Clean water is vital to good health. There are several ways to transform marginally safe or contaminated water into drinkable water. A common practice in the remote islands of Indonesia is to boil the water. It takes time and fuel to boil every drop of water a family drinks. A well (bore) can be drilled at a per-foot cost. It can be too expensive for some villages. Another option is to hand dig a well. This is a lot of work and the well remains...

Cleft Lip Surgery — See our blog for a running commentary from team members.   http://medicalteamblog.wordpress.com The staff at the Hohidiai Clinic are looking forward to this Alaskan team from Fairbanks Memorial Hospital coming to provide cleft lip surgeries. The permits have been secured with the Department of Health for this team to bring hope to the poor that come for help. Those needing the cleft lip surgeries are now waiting for...

The sky was a stunning blue as I looked down on the glaciers and snow covered mountains of Western Canada and Alaska. It was a view that was the best welcome sign you could see. I was nearly home—weary but excited to be close to the end of my travels. There is no place like home even after being in the remote islands of Indonesia and the beautiful continent of Australia.I left the northland with a dental team in early February. Seventeen...

I would confidently say that minus 50 or 60 degrees Fahrenheit is extreme cold. How about over 300 inches of snow accumulation and the winter isn’t even close to being finished? That is an extreme amount of snow. Alaska is beautiful by any measure and it is a place of many extremes. It gets dangerous to drive in these extremes. There are plenty of documentaries and reality shows about life in the Great North Land. The crab fisherman, gold...

When I was a child we used to take two opened tin cans, punch a hole in the bottom of the cans and put a string in the holes. We would stretch the string out until it was tight then we would talk into one can and the other end was placed on the ear. This was a lot of fun as we would play for hours with our home-made phones. It hardly seemed possible that within my lifetime we would be able to not only talk to people anywhere in the world but...

The wide-eyes of our school age children gazed in excitement in the new classes they are now attending—21 pre-school and 25 in the combined kindergarten and grade one class. The school is an investment in the future. The children are unwanted by their parents but we see them as beautiful and full of potential. It is a huge commitment with a big payoff. These children will be the best educated in their generation in this remote region. Yes—2011...

I have been in Australia for a couple weeks but it rather cool. I have been blamed for bringing the cold temperatures here. It was minus 40 when I left Alaska and then warmed to above freezing. It was hot here and then I came and it has cooled.The good news is the people have been wonderful and warm to me. I attended the wedding of Hendra and Miriam near Melbourne and now I am in New South Wales. It has been great to establish friendships and...

I am currently in Australia just north of Sydney. It was a long flight from Alaska to Sydney and a long way from the minus 40 I left. Just before I left the deep freeze–my car stopped on the highway and I had it towed home. I still do not know why it stalled. I figured–I will deal with that when I get home.I have been speaking where the door opens here in Australia and have renewed friendships. These are friends I have met over the...

It is over 100 degrees F. warmer than when I left Alaska. I came out of the deep freeze and into the beautiful fertile valley just over an hour east of Melbourne in Australia. I am here to celebrate the wedding of two amazing young people–Hendra and Miriam.Hendra is the typical groom–nervous and just wanting the wedding to be finished. He is an awesome young man. There has been a lot of activity around here–with waves of...

I will be traveling to see my Australian friends this next week—after a stop in Seattle. I am anxious to sit and have a “cupper” with them. The purpose of the trip is to attend the wedding of Miriam and Hendra Pontomudis. This is a very special couple and I want to support them in their new life together. I will also be meeting Peter and Esther Scarborough on the road and getting to know Bill and Leanne Anderson the new Hohidiai directors in...