Alethea's 5th birthday

Alethea started out her 5th birthday day by playing quietly with blocks and entertaining Baby Sister.

 Then she swam, helped Mommy make her cake, licked the pan, swam some more, played, more blocks, swam some more, then ate supper, wanted a pic of her and Daddy attacking the cake and then got herself stuck in the laundry bin.

A full day.

The kids are so happy to have American guests!

This picture says it all - Alethea and Noah are so happy to have english-speaking guests from America.

Alethea cannot even let Braxton play a simple board game without becoming an Ali-shawl.

Practicing IVs in the village

There are lots of sick people right now in the village. So, we are using the opportunity here not only to help our two guests Brad and Braxton, but also to teach Jimmy how to start an intravenous infusion in order to rehydrate patients, since many of the sick here become severely dehydrated due to the jungle propensity to cease eating and drinking during times of sickness..

A trip to a nearby treehouse

Day trip to pound sago - PART II

I wonder who ever first thought of eating a tree. This boy does not know.

Here is a filtering trough being constructed.

The mat is completed to catch the pounded-out fibers.

Completing the trough (placing the collection basin in place and damming the ends to prevent run-off).

Pounding the sago from the felled and skinned and split trunk into fibers that can be filtered.

Running water through the trough in order to filter the fibers. The women squeeze the fiber and presses it to get as much good, edible sago out as possible.

The silty water then collects here, the water is later poured off and the orang silty "mud" of the sago is collected and dried and becomes brick-like (where it waits to be reconstituted and cooked and eaten like bread).

Looking at the orangish "mud" from the filtered sago collected at the bottom of the collection basin (itself made from parts of the sago tree). You can see the demarcation where the fibers are dammed up in the steeply leaning portion of the trough and the final section where there are no fibers but only orangish silt. Later this orang water will be carefully dumped and the fine silty sago on the bottom will be dried.

Woman pouring water in the trough to filter the sago and pressing out the water so that the silt runs into the collection basin.

The finished product - like a dry, bland pancake.

Day trip to pound sago - PART I

The sago palm tree is a staple food item to the lowland people here. Today we walk out a little ways to see the locals cut, split, pound, rinse and squeeze and filter the sago for drying and eventual eating.

Sorry, this is a banana tree....we are still in the village....

Here is our view of the river from the village.

We catch a small stream that runs into the river and follow it up a little way to where the sago trees are.

This is Yamis.

Alethea is tired of walking, but Noah soldiers on through the creek and into the mud.

Braxton struggles to keep his footing as we slop forward.

A local has already started chopping the tree ( they walk faster than us).

Here it is - a sago tree top.

Noah sees something that interests him more, however.

The tree is down with a "WHOOF" - the fall of the branches causing the only wind of the day on us. The people "WHOOP". 

Now, to get the bark off.

The top has some white "meat" that can be directly eaten.

So Brad gives it a try - not bad.

To hold the pounded pulp (insides of the tree) a local man weaves a mat from the fronds.

I told Alethea not to squint for this picture  - so she makes sure to remedy that.