What if you were asked to choose the most important thing in your daily life. I am talking about a physical item, the thing or device that you cannot live without. It is the most used and your top necessity. You might call it a priority. Maybe someone would say, “My iPhone is my top necessity. I cannot live without it.” If you go out and about nowadays, you’ll see people are all looking down at their phones. We could be called...

It might be up for debate when you claim someone or something is the greatest. How do you measure greatness? We measure by the best or highest standards of the time. The Koh-I-Noor 105 carat diamond is listed as priceless. It is known as the “Mountain of Light” when it was the world’s largest known diamond. It is currently owned by the British crown. Mt. Everest is the undisputed tallest mountain on the planet at 29,029 feet above sea level....

A welder and a rodent do not normally have anything in common. Unless you travel to the remote region of Indonesia. A team from America had come to volunteer their time and abilities.  There was a skilled welder on the team and he was organizing some needed projects. After finding the welder and looking it over, he realized it was not working. After a close inspection of the welder it was clear the wiring had been chewed by a rodent. Another...

I have been to the Hohidiai base on the island of Halmahera many times. The base has changed from 75 acres of jungle to the life changing station with three children’s homes, a clinic, hospital, leper rehabilitation, HIV/AIDS residential treatment, T.B. patient housing, food services and children everywhere. It is a place that brings hope for those who come asking for help. The message of hope is clear–no one is turned away. The...

Standing in the frigid wind on Thompson Pass at sunset was a spectacular site. Hendra Pontomudis, principal of Hohidiai School and Danny Galbraith, a volunteer teacher at the school, could only marvel at the breathtaking beauty before them. They had just left an amazing group of people in the coastal Alaskan hamlet of Valdez. Valdez is known for the rich history of being a staging area for the early gold prospectors and today it is the terminus...

Baassee Cho is an Athabaskan phrase that means a deep thank you. It is set apart from the general thanks to express a warm and special thank you. That is the name given to the new house built on our base.  The funds to build it were given by a very loving group in Alaska. The house is being occupied by an amazing couple–Dr. Leo and his wife, Dr. Deni. Dr. Leo and Dr. Deni will be expecting their first child in April. We are thankful for...

Everyone reading this blog has faced challenges in their lives. Challenges come in many forms–some can be life changers others just ruin your day. A grandmother came to our clinic and asked for help for her and her granddaughter. When she told her story, she unfolded a story of the struggle to survive. She was poor–not U.S. poor. Her challenge was NOT about living with only one family car or having basic cable service. She could not...

This is an awesome story about a changed life. Asminah is a one-year old girl who was born with a cleft lip and palate (see photo of her as an infant). She was brought to the clinic on the island of Halmahera where the extents of her injuries were assessed. The team led by Esther Scarborough arranged for her to go to Australia to repair her cleft lip and rebuild her face. She is the most recent child that IFC/Hohidiai has sent out of country to...

You can call it fate or a Divine plan but over 50 children have come into our care over the last ten years. They walk around the base in Halmahera hand-in-hand or arms around each other’s neck. There are others riding bikes, sitting together, reading books or playing a game. Moses, Joshua and Yohanas who came to our base around the same time have become very close friends. These three are like brothers and even sleep in the same bedroom since...

Warm Waters of Kindness   The location was a small island with only one village off the remote island of Halmhera. The medical team of Hohidiai and the Western volunteers boarded three boats for the 20 minute boat ride to our destination. It was a hot day that had threatening rain clouds in the sky. An hour after we arrived on the island the rain came in buckets but by that time we were already seeing patients. This was a mobile clinic to...