August 28, 2011

Child of the Jungle, Sabine Kuegler

Sabine Kuegler was five years old when her linguist-missionary parents took her, along with her brother and sister, to live in West Papua, Indonesia. Settling in a thatched hut, cut off from civilization except for a short-wave radio, they lived among the Fayu, a recently discovered Stone Age people, most of whose members had never seen a white person before.
A people nearing extinction because of continuous tribal war, the Fayu consider grubs and bats delicacies, kill for revenge, and yet long for a peace they don't know how to achieve.
And they live in paradise: a lush jungle of hidden grottoes, emerald-green foliage, scarlet orchids, and exotic animals. In this unimaginably beautiful place, young Sabine grows up. She joins the Fayu children such as Tuare, who calls Sabine his sister, and almost becomes a wild child herself. During seemingly endless sunny days and starlit nights, they hunt with primitive bows, play without fear, and create fabulous adventures.
Then, when Sabine is a teenager, tragedy strikes and she makes the difficult decision to leave. After her arrival at a Swiss boarding school, she finds that even a trip to the grocery story exposes her naiveté and dating becomes a minefield of confusion. But the West holds opportunities that would be impossible among the Fayu, and now on the brink of womanhood, the child of the jungle faces a heart-wrenching choice: whether to join modern society or return to the paradise that will always be home. (by www.globecorner.com)

August 09, 2011

Orientation Course, Part One

Only two weeks ago we arrived in Australia and now the first part of the initial training is already completed. Over ten days we heard and learned a lot from people with a vast experience in cross cultural ministry. And with the course also end ten days of child care and prepared meals – now it's up to us again.

Here we ate our meals

Child Care (photo by Carol)

Clear the mind at sunset


On the first weekend we visited a crocodile farm. They had plenty of unusual things to see: crocodiles (this one was obvious), koalas, kangaroos, lizards, snakes, etc.

Pet a Koala

Feeding


On the second weekend we went to visit Cairns and its Esplanade, a waterfront park containing a pool, sandy beach inclusive (since the nearby river dumps a lot of sand, there is no natural beach in Cairns).

Take a bath in the pool with the sea in the back

August 07, 2011

Niklas' Birthday

Last week we celebrated Niklas' 5th birthday. Here are some pictures of this event (click here for more):

Light the birthday cake candles ...

... blow them out ...

... and enjoy the cake!

Greetings from home

July 29, 2011

Cairns, Queensland, Australia

After a month in Three Hills we started on the second leg of our "Tour of the World" on Wednesday, July 20. From Calgary we flew via Dallas and Brisbane to Cairns.

Home for 16 hours, Boeing 747-400

After 33 hours of travelling, on Friday, July 22 at 9:30am we were met by friends at the airport and escorted to our new temporary home – Tree Tops Lodge.
This "resort" consists of apartments with one or two bedrooms, bath room a kitchen/living room. All is situated within a park of tropical trees and bushes. Butterflies in all sizes and colours are abundant and as soon as night falls a cricket concert starts lasting the whole night.

Our apartment (bottem right)

View from our living room window

On Monday a two weeks orientation course has started. We hear about organisational things like staff manual, e-mail addresses, and finances; do culture and language training; and talk about security, depression, and stress. After this, Markus will have to do advanced flight training and a course about MAF flying standards.