A post concerning this topic was started inside a different thread, but I thought it deserved to stand on it's own. The people of Indonesia are suffering through horrible times right now. I am leaving for Bandung tonight (Sunday, May 28), and I am apprehensive about what I will find when I get there. These are a good, kind people, who are largely responsible for my martial education & have tolerated my sense of humor and stubborness as I have grown, as well as given me permission to spread the art to whomever I wish, however I wish. I would ask my brothers and sisters of Pencak Silat in the spirit of hormat to keep this nation in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you.
Prayers are indeed sent. This region has had more than it's fair share of tragedy lately. May blessings and better times lie ahead.
My wife and I have been praying for our friends in Indonesia during this sad time. We pray that all the affected people will be blessed and comforted during this time of recovery.
A Village in Klaten Thank you all Pendekars for your thoughts, Wy wife is now in her family village in Klaten where all buildings have been demolished and many have died, including in her family. We have not managed to get in touch with all our friends and family in Yogyakarta for phone lines are still down and in the Bantul area it seems that mobiles still don't work either. Because of the complexity of the problems and the mass state of shock that is affecting the whole area of the disaster, we have decided to dedicate our efforts in her village where we have begun to feed people from a public kitchen, but much more needs to be done. People really need funds for medicines, for food, for temporary building materials... children need to have educational activities, and so on. We are using our experience in community organising through the arts to develop the public kitchen that we have already begun, and aim to tackle the day-to day problems there as they come. Because of that I would like to ask Pendekars to put aside some pennies for this village. You can PM me for the details of accountability - but it is the wonderful world of Blog that comes to mind first. Through the blog you can monitor directly where your money goes. Tomorrow my wife will get a better picture of what has happened in her village and I will post more news. Thank you for reading this post, Warm salaams to all. PS. For you who want to know more of what is going on in Yogyakarta or need to find loved ones there is www.mediacenter.or.id Kiai Carita.
http://www.indonesiarelief.org/ Whatever you can spare for a worthy cause to help ease the plight of our brothers and sisters in Indonesia. Mike & Liezl
