Diving Right In

Hello, again

I started drafting this as I sat in yet another FAO meeting held on an official UN holiday. Because we all know that we don’t need to take our official holidays. I could be out zipping around Jakarta, enjoying the light traffic! At least they let us start a little late. It left time for a trip to the gym and to pick up coffee and pastries to have during the meeting…

Wow, I practically need to get out my calendar to look up all the things I’ve done since I blogged about the ultimate frisbee weekend on Bali. I’ve had a few more crazy clubbing weekends here in Jakarta, which is basically becoming the norm for weekends in town. It’s either that or go to the malls. Personally, I’d rather have a long night dancing, followed by a quiet, restful weekend and a trip to the spa than to wake up on Saturday morning and plan only to go the mall.

I put in a ton of work on short notice to prepare a preliminary report on my project for USAID. Naturally, after all that work, discussion of the report and project were skipped over on the meeting agenda. Fabulous. The only good thing to come out of that intense effort was two extra days off, which I used to take a dive certification course on Bali. Ha, ha, ha!

So, I declared my time off and booked a flight to Bali. Bali Scuba, in Sanur, was having a special on dives and courses. All the FPFs – Ali, Jenni, and Stacie – had taken the PADI Open Water certification course there, so I knew it was good spot. Got in very late on Wednesday night with an early start the next day. As part of the package, Bali Scuba had booked me into the Puri Sindhu Mertha Suites, a small, newer hotel which is just down the street from their office. Overall, very nice and mod. And with a clever way of providing for the requisite Bali al fresco shower!! However, the breakfast left a lot to be desired. I couldn’t even get nasi goreng that early before class. Mie goreng (fried noodles) instead…

The first day was spent entirely in the classroom watching videos. My instructor, Chris, is Indonesian and had also been Jenni and Stacie’s instructor. He’s lots of fun! I got to know my classmates – Puput from Yogya, and Alex, Aster, and Jon who live in Jakarta. I was impressed by the gender and racial balance of the PADI video actors. Too bad each unit ended with a terribly cheesy line about diving such as, “Divers do it under pressure.” I’m surprised that there wasn’t a t-shirt with all these wonderful one-liners…

That first night I had sushi for dinner with a few classmates before crashing out asleep. The second day of the course was another early morning, only this time we headed to the pool. Bali Scuba is building their own pool in Sanur. In the meantime, they use a pool at a condo complex a short drive away. Another group of soon-to-be divers, who had spent the previous day in the other classroom, were there as well. After the requisite swim tests, we began. We put together our gear for the first time, put on our wetsuits and weight belts, and we jumped in. Putu was my dive buddy. Chris put us right to work demonstrating the required skills. I have to admit, yes, I got a bit freaked out when we first started breathing under water. But I did NOT break for the surface and, instead, continued on with everything Chris was asking us to do. There were many skills to demonstrate, and we all did really well. Patrick, a Swiss guy in our dive group, was keen to do all of it. Diving is clearly a new-found passion for him! As for me, I wasn’t in love with it yet. I was glad to be going through the course but didn’t think I’d likely be adding a bunch of dive gear to my burgeoning collection of sports and outdoor equipment…

After a long day in the pool, we had a beer at the bar next door to the dive shop before we headed back to the hotel. I walked on down to the beach for dinner at Stiff Chili, a favorite beachside spot from my Ramadan trip to Bali. The maitre d' even remembered me! The next morning we got to sleep in a bit. I was sick of eating Indonesian (breakfast and lunch for 2 days running) so I suggested that we use some of the extra time to have a nice breakfast at a local café. Well-fueled and adequately caffeinated, my classmates and I took on the final exam. After the exam was over, we headed to another dive shop where they sell lots of gear. A new mask and snorkel later, I had lunch with the whole gang. Then it was back out to Sanur beach for our first 2 open water dives.

They loaded us up in vans, and then we transferred to outboard boats. We didn’t go very far out, and the sea floor at Sanur isn’t terribly full of coral or exotic sea life. Rather, it is sandy, has a bit of sea grass, and some sea critters. Again, I had a few desperate moments adjusting to breathing with the regulator just as we went below the surface. Later, I realized that my anxiety/panic could have something to do with what, at the time, felt like a near-drowning when I went rafting on the Arkansas River in Colorado. It was funny, because I hadn’t even considered the fact that the anxiety of my rafting experience might return as I learned to dive. I figured out to take slow, deep breaths and just try to relax with it. Diving in the ocean was most certainly more exciting than being in the pool. It started to occur to me that this was actually meant to be fun! Ha, ha, ha…

Dinner that night was in Sanur, followed by a jaunt to a club in Kuta to meet up with friends of friends. I’m not particularly keen on Kuta – too crowded, too glitzy, too much going on for peaceful Bali – but that was a good night. And I was really looking forward to our dives at Tulamben the next day. Yes, back to the Liberty class wreck at Tulamben. It was an early morning drive with lovely views of the beach, green forests, rice paddies, and Mt. Agung. We alighted at a different resort than the one I went to with Jenni and Stacie before at Tulamben. This place was right off the wreck; no walk down the beach required. Fortunately, our group had already completed almost all of the skills we had to demonstrate to get certified, so we mostly used our time to explore. The wreck was impressive. I hadn’t realized before the full extent of its size. We made two dives at the wreck, with a lunch break in between. Lovely. My fun day diving was rounded out by a wonderful beachside seafood dinner with Alex and Jon at Jimbaran. Really, I had a magical end to a fabulous day and a remarkable extended weekend.

Diving in Bali was one of the top weekends I’ve had here in Indonesia, and certainly one of my best weekends ever. However, the following weekend – a sailing and diving trip to Krakatoa (known as Anak Krakatau here in Indonesia) – was It. Quite possibly the best weekend ever. Certainly the best I’ve had here…

The weekend was planned by Jill, a friend of Caesar and Nitara, and included Jill, Jenni, Stacie, Caesar, Nitara, Phil, Phil’s friend John, Camilla (aka ‘Croatia’), and myself. We chartered the ‘Cecilia Ann,’ a 60-foot ketch. The boat sleeps 10 but our group had downsized to 9. We rented a minibus, loaded it up with supplies, and drove to Anyer in Banten Province. It usually takes about 2 hours to get to Anyer. But this was Jakarta on a Friday night. So it took more like 4 hours. On our journey, we discovered the restrooms at the toll booth – not my first choice of relief stations in Indonesia, but it could be worse. Then there was a stop at Dunkin Donuts before we arrived at the marina. We all wanted a proper dinner before shoving off. So, nasi goreng it was! I don’t think I can leave on any adventure here in Indonesia without being fueled by nasi goreng.

Once we were fed and fully on board, we set off for the islands of Krakatau. Camilla was new to our group, having been invited on the trip by another friend who subsequently didn’t come along. Camilla had seemed a bit anxious in the van and turned out to have been popping tranquilizers all during the drive. Apparently they weren’t enough to cover for her fear of sailing and the ocean. She had a full-blown panic attack within a short time of leaving the marina. With no relief in sight, even after someone dug out a Xanax for her, we turned the boat around and took her back to shore. Probably the best outcome for all involved.

So, back to the open ocean. It was a bit rough bouncing along through the waves. A few of us managed to sleep in the cabins below deck, but others toughed it out in the spray on deck. At some point in the dark we got to where we needed to be and anchored. When I came up to the nicely still deck in the morning, we were moored off an island in direct sight of Anak Krakatau. 'Anak' means child, so this volcano is the 'child' of the famous Krakatoa which erupted so ferociously the boom could be heard all over the globe. The volcano was active - spewing ash and rocks into the air every few minutes with an occasional deep boom as it erupted. We had a nice breakfast with an even better view. We made a dive there just off the boat. Although the visibility was poor, it was pretty cool to be diving again within a week after I completed my certification. The ocean surge took us up and down, and there was a reef right there. That’s how we spent our day. Lounging around on deck, checking out the nearby erupting volcano, and making dives off the boat.

We motored around to the other side of Anak Krakatau’s island, where there was a small beach of black volcanic sand. The island is a park, and normally we would get to climb partway up the volcano. With all the volcanic activity going on, though, the park was closed and the island off-limits to visitors. It was only a short way from the boat to the island so we swam to shore for a few minutes. With an option to check out another nearby island, we declined and returned to our same moorage point with the fabulous volcano view. As the sky got dark, we could no longer see the ash plumes. Instead, we could see RED, HOT LAVA (ok, technically ‘magma’ or maybe ‘molten rock’) spewing into the air and pouring down the sides of the mountain. Nature’s fireworks. A more exotic restaurant view has never been had. Dinner was lamb roasted on a BBQ off the boat rails, eaten on deck, to the great soundtrack supplied by a multitude of iPods. We were tired. Amazingly happy and tired. I had the crew tie up my hammock on deck, and that was it for me. I settled into my hammock with a pillow and blanket, on the gently rocking boat, within sight of an erupting volcano. Oh, did I add there were more stars overhead than I have ever seen in a lifetime of gazing at stars? Ethereal. I would sleep for a little while, hear a boom from the volcano, wake up to look at the streams of lava running down, look up at the multitude of stars, and then the waves would lull me back to sleep. Truly awesome.

I awoke at dawn when it was dark enough to still see the molten lava but light enough to be day. My hammock had slipped down a bit, so I went below deck to lie horizontally for a little while. Repeat of the morning before – good breakfast, fabulous view, and the very, very best of company. I couldn’t have asked for more. We made another dive that morning. And many more jokes. (Did anyone see that green Teletubbie floating by?) Lunch was fresh red snapper and squid bought directly from a fishermen’s boat that had come along. Their catch was cleaned off the back of our boat and grilled off the side. Sadly, after lunch it was time to head back. I managed to claim one of the most comfortable deck chairs for the 4-hour trip back to the marina. With my own personal MP3 soundtrack filling my ears, I alternately took in the sunlight on the water and the sails with blue sky above. Honestly, it couldn’t have been any more perfect.

It took a few days to get my land legs back – the world kept bobbing along even as I sat at my desk in Deptan. I managed to stay elated until later in the week, when the reality of no longer being on the boat finally caught up with me. But now, as I’m sweating on my walk to the busway, the right piece of music and a glimpse of blue sky will put me right back there.

Peace and love to all,

E

My Job

Well, I promised to write about my work here before putting anything else up. Yes, that was a while ago. And I’m sorry it has taken this long. I never was good at keeping a journal. I used to be good at writing real letters, but we all know how rare they have become these days…

Anyway, back to “fighting” bird flu. Riiiiiight! Unlike most other countries in the world that have had cases of the H5N1 avian influenza (with the exceptions of Egypt, Bangladesh, and maybe Viet Nam), bird flu is endemic in Indonesia. This means that the disease is continuously present and widespread in this country. While there may be outbreaks of disease on a local level, the country as a whole doesn’t have ‘outbreaks’ because disease is happening somewhere nearly every day. FAO has created a Participatory Disease Surveillance and Response (PDSR) program to detect and deal with disease in village poultry. We have trained more than 2000 officers – most already working for district animal health departments – under the PDSR system. Right now, nearly all the funding to support the PDSR program comes from international donors. You can be sure that the funding will not continue at its present levels, and the Indonesian government will be asked to take over PDSR, resulting in a decline from its present level of activity.

I was hired as a Field Program Facilitator (FPF). My intended job was to go out in the field (I was assigned to western Java and southern Sumatra) to visit with and observe the operations of PDSR officers in the field. I got out on 2 field visits – last September and early last December – before the role of FPFs was, for all intents and purposes, abolished in January of 2008. A full six months after I arrived. But we won’t talk about that. Field visits were lots of fun. Sitting behind my desk at Deptan for months was not.

So, we FPFs had to find something else to do with ourselves. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is our primary source of funding and wanted us to plan to intensify our prevention and control program in western Java for the coming project year, specifically to include small commercial farms and using vaccination. My response to that was to suggest that we map and catalog the farms in the areas where we planned to intensify our campaign, at least so we would know how much vaccine we would need and how to plan such an intensified campaign. PDSR operates at the village level. However, somewhere in the neighborhood of 70-80% of the poultry on Java are reared in commercial farms. Although FAO had started a dialog with the commercial poultry industry at a higher level, we know virtually nothing about commercial poultry farming in Indonesia. The government has next to no regulatory authority over commercial farms (or certainly no effective regulation). Thus, the “Western Java Commercial Poultry Profiling” project was born.

Nearly six months after its inception, the project is almost complete. We partnered with a FANTASTIC local NGO, CREATE, to execute the data collection. CREATE is based in Bogor and headed by Widiyanto Surya. Widi is, without a doubt, the most effective Indonesian I have worked with. He is a veterinarian, on the faculty at the local veterinary school, and has a PhD in communications. He can get done in a few hours what FAO would need probably weeks to do. He is also wonderfully sweet and very patient with all the frustrations of dealing with FAO and this project. We chose to work with CREATE because of their knowledge of and contacts in the commercial poultry industry.

The first step of our project has been to take a census of all commercial poultry operations in the selected districts. (USAID and FAO ‘senior’ staff selected the 13 districts for this project.) This process is executed by teaming up with the district animal health agency and sending their officers (some of who are trained in PDSR) with GPS units to all of the poultry farms in their district. Basic information about the farm owner, location, and number and type of birds is collected. Once we have all this information, we select a representative subset of producers in the district for further surveying. Teams of enumerators from the district and CREATE administer a questionnaire to the selected farmers. The questionnaire asks about management practices, poultry species kept on the premises, perceptions about poultry disease, contact with other farms, and other factors that can affect disease transmission as well as poultry and business management. Once we have all of this information, we will analyze the data to see if we can group producers by common characteristics and identify groups with higher risks for poultry disease than others. We also hope to use the data to identify opportunities for dialog with these poultry producers.

So, that’s what I’ve found to do with myself here in the past few months. The start of the profiling project was delayed and has taken longer than expected. Although we will do as much as we can with the data as quickly as we can, many of the analyses will probably take place after I have finished my term here. My personal victory out of all of this is that the local authorities will receive the maps and information about the commercial poultry farms in their respective districts at the conclusion of the project. In Indonesia, the decisions made locally seem to have, in my opinion, the greatest effect and, therefore, the greatest chance for success. Clearly, a nationally-coordinated program for HPAI prevention and control is needed. But this is a big country, and if a few districts can start to get a handle on the disease, so be it. I have heard time and again from district authorities that other groups come in to collect information and never give the districts the info back. Well, with this profiling project each district will get all their own info back, including electronic maps, to use as they see fit. I only wish we could do this exercise for more districts!

There, now. I’ve talked about my work. Good stuff, too…

Next up - getting glamor in Yogya and dive certification!

E