Drought - What drought?

27 November 2009

Well yet again the press has got it wrong – the last four days we have had at least one rain storm a day and today we have had over six hours of rain. The ground is so dry that the water just sits on the surface until the sun comes out and evaporates it. Then it is humid as well as hot.

However, somewhere the water must be soaking into the ground as the level in our well has risen dramatically. Also the number of fish in the well has increased so a couple of the boys were fishing and managed to get a couple of small cat fish

A lot of insects have arrived long with the water. Most notably are flying ants which arrive just after dusk and make it impossible to sit outside or leave doors or windows open. The geckos are having a wonderful time eating the ants and in the morning my porch is strewn with the wings off all the ants that have been eaten over night.

Water and Sanitation

The local paper ‘The Kupang Post’ recently reported problems of inadequate water and sanitation in and around Baa. ‘The head of the Ba’a puskesmas,’ (health centre) ‘Dr Mulat Daruranto, told KP on 26/9 that of the ±4 500 houses in Lobalain Kecamatan,’ (this is the area where I live) ‘Rote Ndao Kabupaten, almost 50% lacked toilet facilities. Even in Ba’a, the capital, many houses were toilet-less. As a result, people were defecating at will in bushland and undergrowth. Dr Daruranto said that a key factor contributing to this situation was the difficulty people had obtaining clean water. This situation was adversely affecting the health of the overall environment in which people lived. “What are people to do” he said, “if they have difficulty just getting clean water, needed too for flushing toilets?” So it was the supply of water that had to be attended to as a matter of priority. Only then could attention be turned to making good the environment in which people lived.’

Drought

The local paper ‘The Kupang Post’ recently reported the impending drought in the region. ‘The Indonesian Bureau of Meteorology has announced that eastern Indonesia is about to be beset with an el Niño weather pattern. The Bureau predicts that this year’s rainy season in NTT will slip to December (instead of beginning in November as normal). Indeed a rainy season starting only in January is not ruled out. Not all parts of NTT will suffer equally serious effects, but areas prone to drought (Timor, Rote Ndao and Sumba in particular) are likely to be badly hit. In fact, many villages in Pantai Baru and West Southwest Rote (RBD), Rote Ndao Kabupaten, are even now experiencing the effects of drought, with 253 households in RBD already threatened by food shortages. To anticipate the effects of these weather patterns, all relevant government agencies and agricultural extension workers should avoid acting like firemen, i.e. hitting the road only when fires are flaring. They need to be proactive now, giving farmers the best possible advice they can on emerging weather patterns, what to plant and when, and how to avoid crop failure. Farmers must not be left to cope alone, as has often happened in the past. NTT is dubbed the “dry province”, so we should have drought prone areas clearly mapped out so that, when drought hits, we can move quickly to help areas most in need.’

From a practical perspective the level of water in my well is very low, I can only fill the bucket if it is on its side, the water is no longer deep enough for the bucket to sink into it. Even the areas of green around ponds and rivers are going brown as these areas of water are shrinking or have disappeared entirely. However we are now getting a few clouds in the sky and on Thursday there were a few seconds of rain.

Volley Ball

19 November 2009

Tonight saw the finals of the volley ball contest that has been running for about two weeks. I was invited down to watch by one of the locals and arrived at 19:00 just as the women’s final was starting. It was taking place on the volley ball court next to the football pitch and was lit by two lights. The football pitch was half full of lorries, bemos and motorbikes which had brought people to watch and round the court we were standing 6 or 7 deep with every possible vantage space around in trees and on roofs of vehicles being taken. The quality of the game improved once the teams settled down and there were some very long ‘rallys’ (well that is what it would be called n tennis). The crowd was very excited, knowledgeable and appreciative of good play. At 21:00 just as the men were warming up for their final there was listric mati – power cut – so I used this as an excuse to leave as it was very hot standing amongst so many people.

Road Works

November 2009

On several occasions I have mentioned the poor state of the roads in Indonesia and particularly on Rote. There are the unmade – never been made roads which come with the territory and then there are the unmade but used to be made roads where maintenance has lagged behind usage and finally the made but so full of holes you would be better off without the bits of tarmac. This is due to a combination of subsidence, rain /flood water damage and excessive usage particularly by trucks. The road from the hospital into Baa down the hill was a particularly bad stretch; as was the part of the road from the hospital to Busalangga the next large town - where I go to the market. This month work has been underway to resurface the road. First the really big holes were filled with rocks, then a cement like layer was put down, next came the nasty bit – a layer of small stones and finally tarmac. The majority of the work was carried out with traffic still using the road – where there was an alternative route then a one-way system was instigated so that single file traffic was allowed through the road works – otherwise it was just a matter of playing chicken with on coming vehicles. As you will see there was generally enough room for motorbikes to squeeze through but cars and trucks often had a long wait until the road was side enough for them to pass. Riding over the loose small stones was challenging – particularly after a lorry had made ruts in it. Going down the hill on loose stones is interesting particularly around the sharp bends. Walking along the road is also quite challenging as there is no longer enough room to walk beside the road and the slope is such that you have to walk quite a way onto the road and as this has caused the road to be quite a bit narrower than before you really need your wits about you particularly when walking at night. Whilst the work is in progress the journeys are more ‘exciting’ than before but once the work is complete the challenge of getting into town or to Nembrala is going to be lost.

Fishing

14 November 2009

About 18:00 I had a text message from Octo to say a group of doctors were going to go fishing tonight and did I want to join them. I had nothing else planned so decided to give it a go. About 19:30 eight of us set out for the fishing harbour. Three of them had proper fishing rods and reels the rest had to make do with line wrapped around drinks cans. It took quite a long time to get the gear set up and regularly someone would loose their weights and hooks so like fishing the world over more time was spent sorting out the tackle than actually fishing. It was a very pleasant evening as we had a sea breeze taking some of the heat out of the night. In the end more fish was used as bait than was caught by the anglers but I am not sure having fish for supper is ever the main purpose of leisure angling. We returned home sometime after midnight.

Picnic on the Beach

1 November 2009

This morning some of the nurses from the mess called round to invite me to a picnic on the beach this afternoon. I had been aware of a lot of activity outside the mess with coconuts being opened and chickens gutted but not really thought anything about it. I had been cooking pizza that morning so packed one up in my cool box to take as my contribution.

At 13:30 one of the ambulances arrived outside and we started to pile all the food on board. Then the process of shoe horning people in – not too bad when we first set off but we had various stops on route to the beach and eventually had 14 people inside. We drove for about 45 minutes before turning off the main road onto a narrow dirt track that culminated in another beautiful and deserted beach. Six other staff had come on three motorbikes so we were a big party. Just like in the UK it was the men that set about laying a fire and cooking the chickens and fish. Besides the BBQed food a bucket of rice and a large bowl of noodles had also been brought. There was a second bucket full of es campor – this is an iced drink with coconut milk as the base with condensed milk, mixed fruit and small cubes of jelly. Whist the food was prepared we all lounged around in the trees chatting.

It had originally been planned that we swam before eating but the water was too low. After eating we still had to walk a very long way into the sea before the water was deep enough to swim. None of the problems we British have in trying to get changed discretely into swimming costumes under towels – here you just walk straight into the see fully clothed and later travel home dripping wet. As it was so shallow the water was incredibly warm. When I got back to the shore, those who had not been swimming were dancing so I joined in with that as well. It was an excellent afternoon – made all the better for being able to join in conversations and no longer being the centre of attention.