[PEN-L:31473] Report from Bali

[Bill Rosenberg <bill.rosenberg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

A direct report from Bali

Bill

-----Original Message-----
From: kadek [mailto:krishna@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Saturday, 19 October 2002 10:36
To: ihrc-nz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [IHRC-NZ] fwd: from Laurie in Bali

This came in yesterday and is really moving and strong.  Laurie is
living in Ubud, Bali.

-Kadek


Hi there-

I am getting many, many e-mails inquiring about our well-being and the
situation here in Bali.  I am sending this as one of my spam 'missives'
simply to expidite the answering process as much of the info is the
same.
Sorry about that and I will continue to answer individual messages as I
can.

First of all, my loved ones and friends are all fine.  Been a rough week
though.  As you know, details on the Bali bombings are coming out like
molasses.  News is very inconsistant, often inaccurate and biased.  I
watched a special on CNN International Monday night ("TERROR IN
BALI"...ack!  Well, at least they refrained from calling it 'TERROR IN
PARADISE').  I was appalled that not a single mention was made of the
Indonesians involved...the hundreds injured, dead or missing...nor their
volunteer efforts.  ALL interviews and data, and most visuals (which the
exception of scary military shots and a few doctors) were focused on
white
foreigners as if they were the only ones there... either as victims or
volunteers.  The rest of the 'special' was actually a sales pitch to
convince the viewing audience that this is clearly another Al Qaeda
plot.
Therefore I suggest people looking for news on this, seek ANY other news
source rather than CNN...such as Australian-based www.abc.net.au/news
which
is pretty up to date and less biased.

The basics which you already probably know is that 3 bombs exploded in
Bali
around midnight on Saturday night.  Two in Kuta across the street from
one
another, not totally clear if both were car bombs or not.  The smaller
one
near Paddy's nightclub and the larger near the Sari Club...both
buildings
are gone and many more are damaged.  These were the two which killed and
injured so many.  The third was near the US consolute's office in
Denpasar
and resulted in minor damage.  There are around 190 known dead, hundreds
injured, and hundreds more reportedly missing.  Only about 40 of the
dead
had been identified as of Tuesday and even those names have been
retracted
and are being rechecked.  Forensic teams from Australia and possibly
other
countries are now involved and identification is becoming more
systematic
and should start getting more clear soon I would guess.  The missing
list
is complicated and sketchy as it includes some of the known dead, some
that
were found alive in various hospitals, some treated and released, many
seemingly duplicate names with spelling differences, as well as people
who
were reported missing by worried families around the world who have
since
surfaced.  There are many working to clean up this list as well.  Up to
Tuesday these lists were being gathered, maintained and updated by
volunteers based on hospital records, hot-line phone calls, etc....not
an
easy job but getting sorted out and updated as quickly as possible.

In terms of my own experience and thoughts....I actually heard the 3
explosions here in Ubud (30+ km away) and thought it was distant
thunder.
Got the news at 4:00 am Sunday and spent the morning helping to organize
rare blood type donors in Ubud (which I am one).  That group jumped into
a
couple of cars and headed to the government hospital (where most of the
victims were taken) to give blood and help out.   It was crazy down
there,
they certainly were not prepared for a tragedy of this scale.
Immediately
lost most of my group into the chaos so went to find something useful to
do.  Spent most of the time alongside many others trying to organize the
volunteers, compiling and checking lists of the patients, the missing
and
the dead, comforting victims and whatever else landed in my lap.  I then
spent a number of hours helping a group of young Australians trying to
locate a brother and 5 other friends.  The 5 were found in the morgue
(but
have not yet 'officially' been identified) and the brother is still
missing
and assumed dead.  That was one of the hardest things I've ever done.

On the other hand it was incredible to watch the volunteers rally and
organize around this.  People from all over the world, representing many
countries and all religions working side by side to do what needed to be
done...restaurants, hotels, guides, translators, counselers, students,
tourists, expats, visiting doctors...you name it, they were there.
People
jumping in and doing the job no matter what it entails...from comforting
the living, to photographing and identifying the dead...a horrible job.
I
can't (read: won't) even try to describe the 'morgue' situation except
to
say that there were almost 200 bodies (or what is left of them), crammed
into 3 rooms and a porch, and a serious shortage of ice.  (And this is
where people were coming to look for and identify loved ones.) This
situation has since been remedied a bit with the arrival of 5 ice trucks
from Java and Australia and the formation of an international forensics
team to organize the situation.

After many hours in chaos our small group finally hooked up again.  Here
are a few of their experiences which I want to share:  One American
woman
(who doesn't speak Indonesian) was holding the hand of a seriously
burned
and injured Indonesian woman in ICU.   She did not know what else to do
so
spontaneously started singing, which she continued until the woman
finally
fell asleep. The patient was awakened when the nurse came in and changed
her drip.  Her first request was could that nice foreign woman please
come
sing to her again...which she, of course, did.  Another woman went from
bed
to bed with her handphone making calls to concerned families all over
the
world.  Yet another friend spent 4-5 hours in the morgue helping to
count
and identify bodies.  God bless him for taking on that job.  Those are
just
3 stories from one small group but there must be thousands more by now.

It felt really good to do something (anything) but the emotional
backlash
is finally hitting me.   I can't get the image of this young woman's
determined face, as she stepped over bodies and inspected charred wrists
for her brother's watch, out of my mind.   I keep getting teary, then
feeling guilty for being so self-indulgent when she was so incredibly
strong.  It's been horrific and depressing and sad.  In addition,
another
friend of ours (Made and I) died Monday morning.  He was taken to a
private
hospital during the night for complications in an on-going illness...not
a
doctor in the place, presumably because they were all at Sanglah
hospital,
and he died without receiving medical attention.

The whole experience has shaken my little universe, although I long ago
gave up the illusion that Bali was particularly safer than anywhere else
in
the world these days.  It has given me a vivid, and permanent picture of
both the worst and the best sides of humanity, a picture I certainly did
not ask for, I'm not sure I want...and will hopefully learn to embrace
someday.  It has also helped me to re-evaluate some priorities including
the need to be more proactively working towards peace in the world.  Not
sure what that looks like yet.

What I know to be true at this moment is that this kind of violence must
stop. No one should ever die at the hands of other humans in this or any
other way.  We don't know who did this.  Fingers are being pointed all
over
the place.  The US government, of course, favors the Al Qaeda/radical
muslim theory.  The Indonesia government appears to be jumping on that
one
as well...don't forget, there had been bombings all over Indonesia for
years before 9/11 and the international 'war on terrorism'...in those
days
it was an internal political issue (NEVER a religious one) and the
ousted
'New Order' regime and military were the favorite suspects.  Other
speculations include conspiracies (CIA and the like), while others are
convinced 'elements' in Indonesia are using the "war on terrorism" as an
excuse to destabilize the country and bring back an authoritarian
government.   These are just a few of the favorites and all have pretty
interesting arguements (based on political, economic or moral
motivation).
I wonder if we'll ever know for sure.

What I AM  certain of and increasingly concerned about is that there are
those who will exploit this to further their own agendas and justify
other
acts of aggression in the world.  This is simply unacceptable.  Violence
is
escalating in the world and the answer is NOT further violence.  This
message needs to be spread far and wide.

Although I already knew it, this has only affirmed my conviction that 1)
fear is an illusion, but a very useful tool as it immobilizes intellect
and
obscures intuition, 2) that love and compassion are much stronger forces
than fear (as witnessed at the hospital and streets of Kuta this week),
3)
that violence only begats more violence, 4) the only possible solutions
to
the current world problems MUST be peaceful ones, based on diplomacy,
dialog and mutual understanding and respect, and 5) that this can only
start with me.

I have gotten hundreds of messages from both friends and strangers
alike,
looking for information and asking what can be done to help. Here is
some
info:

TO GET ON THE MAILING LIST FOR FAQS AND ON THE GROUND UPDATES:

idep@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
or
casalunafund@xxxxxxxxx

WEBSITES AND ADDRESSES FOR DONATIONS:

www.casalunabali.com/relief
www.balisos.com

To give U.S. tax deductible donations to the relief effort in Bali,
please
send your checks to:

Bali Hati Foundation
c/o Mr. Max Lloyd
401 El Caminito
Carmel Valley, CA 93924

Please make checks payable to Bali Hati Foundation.  A receipt for your
donation will be mailed to you.
Bali Hati Foundation is legally registered in the US under the umbrella
of
The National Heritage Foundation.
Thank you very much for your support.

**********

In addition, my personal suggestion is to put this into a global context
and do something to change the direction the world is heading.   I
believe
we can change things. Transform the fear in the world into compassion,
understanding and peaceful action.  This can be done in so many ways,
from
full on political activism to something simple....like going to the
nearest
hospital, finding a stranger in pain and alone, taking their hand and
singing them to sleep.  I am so, so sad.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." --
Margaret
Mead

Blessings to all-
Laurie

********************************************************************
Pondok Pekak Library & Learning Center
East Side of the Football Field
Jl. Monkey Forest
Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
Phone: 62 (361) 976194
e-mail: pondok@xxxxxxxxxxx

Pondok Pekak Library & Learning Center Vision (excerpt):
"....To provide a supportive environment where culture, religion, gender
and ethnicity are sources of learning rather than sources of conflict;
and
where people from different backgrounds can explore, not only the
diversity
they represent, but also the similarities they share.  To offer the
opportunity to better understand, not only the values, beliefs and world
views of others, but also their own.  To affirm the need for balance on
the
planet earth and the fundamental unity and interconnectedness of all
things.  To encourage more empathy, compassion and respect for each
other
and the world we share."


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