Tea Pickers – Mary with Band-Aid – A view of the valley above Bogor
17 May 2007 – Thursday

We were up at 3:30 and out the door at 4:15. The trip to the pick-up point was very quick and we were worried that there would be no one there yet. But when we got there, the bus and some of the people were already there – it turned out that the bus would leave at 5:15 and not 5:30. We were in the bus with Agus, Catherin, and their family. Almost everyone around us spoke good English. I managed to sleep about half the way there so the trip went very fast.

The tea plantation was started by the Dutch back at the turn of the century and stretches for what seems like miles in every direction. The day was perfect – at least the morning was. Clean and bright but not too hot because we were so high up in the mountains.

I am not going to write much about the day. The walk through the plantation was about 5K or just over 3 miles. It was up and down over a trail of what was once a paved road but over the years has become a rough trail of rocks. Mary did not have an easy time because she had to be really careful about where she walked so as not to slip. Even though it was much cooler than Jakarta it was still hot and I worked up a very good sweat. We were in the first group to leave but by the time we were finished we were the last couple back. We would have been way behind everyone except a very nice couple kept behind us to make sure we were not lost or hurt. So we took our time and enjoyed the walk – at least I certainly did.

As we got back to the main area, we had a little trouble finding just which way we needed to go. When we finally were close to where the group was gathered for games, disaster almost struck. I was about 10 feet in front of Mary as we walked down the last path to the steps when a rock she was stepping on twisted and she basically fell flat on her face. She hit the rocks, cut her head just above her left eye, twisted her glasses, hit her chin and skinned her left knee. People came from everywhere – especially from our group to help her. All she really wanted to do was catch her breath so she asked them not to try to pick her up. She was really bleeding – she remarked that head wounds always bleed a lot – but a lot of tissue and some water soon cleaned it enough that they could put on a coagulate – they came with a fully prepared first-aid kit and someone who knew how to use it – and a band-aid and the bleeding stopped. After she had caught her breath we got her up – not an easy task because she could not get her knees under herself and walked her back to the meeting room. I gave her a couple of Aleve and she sat and recovered. I think she was more embarassed than anything else.

I found it interesting that the tea pickers expected us to pay for taking their picture. Unfortunately I did not have any small money so I ended up looking like a ugly American. Later I took a couple of pictures of a woman who was gathering up dead branches to either sell or use in her cooking. I found that I had a few coins in my pocket and gave them to her. When you are a survivor you do what you have to, to make a living.

I finally learned how to take movies – something I wish I had learned earlier – so we have a couple of short movies showing the people enjoying themselves. The children had a great time blowing bubbles that they bought from a peddler. He probably had one of best days in a long time selling to our group with a lot of children.

The rest of the time was spent playing games, eating lunch, and then having a discussion of physical, mental and spiritual health. This last part was not very interesting to us because it was all in Indonesian. But I was surprised how the adults all seemed interested in discussing this subject. I can not imagine a group of US LDS having a big ward outing where after fun and games they would sit around and discuss such a meaningful subject.

The trip back to the gathering point was different. Since it was a holiday, there were lots of people up in the mountains so there was a sting of cars, buses and angkats winding their way down the two lane road that runs through small town after small town. We stopped twice so people could buy fresh fruits and vegetables from larger traditional markets. But even with this we made better time than I thought we would in getting back. Once we got to the main road the traffic was light. The only problem was that it had started to rain – the dry season obviously is not all that dry – and by the time we got to the drop-off point it was pouring. Lucky for us we had won a prize – I think it was for the last group in but I am sure they called it something else – the prize was a nice big umbrella. So while Mary tried to keep at least a little dry, our friend Agus and I hailed a cab. He told the driver where we needed to go and away we went. He could have been taking us anywhere because for a half hour we had no idea where we were. He took nothing but surface streets that wound in and out of areas we had never been. Finally we came out on the street that had the big stadium and I knew approximately where we were. Mary had been saying that we had been going in the right general direction – her sense of direction is much better than mine. The end result was that we got home in good time – well before I expected – and the total of the almost one hour taxi ride was $6.50 – I gave the man $9.50 and hoped it made his day.

We were again beat when we got home. Mary said that she did not hurt but was very tired. So we  each found something that was easy to fix for dinner, read from the Kitab Mormon and then Mary went off to bed. I expected Sam to bring the car back so I tried to stay up. But about 9:30 I fell asleep on the couch and at 10 woke up enough to get myself to bed.

I think that the fact that we went with the branch and got to know the members better, to understand their culture better, and to see them as families was very important. I had a nice conversation with the member we thought had gone inactive because he did not get a job in Squaw Valley. He came out and seemed to enjoy himself. I wish either he knew more English – he does quite well – or I knew more Indonesian because I would have enjoyed learning more about him.

I had a nice talk with president Gjarot about education in Indonesia. He pays a lot of money to send his children to good schools. Up to $3000 a year which is a lot of money here. But they will end up being well prepared for life. I also spoke with brother Basuki, one of the attendees at the Solo Career Workshop who now has a great job as a management trainee in a bank. They will spend 9 months training him before sending him to his first real assignment. It is such a good training program that other banks pay to send their people to learn.