impressions from Jakarta

Been here almost two days and my body's adjusted pretty well so far to the time change. There's tons of foreigners staying at my hotel, almost all of whom are involved in relief organizations. Most of the foreigners on my flight in were headed for Aceh eventually. Starting to work on some of my Indonesian phrases: "terima kasih" for thank you, "selamat pagi" for good morning, etc.

The first night I went swimming in the rooftop pool of our hotel, and while floating on my back, the neon lights from the shopping mall across the street were reflecting on the water, and the call to prayer from the nearby mosque was echoing in the air. Quite a strange juxtaposition.

Last night Mark and I had dinner at Glenn's house, who's been in Indonesia for 15 years and is married to an Indonesian woman. Their 3 kids (age 4, 11 and 17) are gorgeous and go to British schools here. We had a fantastic meal (prepared with the help of their maid, of course) of rice, chicken, tempe, vegetables and spices. The dining room looked out on their lush backyard, which was separated from the neighborhood chaos by barbed wire-topped walls.

Just had lunch in the courtyard of the PCI office with all the other PCI staff: eggplant, eggs, tofu, rice, chicken livers, cabbage, watermelon, cucumber and shrimp crackers. The cook prepares lunch for them everyday and they eat outside overlooking a fish pond and pagoda-like structure.

As far as the work I'm doing, it's very interesting and very fast-moving. Yesterday PCI hosted a meeting with all the NGOs (non-governmental organizations) who are in Indonesia, in order to share information on what everyone's doing in Aceh. Basically, we are all operating from an information deficit because there is no central agency that is keeping track of which group is doing what where. Therefore, there is a lot of duplication of effort and a lot of missed opportunities for collaboration. Plus there is the added factor of competition - every group needs to get its projects running on the ground for the sake of saying that they have done "X". It can make you cynical if you look at it as everyone chasing the dollars instead of serving the people, but the money and proposals and competition are all just means to an end I guess.

So, what is PCI doing? Basically, I am working with the staff here to coordinate two huge efforts: one is getting a boat loaded with medical supplies and food and ferrying it around the south-western coast of the Aceh province, to villages and towns that are inaccesible by road. The other is getting several 4-wheel drive vehicles loaded up with medical supplies and food and driving them around to areas not within easy access to the refugee camps in the Aceh province.

The logistics and money involved in these two projects is absolutely mind-boggling. You have to think about: Where are you going to get a boat/car? Do you rent or buy? How much do they cost? Who is going to drive them? How do you get the supplies to the town of Banda Aceh for loading? How much will fit on each vehicle? Which donor organization is paying for transport, supplies, salaries, and office costs? Who are the doctors and nurses who will accompany each mission? Are they paid or volunteer? Are the roads and ports open? When is the soonest we can launch each "mobile clinic"?

...Those are the issues we're working on and will continue to work on as we prepare to leave for Aceh tomorrow. Chris is coordinating much of it from there, and Mark and I will help him iron out the details and get the first mobile clinics on the road or on the water. We will also do a lot of the managerial aspects of setting up a new office (hiring, banking, supplies, etc.) and make more contacts with the NGOs that are there.

The enemies at the moment are twofold: time and lack of information. No one in the country really has enough information about which victims still haven't been reached where, and as time goes on their needs will become greater.

I understand they've already got a house for us all to stay in while we're in Aceh, with a driver, cook and security guard. There's lots to do, but it's all very very cool and I'm learning lots.