I can’t really—“ or “Do you mind—“, Ben was already up helping. The old adage states that a smile is the same in every language, and to that I would add that serving is the same in every language. Ben and his sister were working against a language barrier, but both were successfully able to communicate love to the Papuans as well as gratitude for including them in such an incredible experience. (Note: we thought about titling this the "Helping Hand, Back, and Butt" award for how he always helped out, carried all of our stuff, and taught the boys how to transform their squatty-potty into a jungle bidet. Feel free to ask them for details!)

Leah "Monster Clown" Wacek: at first glance, this title may seem a little unkind. And, well…you decide. What “monster clown” emphasizes is Leah’s desire to know and love the people of Papua. She just recently returned from studying abroad in Uganda for a semester. During those months, she loved getting to talk with the people of Uganda, live with them, learn their traditions and experience what they experience. She had the same desire for her trip to Indonesia. The hiccup? English is one of Uganda’s national languages; not the case with Indonesia. So, stripped of a common language, Leah had to rely on the three L’s: Limbs, Large gestures, and Loud laughing. When trying to communicate an idea, she would perform nothing short of a full mime routine. When we would translate a joke, she would laugh 30 seconds after everyone and, to compensate, would laugh twice as loud as necessary (Leah: “I wanted them to know that I appreciated the joke even though I didn’t laugh at first!”). You may be saying “Well, that certainly sounds like a clown, but I don’t quite think its monster behavior”. True. Enter: children. Children, unlike adults, aren’t so sure they want to interact with a loud-laughing mime. You wouldn’t hold someone’s hand before taking them on a date, and you wouldn’t hold a kid before making it a game. So, in order to be able to hold the children, Leah invented the “monster”. Basically, she would run around “rawr-ing” and chasing them, eventually grabbing and tickling them. And they loved it! All in all, Leah just wanted to interact with the Papuans and used whatever means necessary.

Steph "Spongey-Sponge" Wacek: as a teacher, Stephanie often jokes that the extent of her medical training is being able to put on a band-aid and/or call someone in to clean up puke if one of her students is sick. Once, I even saw her put on Neosporin! Needless to say, the day of the clinic put her in a “sink or swim” situation as far as medical care goes. She eagerly volunteered to help in any way possible (as she always does) and was put to work. She quickly mastered the art of measuring babies and asking “What hurts?”, which I think are at least Master’s level skills in the medical field. She was contentedly processing patients when there arrived a child with a 107 degree fever. Charis said “He needs to be sponged!” and the next thing I knew, the bandanas on both my and Sally’s head were in Stephanie’s hand and in the rain. Talk about Jungle Medicine! She sat beside the child and “wet-bandan-ed” him while he waited to be seen by Dr. Teubl. You could practically feel the relief on the child’s mother’s face as Steph took such care with her son. About thirty minutes later, a similar situation happened (this time the fever was 104 degrees) and Steph acted just as quickly and with as much care. We were all impressed by her patient care and thought that when we shut down the clinic at the day’s end it would be the last we saw of sponging. Being a teacher, Steph knows the importance of understanding a subject FULLY before being able to feel confidently versed in it. I suppose in her quest for knowledge, she wanted to feel what it was like to be on the receiving end of being sponged, because three days later she chose to pass out while throwing up and landed her head far-from-gently on the ceramic tile floor. We informed her, after the fact, that we would have happily simulated being sponged, but I suppose she prefers good ol’ fashion experience! Though she lacked previous medical knowledge and ended up being pretty sick for two days, she didn’t let any of those things get in the way of helping out a TON and being a joy to be around. Even when we were checking to see if she was concussed, she was making jokes—what a gal!

Molly "Most Enthusiastic/Best American Dance Moves" Wacek: before you think I’m arrogant and think I’m a lot better dancer than I really am, I am turning the blogging over to Stephanie for this last one. What follows is HER description of this title:

“Dancing Queen” may have been a more suitable nickname, but considering she was competing with women doing synchronized dances while wearing endangered Birds of Paradise head ornaments, “Best American Dance Moves” seemed much more appropriate. Throughout our entire 10 days, we observed some sort of singing or dancing DAILY, much to all of our delight. Having the rhythm and musical ability that she does, this was a small dose of Heaven for Molly. She was always the first one to jump out of her seat and join in the Papuan dances (invited or not!) and took extra time and effort to learn/try to learn some of their songs. As if public dancing weren’t enough (it never is), each night back at our host home, Molly would get the troops riled up for our own little, usually-silent-because-the-head-of-the-village-was-next-door, house dance-off. This is where her American moves really shone as she taught the Papuans how to do the Lawn Mower (short lived because they don’t have such a thing), the Sprinkler (short lived because they don’t have such a thing), the Robot (short lived because they don’t have such a thing), the Shopping Cart (short lived because they don’t have such a thing), and finally the Big Square-Small Square-Cardboard Box (long lived because everyone finally joined in and we all pranced around the table looking like fools!). So much energy and laughter were added to our trip because Molly was on it, and I’m sure the Papuans she met will never be (or dance) the same!