I managed to sleep for 5 solid hours, but until my alarm went off at 7am it was interrupted as my body rejected the hard sleeping surface. I got up and went to have a shower, and they didn't have any hot water at all, so it was a very quick shower. It wasn't pleasant as the room was not humid or warm in any way. I got dressed and greeted my host mum. She made me a sweet coffee and bread for breakfast. Just as we were saying grace Chloe and her host family arrived to give us the meeting place and time. I quickly ate and drank a little of the coffee (it was still very hot) and packed my bag. We walked to the next block where Erin was waiting with her host family. From there we drove back to the hotel to join the others.
We had breakfast at an Indian restaurant. It was fried noodles and deep fried batter (like savoury donuts), so I didn't eat much, knowing we'd be on a boat. We had bought and packed snacks in a couple bags to take with us as it would be a long day and there would be no food on the islands.
It was about an hour & a half hour drive to the jetty where we loaded 50 bags of groceries and 15 people into 2 long speed boats. The local church do a grocery run every 2 weeks, which we were lucky to be along for. The journey out to the first island took about 45 minutes. We carried 20 bags of groceries up to the village and left them on a bamboo platform/meeting place. We all gathered there with the local families. Ps Martin spoke and we sang songs in the locan Orang tongue (words had been provided for everyone). Then our group sang Jesus Loves Me to the people. There were small snack bags given to each of the children. Most of the people there seemed disinterested and Ps Daniel's wife was there translating from Malay into Orang (as Ps Martin only spoke in Malay). After a quick look around the village it was back to the boats and on to the next island.
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| Doing crafts with the children |
The next island was only 5-10 minutes boat journey away. The reception we received there was a lot more grateful. A few of the children ran down to help us carry the bags of groceries up to their main hut. The people here spoke Malay so the translation into their language wasn't necessary. We had prayers, singing and we sang Jesus Loves Me again. As we had lots of time we ran a few craft activities with the children. They were very enthusiastic, and although they didn't speak English, communication didn't seem to be much of a problem. One boy in particular had a lot of fun with Chris as they made and played with paper airplanes. After a quick look around this village we got back into the boats for our journey back to the jetty. Without the groceries, the return journey was only 30 minutes. We even got back before Ps Calvin, Terrance and Zen, who had used this time to head off and go fishing (they didn't catch anything).
We drove back to the hotel where we washed up before walking to a restaurant for dinner. After dinner we met back at the church where we split up into 3 groups of 3 to join the local church small groups. Chris, Cameron and I were together (with Ps Calvin to assist translating). W were all in different apartments in the police housing complex, which was I told we would not normally have access to as a regular tourist - we had special permission as it was arranged before we arrived. My host family from the previous night was in my small group. The night consisted of singing, prayers, and then it was our turn. We each introduced ourselves and opened the floor for people to ask us questions. They asked about the Lutheran Church in Australia, and our indigenous people, and we tried to give them perspective about how big Australia is.
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| My small group |
As the night came to a close, supper was served, and it was like a second dinner! Everyone was given a bowl of rice and once grace was said we all helped ourselves to portions of curry, beef, vegetables and what Ps Calvin said looked like pork - it was an Orang delicacy. After I had eaten, Ps Calvin ate a small egg, and when I enquired as to what kind of egg he revealed it was turtle, and they had purposely hidden the obvious turtle bits so I would try some. To be honest, it didn't taste distinctive, so it was kind of like chicken. To drink they served tea or sweet coffee. I tried some of the coffee and it was quite nice, but very sweet! I didn't drink very much as I was quite full by this point.
We arrived back at the hotel around 10.30 where the guys surprised us by announcing we were off to the hot springs! After changing, we left the hotel around 11pm, and it was a 45 minute drive. I was quite tired by the time we got there, but for only RM10 we spent a relaxing hour at the hot springs. We were all relaxed and exhausted, so when we arrived back at the hotel a bit after 1.30am I fell straight to sleep. It was a very long day.
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