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Donuts for Nature

Donuts for Nature

“Make extra,” I said to Meidy, who was making donuts for our breakfast tomorrow morning. “I will sell them to Sera Cottages. It is full now.” “Seriously?” she did not believe I would do it. I am very bad at business, people say too shy and honest. And, moreover, selling cakes person to person on…
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Feeding All Creatures but . . .

Feeding All Creatures but . . .

“Hush, hush, hush,” Meidy was standing on the sand trying to drive away her ‘enemies’. But they were still swimming around her. “Ouch!” finally one of them managed to pinch one of her calves and it drove Meidy out of water. “Don’t feed them again!” she shout at me. I just smiled, said nothing. It…
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Window Island Cottages

Window Island Cottages

“Let’s go back to Window island,” I asked Asrin, my local friend and host, to drive his motor canoe to the tiny island across. I had explored the area around Tangkian, Asrin’s village, for the whole day to find a suitable beach or island for our project: cottages for tourists. There were seven white sand…
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Endangered Crab for Dinner

Endangered Crab for Dinner

Having had a short chat with the newly arrived local ecotourists from Jakarta, I continued walking to my room. Passing one cottage, I returned to them. “Please don’t buy the crab,” I said. “Please, please, let it live. It is rare, an endangered species.” They look at me with surprise, but said nothing. The tourist…
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Small Change for Big Change

Small Change for Big Change

Jerry, the teacher of grade one, notices that most expatriate parents just drop rupiah coins in any place or container in their houses. The highest value is 1,000 ~ 10 cent dollar; the cheapest cake or drink at the school canteen is 50 cent. The next values are 500, 200, 100, and 50 rupiah; they…
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My Foundation Donors

My Foundation Donors

On leaving the restaurant, he handed me a folded bundle of rupiah banknotes–all 100s–“For you.” I was astounded. “I can’t take it,” I said. “Take it. For your foundation.” It took me another two seconds before taking it. Yes, I need money to run my project, actually to keep it alive after resigning from the…
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Coincidence in Time and Space

Coincidence in Time and Space

“I remember your face, but do not remember your name,” the nun told me. I forgave her; she is 74 and the last time we met 28 years ago. I had not remembered her name either a few minute before until her junior nun mentioned it. Bumping into someone I had not met for years—without…
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Moral Sense in Conservation

Moral Sense in Conservation

The new building, almost finished, would be the third largest building in Watutau; it has at least six rooms. I read the billboard in front of it: ‘The Office of Lore Lindu National Park’. Below is the budget: 650 million rupiah ($65,000). It is more than double of the fund I have raised for my…
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The Bajo’s Home

The Bajo’s Home

If we can afford it, we normally want a comfortable, artistic house surrounded by a lovely large garden facing a scenic view, preferable the Nature. Although the people in the interiors of Papua, Togean Islands, and Lore Lindu can afford it—their customary lands are large enough and wood material is abundant for building such an…
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Serving Hosts

Serving Hosts

Living in the community is the best way to know the community; I believe in this principle and, in the previous visit to Togean Islands, my contact Asrin had welcomed me to stay in his house in Tangkian Island. Tangkian is a tiny rocky island five kilometer from Kadidiri Island, the main destination of international…
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Modern Sea Gypsy

Modern Sea Gypsy

Wiah, my neighbor who was one of my visitors, called to the man in the motor canoe. The man pulled towards my house’s front deck and tied the canoe rope to one stilt of the house. “How much is the fish?” Wiah asked. “Ten for three,” he answered. Nothing were unusual with one dollar for…
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Going Home

Going Home

“If you want to stay, I can help you.” James Peacock had been very kind to me. This offer was the peak; I was leaving within two weeks. I knew it was not easy to get a residence permit for me, but Jim was willing to try. His chance was actually good because he was…
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American Hospital

American Hospital

The hierarchy in the hospitals, at least in Indonesia, is obvious. Senior specialists are at the top of the ladder, followed by junior specialists – residents – general practitioners – interns – paramedics and, at the bottom, nurse assistants. Fear is the dominant feeling toward the people with upper positions, which is understandable because the…
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Travelling in America

Travelling in America

“Police!” Jack slowed the car down. I saw the police car after we passed the bend about two minutes later. Jack’s radar was not on the front dashboard anymore. Speed limit did not exist in Indonesia, which I think it should have, because Indonesians drive much crazier than Americans and the roads in Indonesia were…
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Between Papers, Books, and Balls

Between Papers, Books, and Balls

“Too many. You have to take out irrelevant courses,” Mark Sobsey, my tutor professor, told me. I was disappointed but he was right. I was greedy, enrolled in so many courses that were not correlated with my major in Environmental Health. I took Spanish, medical anthropology, medical sociology, medical geography, medical ecology, general ecology, tropical…
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American Life: an Introduction

American Life: an Introduction

I always enjoyed the train trip in Java. Taking train for eight hours from Jakarta to Yogyakarta will show you the life of the majority of Indonesians living in Java. We can see the slum and high building complex side-by-side in Jakarta downtown; the paperboard houses along the rail; the dirty and slow rivers cutting…
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