According to the Indonesian Government there are currently 514 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 48 reported deaths in Indonesia. Up to five of the cases are in the Provence of North Sumatra where we live. The Island of Java seems to have been hit the hardest. The present situation in Medan, the city we call home, cannot be known for sure because the testing just isn’t available. The reaction here is much like the rest of the world. The Government of Indonesia has closed all points of entry for non-citizens. A foreigner can only enter after receiving a special visa from an Indonesian Embassy. The application for this visa includes a letter from the Health Department of the person’s home government. Schools have been cancelled. The streets are quiet. The people with whom I am in regular contact are concerned, but not panicked. So far there has been no run on toilet paper or any other essentials (except for hand sanitizer but that was always a little bit hard to find here).
We are currently all healthy and staying at home. This is important especially for our girls, particularly Eleanor. Because Eleanor is very blonde with very pale skin, her cheeks are pinched and her hair is touched by the people here when we go out into public. Caroline is also the target of a lot of physical affection, which is mostly hands touching her face. So, naturally, we are keeping them home. We are thankful that our home provides plenty of space and a yard where the girls can play.
Last Friday, March 20th, we finished up our last unit of language learning. The school would like us to do a 20 minute presentation as a final evaluation. We are going to wait two weeks, monitor the situation here, and then set a date. We would have liked to go out for a celebratory meal or maybe take a celebratory trip out of the city, alas all that will have to wait.
Fortunately, the work that lies ahead in the immediate future for the ministry here can be accomplished through working at home. We have set the publication goal of the Indonesian Hymnal (BIL) for Easter 2021. So I will be spending a lot of time proof reading and formatting that. We will have to delay the podcast that was in the works as I was planning to travel to Jakarta for that. Thankfully, we did not have any conferences or large group meetings planned. Of course we will not be able to plan any new conferences or workshops until this global pandemic passes.