Victims of the July 17th bombings at the Marriott and Ritz Carlton Hotels in Jakarta are still suffering. Many are still in the hospital–here in Jakarta, in Singapore, and some have returned to their home countries. Many, along with the physical and mental anguish they and their families are suffering, are additionally burdened by money worries. Even expats, gainfully employed and supposedly well-supported by company benefits, who were in those hotels-on company business-are encountering financial difficulties as costly medical treatments quickly gobble up their benefits. Word is that the Ritz and Marriott dare not offer monetary assistance to the victims or their families for to do so would be to admit culpability. Fortunately others have stepped up to help:

The British Chamber of Commerce has begun a fundraising campaign for the victims and families of the July 17 bombings. The money will be used where it is deemed most needed. Some will be used to assist with those receiving medical treatment for their injuries and some to help the families of the victims. One such example is the family of the Banquet Manager whose wife gave birth the day after he died in the bombing. If you would like to help this very worthy cause please contact bisnis@britcham.or.id

The Indonesian Netherlands Association in conjunction with CastleAsia have also launched a fund raising campaign for CastleAsia employee Max Boon who was severely injured in the bombings (For more about Max Boon see the Aug. 19,2009 posting). Max Boon lost both of his legs in the blast. Not only will he be permantely disabled, he also faces a long and difficult recovery and rehabilitation period. (And I have been told his insurance is, or has, run out.) If you would like to contribute towards his fund please contact: messagetomax@castleasia.com

While we may not be able to stop terrorists, we can help to alleviate the suffering they cause.

Info courtesy of WNJ (What’s New Jakarta) Newsletter 3/09/09

Make a wish/Have a ball/Dream a dream/Be it all…/If you want it, you can get it/But to get it, you’ve got to want it/Anything you want to try…../Just let go and you’ll fly highhhhhhhh…/And Make a Wish!*

I’m making a wish. I am wishing, dreaming, hoping someone, or a lot of someones, realize how gray our world will be without rainbows—especially this rainbow, the Reading Rainbow…

On August 28th Reading Rainbow died. After 26 years of celebrating books Reading Rainbow is off the air.

Why in the world is Reading Rainbow—a program celebrating books and reading and ideas–going off the air?

“Because no one — not the station, not PBS, not the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — will put up the several hundred thousand dollars needed to renew the show’s broadcast rights,” explained, John Grant, who is in charge of content at Reading Rainbow’s home station.

What’s a few hundred thousand dollars in the grand scheme of things? Consider how much more than that we, the United States of America, spend on other things—war, for instance–wars against things like drugs, poverty, pollution, people…oh yeah, and illiteracy.

Grant noted that while the decision to end Reading Rainbow had to do with funding cuts to PBS, it “can also be traced back to a philosophical change about TV and reading. He says the change started with the Department of Education under the Bush administration, which wanted to see a much heavier focus on things like phonics and spelling, the basic tools of reading”….And PBS and CPB and the Department of Education want to put funding toward programming that would teach kids how to read. They think “teaching the mechanics of reading should be the network’s priority.”

Silly me, I thought that was what teachers and parents were supposed to do…maybe that’s why funding for education is not of highest propriety…why pay teachers? Heck, let’s let TV teach our children “the mechanics of reading.”

Reading Rainbow is not and has never been about teaching children to read. Reading Rainbow does something more…something huge: “Reading Rainbow” Grant notes, “taught kids why to read, you know, the love of reading, encouraged kids to pick up a book and to read.”

We don’t seem to mind spending heaps of money to bully people into doing the “right thing.” So why not peel off some good old American greenbacks to do a really right thing: Bring back Reading Rainbow.

Better yet, skip PBS. PBS will go on to create other, wonderful programs—that’s what PBS does, provide “quality” programming for television viewers, programs like Sesame Street and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, the only programs with longer runs on PBS than Reading Rainbow.

Let’s turn instead to those “for profit” TV program producers, the one who bring us “quality” TV shows packed with plenty worth learning to love: violence, rage, anger, slaughter, decapitation, blood, cussing, crime, crime, crime…

ABC, NBC, FX, CBS, Fox, HBO…why don’t YOU bring back Reading Rainbow?

Come on, use a couple of hundred thousand of those dollars you charge sponsors to air commercials for products they want us to buy—and buy us a program we want to watch—and want our children to watch. One that celebrates reading and imagination.

Butterfly in the sky/ I can go twice as high/Take a look/ it’s in a book/ — Reading Rainbow…

For the full NPR story go to: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112312561

*Theme from “Make a Wish” with Tom Chapin, the 70′s morning show that fostered my grand ideas.)

An earthquake, gempa,  just hit Jakarta. It was a big one–basar sekali! I was sitting at my desk writing. First my vision started swirling and I felt myself swaying. The earthquake lasted a long time, long enough for me to wonder why I was dizzy? Why was my vision blurring? Hadn’t I eaten enough? Was I getting sick? Then I heard clinking–glasses, bells or some metal–clanging, the walls creaked, the walls undulated. The pool water sloshed and splashed like a wave pool.

I ran into the doorway. Called to Rusnati, “are you all right?” Yes, yes she was. She stood in her doorway and we looked at each other, pointed to flags waving, trees swaying, the Papua people teetering, the world wobbling.

“Call your house,” I demanded, when it stopped. “Call your daughters. See if they are all right.”

My phone rang then. Curtis. He was fine. His tall tall office building seemed fine. They had all run downstairs and outside. “You ran fast,” I remarked. “It was a long earthquake,” he replied.

It was a very very very long, rolling quake. Not one of those jerky, vicious ones that hit like a car smashing into a wall. We can only hope that means that everywhere it was felt the quake passed as gently as it did here.

An afternoon earthquake: one more  reminder:

Love freely; live joyfully; play and sing with gusto! This is the time we have.