Journey_to_pontianak

The journey to Pontianak, land of the Equator
Date: 3rd October, 2008.

San Antonius Private Hospital

On our way to the Hotel, Swisserikin asked us to checkout from our room and be ready at the lobby in 30 minutes time. I was not worried about packing our luggages as all were done by Kittie earlier in the morning before we went for the City Tour. As I had promised earlier to myself that I would buy the Khatulistiwa souvenirs at the lobby, I went straight to the counter girl and made a purchase of the items. The girl gladly helped out and pulled few trophies out from the showcase for me to choose. How I wished that I could take all to give away to my friends and relative. Well, I only managed to buy for myself. Let my friends come to Pontianak and buy it themselves. I told the girl to pack the souvenirs for me in boxes for easy carriage.

After that, Kittie and I went to our room to take our luggages and bring them down to the lobby, where a few had already checkout. Some of them pulled their luggages to the bus and waited for others. I paid my souvenirs and boarded the bus. Our bus proceeded to The Betang for our lunch before we moved on to San Antonius, our final visit before heading to Sarawak.


Ms Guinness and I posing. She was scared of me. "Bapaknye garang ya?"	Senang sekali ibu nya ini.	Kamek ada persamaan sik?	Bapaknya, ada cuci tangan ngak?

"We do have some similarity, right?" Alim ask. Perasan bapaknya Alim.	Cikgu Kutong and KK Lambert tasted the snake and dog meat served separately.	Having lunch and chit-chatting.	Umm.... sedap... He tasted it when Ms Guinness left.

When we arrived at the The Betang, we were greeted by Ms Guinness. Ms Guinness was a friendly poodle, and was not afraid of anyone holding her. So a few of us had the chance to hold and took some pictures with her.


Combo pictures of Ms Guinness asking for some food. When no one entertained her, she retreated from the place.

The menu for our lunch was almost the same as yesterday's as some of us had requested for the same dishes. The operator had some extra dishes for us too. He brought out 2 dishes for some of us to taste. There were snake meat fried with black soya sauce and DOG meat! I liked the snake meat, but surely not the dog. Well come on lah, I was greeted by Ms Guinness and tak kan lah I nak makan her friend in front of her, right?

After lunch, we had our final group photo taken with our Indonesian brethrens, and greeted good-bye and hugged each other before we left. Hope to meet again!


Group photo.	The weather was hot but can still smile.	Part of the participants getting snap with the Indonesian ladies.	Another pictures.

Dayak couple.	After 3 days, they did have partners there.	When the group photo was done, Redline suddenly remembered that he was not in any of the pictures. Here, he seat and waited for his camera to warm-up.	When all were gone, he was still sitting there waiting. Luckily, a lady was willing to wait with him. I guess this was also the time when he forgot his camera bag.

"Goodbye, till we meet again, and thank you for your hospitality." Kaddy looked on, waiting to hug her as well.	Bapak Mankarius and MBSY.	Pak Clarry Sada with Kittie and MBSY.	Local photographer from the local daily news taking the event while we were there.

And so we reached the hospital Rumah Sakit Umum San Anthonius, Catholic Church owned. There we were given a very warm welcome. This time, Redline switched personality to become the President of SBGA. The rest of us followed him to the Conference Room, where we were served with light refreshment. The beautiful nurses and other hospital staff were there too to greet us. Some of us took the opportunity to take pictures with the missy-missy yang bertugas, except Sr Maria lah. Wow, what a sight to behold, those wonderful nurses in their uniforms.


Welcome to ST ANTONIUS General Hospital.	They waited for us at the entrance of the building.	We were at the lobby and were directed by the nurse to go to the 4th floor at the conference room.	“Please be seated while waiting for our Tuan Direktur,” said the emcee.

Bar_guarding in pictures.			Redline also did not want to miss the chance of being single with the missy.

Some of the audiences at the conference room.			He's worried that he might not be able to go back to Malaysia. He LOST his bag.

View from the back. Left to right: Pak Clarry Sada, Dr. Damianus Hipolitus, Mr. William Nyigor, and Dr. Willy Brodus Uwan.	“We are sorry to all of you for our director Dr. Charles is still busy attending to emergency. He will be with us when he's done.”	The start of presentation about San Antonius General Hospital by Dr. Damianus Hipolitus.	The arrival of Dr. Charles Hutasoit, Director of RSSA at the conference room.

The Director of the hospital wasn’t free to greet us, but he had asked Dr. Damianus Hipolitus and Dr. Willy Brodus Uwan, Sp.PD to welcome our entourage, and Mr. William Nyigor, President of SBGA was the hospital director's lead and honored guest. They apologized on behalf of Dr. Charles Hutasoit, Sp.A, Director of RSSA. Dr. Charles had to attend to an urgent matter and was with us only after he was done. You know lah, doctor every minute on call.

Before the event started our president, Mr. William Nyigor, realized that he had misplaced his camera porch, and it could be at The Betang. He looked very worried, and even ran to Pak Clarry's Avanza to check whether he had left it inside the car. Pak Clarry and Alim helped to call The Betang and enquired whether his bag was there. Sure enough. Once Redline knew that his bag was in a safe hand, than you saw his happy face. He told me what inside his bag. Bar_guarding was also there when we heard to the conversation that his bag was found. They were sending it over to the hospital.


Ms Guinness with Redline bag. Redline, an ICT director in the Chief Minister's Office. Here in Pontianak, he also got the same position. Another ICT post was waiting for him, or he was being ICTed. Note: ICT mean Information and Communication Technology in Malaysia. In Indonesia its mean Ibu Cantik Tunggal for Redline.	Redline jumping hurdles to get his bag.

Anywhere, the Emcee proceeded to introduce to us the panelists that were seated in front, on stage, to start the dialog, or may I say forum. First, it was the introduction of all the four penalists there. It was Pak Clarry Sada, Mr. William Nyigor, Dr. Damianus Hipolitus, and Dr. Willy Brodus Uwan. Next, they started the introduction of Rumah Sakit Umum (RSU).

I was very fascinated by the humble start of RSU in Pontianak. It was run by a Catholic Mission in Pontianak back 31 Januari 1928, and was named Rumah Sakit Sungai Jawi. San Antonius was already 90 years old! That was very old indeed. It was started by a Dutch missionary by the name of Bosch, OFM.Cap meant for the poor. If you want to know more about this hospital, and also would like to contribute directly, please visit the website. [here]

What I liked most about this hospital was its vision and mission. Here they are:

Visi RSU St. Antonius Pontianak adalah:

"Rumah Sakit pertama di Kalimantan Barat dengan pelayanan profesional, mengesankan dan terpercaya berdasarkan cinta kasih."

Misi RSU St. Antonius Pontianak adalah:

1. Meningkatkan profesionalisme sumber daya manusia

2. Mengembangkan sarana dan prasarana rumah sakit

3. Mengefesienkan pembiayaan rumah sakit

4. Mewujudkan cinta kasih dalam pelayanan


Exchanging of souvenirs, Mr. William Nyigor, SBGA President, and Dr. Charles Hutasoit, Director of RSSA..	Our latest book written about Bidayuh in Sarawak.	“We hope that this pictorial children's book can help you get your patient busy reading. It's written in local Bidayuh dialect in Sarawak.”	“Today we bring with us a wheel chair, next visit we might bring in the ambulance,” cited Mr. William Nyigor.

After that event, we were brought to tour the hospital facilities.


Pavillion Maria and Lukas, where 1st class ward was located.	1st class ward with a nurse on duty.	The waiting area for family members of 1st class patient.	Cikgu Nyuk Lian and Dr. Dominic Dado aka Wonderboyz with Dr. Willy in the 1st Class ward.

Pharmacy on the 3rd Flr. Notice the cross. It's green! Not red or bulan sabit merah.	The 3 nuns smiling, resting after their rounds. They did the prayer to any patient who required their blessing.	Another counter on the 1st Flr.	Another failed Bahasa Malaysia wording being displayed. Bar_guarding should help to correct it.

At the end of the tour, we made an impromptu cash donation campaign for the hospital, which ended up to be a "hat-full", and was quickly handed to it's director.


"SERVIAM IN CARITATE." Nurse served with a smile, and serious Doctor on duty.	Redline, Jihem, Wonderboyz, and Dr. Damianus in front of St. Francis of Asisi statue.	Redline handed over to Dr. Damianus our impromptu collection.	The money collected in safe hand.

Adil Ka' Talino, Bacuramin Ka' Saruga, Basengat Ka' Jubata.

In the bus toward the end of the homeward journey, the President of SBGA thanked everyone who participated in the trip. However, he acknowledged that there were minor glitches and hope that the participants were not disheartened. He made a promise that there would be better organised similar trips in the future.