Monday, 16Oct06

Highlights: Brook & Lydia back from Bali, Blok A, more fundamental gifts for Eli’s family, holiday gifts for the guards & gardener, Match Point

Brook & Lydia are back from Bali, and Lydia & I took off this afternoon to check out the Blok A section of southern Jakarta. Long ago, the city used to be subdivided alphabetically. Today the districts have taken on different names, (like Cipete, Kemang, Menteng, Slipi, etc…) but a few of the old names still linger (Blok M, Blok A).

Entering the market there felt a lot like the traditional market in Bali. It’s a maze in there of closet size shops, selling mostly the same things.
I was telling Lydia about Eli’s house, and how they don’t have sheets. $9 took care of that (2 sets!). $2 here, $4 there, and the kids had a new set of clothes coming from Uncle Jonathan & Auntie Lydia. We couldn’t forget mom & dad (Eli & Rusli), so we got them something nice too. Just feeling generous today- and none of this stuff is expensive.
The final thing I really wanted to get them was a fan. They needed that as much as a set of sheets, in my opinion. $17 took that off my shopping list.

Perhaps the most fun part of my day today was taking Lydia over to their home & delivering round 2 of random & unexpected holiday gifts. The ones you don’t see coming always make the biggest impact, I think. Ha ha.
They were touched. But more importantly- it was stuff I think they needed. Not just luxuries. We only dropped by for maybe 15 minutes, but it was the most fun & special part of my day.

Later, when Brook got home from work, we plugged in one of Lydia’s new DVDs from Bali, Match Point. Ahhh, Woody Allen does it again.

About half-way through the movie, Eli & Vita came by to say Thank-you again. They stayed for about 40 minutes & I showed them pics on my computer (my family, helicopter, France, San Diego, other parts of Indonesia)… and explained to them that I enjoy taking care of people I get to know & care about.
I translated for them my website entry from last night, about Vita’s school & their family finances. They informed me they have to pay roughly $4 a month for Luthfie’s school as well, bringing their leftover monthly disposable income down to $46.
That means that 5 people have to eat on $1.53 per day. (30 cents per person/day)

I told them I have no intention of seeing a few dollars per month prevent Vita from getting through high school. High School starts at 10th grade here.

When asked why so generous, I explained the ‘pay it forward’ philosophy. I can’t change the world, or solve great problems among nations, but I can make little efforts to improve the lives of folks around me. Thanks isn’t what I’m looking for. I hope that they will continue small efforts to help those around them when they have the means later on; and so on. They were satisfied with that & left with a smile. I hope to keep in touch with them after my year here is over.

I leave on my Surabaya trip at 6 in the morning. So hopefully I’ll have internet connections & won’t take too long to show you a few new sights in Indonesia!