Ina is using her network to gather much needed supplies for the school and clinic….
1963 March 27 (a copy)
Dear Pastor Westby
Thank you most sincerely for your warm reading from cool, cool, Minnesota. We surely would appreciate a little of the cool weather as we have had an unusually dry hot season. I guess this has been the dry season. They’ve had on record here – records from 1948.
It is with deep gratitude that I remember my pre-confirmation classes with Mrs. Kurt Kolstad, and my confirmation class with Pastor Jensen release time from school at First English. I’m happy that I did have a chance to meet you Pastor Westby by chance when you came to visit Mrs. Orville Botner, soon after the arrival of their son. I had the pleasure of sharing a room with her at Douglas County Hospital when Tommy was born just before we left for New Guinea.
An answer to your inquiry about projects for various groups, I will give you a list of things we could use, and let you decide which groups might be interested in helping us with some of them.
Plastic bags any size, shape, or quality. We will give food such as rice to our schoolboys and girls for helping on the station. Then we could give it in plastic bags, also they could have something to carry their books to school or Sunday school when it is raining, also to store things in their house, as it often is damp when the roof leaks and also to keep the cockroaches out of their things.
Simple, reading material: the Australian government has required that English be taught, in all the schools. English has such a different thought pattern than does most of the native languages, the English is very hard to learn and hard to retain if they don’t use it outside of school. So we like to have simple things for them to read to encourage the use of English. First and second grade weekly readers, Sunday school papers, used story books that the kids use like gingerbread man, the three bears, Bible stories, etc. simple strong books, pictures that can be used in the classroom. Bible story pictures, pictures of Christ, animal, pictures, nature, pictures, color, books, used colors, maps of the world or countries, especially of the US, Australia, New Guinea, Germany, Russia, and Indonesia.
Simple games, simple puzzles, used are fine, games that they can learn to count, dominoes, jacks, Chinese checkers, classic, comic books, other comic books, that have good simple English in them, small rubber balls.
The government has been furnishing glasses to all the natives that need them until now. However, they must pay for them now and buy their own glasses. We have a few pastors that need glasses but can’t afford them. We thought it would be interesting to try to have a few good frames sent from the States and see if we can just get the lenses for them. It would cut down the cost to them considerably.
Small plastic containers with covers. I need something to give out pills in. I’ve been using the copies of the Park Region Echo that I am through with. I tear pieces off and wrap the pills in them. I can’t give very many at a time as the pills disintegrate so rapidly from the humidity so if I had small plastic bags or containers, it would be very nice.
Plastic spoons of any size color, or shape for distribution of medicine in the dispensary.
Handkerchiefs, altar clause, and these could be made out of white cloth with colored crosses on them for the different church occasions, something washable and durable like Muslim, denim, or Indianhead, cross bookmarks that can be given for prizes into our pastors and teachers.
Small sheets for examining table and probably make some from old sheets, hand towels for the dispensary -washed.
I would like to try and experiment with mosquito nets for infants. I’d like to encourage mothers to use mosquito nuts for their babies, at least until they’re old enough to shoot the flies out of their eyes and noses and to keep the mosquitoes out at night until the babies are old enough to cope with malaria. They could cut 36” x 48” circles that could be hemmed and a loop in the very middle that could be attached to a string hanging down from the roof. They could also put those over their net bags during the day when they carry their infants to the garden and hang them in a tree. Just six would be enough until I see if they would use them.
Another experiment I would like to try is giving them a piece of soft material the size of receiving blankets for their newborn infants. The infants won’t get sick as often if they had clean cloth to put them in after they are first born instead of some dirty rags. It might give them an incentive to keep them cleaner maybe just a dozen to try.
If some people would have books, they are finished reading, devotional, inspirational, Classics, novel, mysteries, or anything we might enjoy reading, and could place in the mission library. Reading is about the only recreational readily at hand. We have found mailing books isn’t as expensive as some other things.
These are only suggestions, if some of the organizations felt they could help with one or two of them, we would surely appreciate their efforts.
May God spirit go with you in your mission projects.
And gratitude, Ina
One of the many packages that arrived from stateside with supplies Ina had identified as needed from her large network of relatives, friends, churches etc.
1963 March (a copy)
Dear Mrs. Rysdahl,
Jan mentioned in one of your letters that you were interested in some project that would help our mission work in New Guinea. We are seeing all kinds of unrest and dissatisfaction so know that the white missionaries days are limited. We are working very hard on education as these people need good educated leaders to be able to lead their people. Maybe if you could collect any old books in easy English like beginner readers or these little books children have of the three Bears or something similar any colored pictures and magazines or some Sunday school prayers or weekly readers.
Pictures could be anything depicting the newer Old Testament, or pictures of animals, bridges, and some houses and school houses children, people working in fields, farm machinery, but not pictures of baked foods or modern furniture. Pictures to color and crayons are a real hit as children have never seen colors before and really love to color pictures. Used broken colors are fine or anything the children have discarded.
The school rooms are so bare. They don’t have any bright pictures to brighten up the school or know how to appreciate beauty. Pictures of an old-fashioned kitchen, or Indians, Negro, that will become famous or have done something outstanding. They don’t have any heroes to build themselves after.
We really appreciate your interest in our work. The postage is really a problem. Maybe you could inquire at the post office if it is possible to send things by freight rather than through the mail.
We have been all quite well. The children have adapted very well to NG. They really feel this is their home. They run around in little shorts all the time as it is really too hot for any other clothing. I can’t seem to keep shoes on them. It was recommended that we keep shoes on our kids all of the time as hookworm is quite prevalent. I haven’t been able to get them to keep them on and so far we’ve been fortunate, not having any trouble with hookworm. Paula is very much at home, caring her doll in a string bag hanging from her back, or head rather than a doll buggy. Tommy will be two in July. He is a typical boy into everything and on top of everything. He really can get into more mischief in less time than anyone I’ve ever seen.
We are fortunate to have two teachers, one American and one Australian that live 45 minutes from here by boat and 2 1/2 hours when walking, at a girls school.(Bula) They come over nearly every two weeks for Sunday service. We’ve been going through the literguy and having our own English service as we still don’t get an awful lot out of the Jabem services. We found the more we know, the less we understand the people. At first they used to talk very simply, and slowly, now, however, they speak more complexly and faster, so we’re still in the dark most of the time. We really are praying for the day that we can be able to communicate.
I believe Ina is referring to June Prange in the lavender and the other teacher who Alvin identified as Australian but does not remember her name. Coop is in background and staff housing to the left where the path is leading.
1963 March (a copy)
Dear Betty and John, (Al’s sister)
Thanks so much for the pictures of the girls. We enjoyed the pictures of the boys before. Paula is learning to say their names and it is so nice to have faces to go with them. We don’t have any snaps of auntie Betty, or uncle John though. Tommy tries to say everything but does get the names a bit distorted.
Betty and Johns family in 1963
We did get the package from Arlene‘s class and have been very pleased with it. Our kindergartners have no materials to work with at all. We passed out a few books to some of the schools and then they would tear out the pictures so they could go a little further and give everyone a chance to color. The kids just love them. They have never had anything like it before. To have pictures of their very own is quite a highly prized position. Al wants to write a letter to the Sunday school class himself. That is why you haven’t heard anything. Every time it goes through his office no matter what time a day or night people are waiting to talk to him. So far the letter hasn’t gotten written. I keep suggesting that maybe I could write it, but he says no he will which is the best, of course but a letter for me would be better than nothing. He also wants to write the form letters, that is why they haven’t been coming out either. I just can’t get him. Sat down long enough to get him to do it. Maybe soon.
He just returned from a trip into our most undeveloped area, the Buangs. We have been having quite a famine here. Even in the productive area of the Buangs, where they can grow almost every vegetable known, the people are very hard up for food. Al has arranged for Phyllis, our short term teacher, and I and the kids to go with him back into this area in April right after Easter. They have finished a beautiful, long airstrip, so we can fly in instead of walking in like Al has been doing. We will have about a four hour walk after we arrive. I think if all goes well, we will be in there for about two weeks. I will help with the medical work and Phyllis will check the schools and see what they need, they don’t need as much easier.
I’ve been having a little trouble with my house girls. Everyone around here is very hard up for food. We give our girls enough food for one week. They usually have plenty and get fat while working here but yesterday they said all of their food was gone and it was only Thursday. I gave them their rations on Monday. Come to find out they had given their food to some of their village people that had asked for it. They always have to share it with their own people if they have some. Usually their fathers come and get the pay, we give the girls to help with the family at home. While what to do. I feel very sorry for them, but if I gave them more food, there would be no end. They would just hand it out and we would be feeding the whole countryside. Which we wish we could do now, but which would be quite wise. They have been given free medical help and now there is talk of independence and there is no way to support a medical program. Trying to teach these people to prepare for such emergencies, as they will have no other choice after they receive independence. Anyway, my girls ran away. I didn’t say anything to anybody about making them come back but about 6 PM. One of the teacher said he brought one of them back and the other girls father brought her back. The long and short of it is, there isn’t any food in their villages so they couldn’t get any back there anyway. I gave them a big pumpkin that should last them until Monday if they dole it out carefully.
Paula chatters all of the time. I doubt that a waking moment is spent in silence. She reminds me a lot of you, Betty and her actions. She is so neat, always picking things up, and such a memory. I can’t do something different if I’ve done it another way at some other time because she remembers just how I did it. She doesn’t get any of that from her mother unfortunately.
Tommy is quite a jolly little man. He seems to enjoy just about everything almost all the time. He is so fond of books and has one tucked under his arm most of the time. As soon as someone sits down, he is on their lap and wants a story. He looks at all of the pictures and names the objects. What he doesn’t know he asks. “S dat” he will even take a Time magazine and look at it for a long time finding the cars and trucks.
About the only clothes they wear is little short pants, and sometimes shoes and little hats and bonnets. Tom is always so proud of a hat, he gets the smug look on his face and struts around like an emperor. Paula likes to try her rollerskates, but after a few spills, she kind of left them alone, but Tommy keeps right at it. When he sits down, he gets up again and tries it again. They only use it one at a time.
You must have quite a garden. Malalo just isn’t a garden spot. Vegetables just don’t grow here. So the FB I gave their approval of John, I’m glad to see that they are so cautious after all of the spy cases one reads about even in New Guinea– about other parts of the world.
Thank you for your letters, prayers and gifts. It really means a lot to know so many people are concerned about our welfare, and makes us more earnest in our desire to proclaim God‘s love amongst the New Guinea brethren. God‘s blessings to you and yours. We sure miss you all and are looking forward to our return in four years and six months….
