Hello again! Another week gone by down under. A relatively quiet week it was except for Friday night here in Sentani where we experienced an enormous thunderstorm. The thunder seemed to be right above us at times and made everything in the house rattle. The lightening was also an amazing sight to behold. Thankfully, and amazingly, none of the kids woke up from it! It sure kept Dad and Mom awake though... This week Hugo was able to complete the installation of the first stormscope. He also repaired a generator control unit for one of the caravans. This unit controls the voltage of the alternator. Not much work was done on Friday as the night before the son of one of the national mechanics died. The boy was three years old and had Downs Syndrome. He had been sick most of his life and more recently had tested positive for malaria. They had been treating him for three days without success so it is possible that it was not malaria that he was ill with. Friday morning many of the MAF maintenance people went to their house to pay their respects and there was a little funeral service held outside the house afterwards. The family is Javanese and therefore more stoic in their display of grief. The boy was laid out on a table wearing a tuxedo for the viewing. Following that the family with the body flew to Nabire, where they are originally from, and that is where the boy was buried. Last week Sunday night our Pembantu and her husband and one of her children were at a church from their own tribe when their house was robbed. They had left one boy at home and another was expected home. The first boy went to bathe in the river and left only the kitchen door unlocked in case his sibling came home while he was bathing. When he was gone a 15 year old boy, who was drunk, came in and stole all their kitchen stuff. This boy is from their tribe and they know his family well. However, he sold all their things to many different people. Unfortunately this is a common occurance up on Post Tujuh (7) where they live. There are a number of teenage boys, many illiterate, who spend their time stealing alcohol, getting drunk, and then stealing from their neighbours or causing other problems. Some will kick their families out of their homes so they are forced to sleep outside until they can call the police in the morning. It is a very sad situation amongst these people and they don't know what to do about it. There are no rules here about children having to go to school, so if there is no money, then they do not go to school. It is unfortunate that these people who don't have very much to begin with, have to go through this type of thing. As we don't have our own things here, I gave our Pembantu some money to help her replace some of her things. On a brighter note, we are all well and healthy. We enjoyed a cooler Sunday today, always a nice treat... Well, that was our week here. How was yours? Selamat Hari Minggu! In His Service, Hugo and Erica Feunekes