These people live on the sea and yet, often don’t have enough to eat.

1962, May 9 to Willa

Letter written by Ina Erickson from the Malalo Mission station to Martin and Willa Tonn, 10316 Grand Ave, Minneapolis 20, Minnesota, USA

Dear Willa, Martin and family.

Thank you for your letter, we look so forward to hearing from you. Thank you for sending the films. We hope to quickly film our surroundings and get them back to you. Sharon said that she has a projector now. I hope you both have a happy birthday. I’m sorry it’s such a late wish but I guess it’s better late than never.

Tommy is progressing slowly but surely with his walking. He can stand by himself and take a few steps between us. He can walk right along if I hold on to one of his hands. He starting calling me Ina now. He will  bang and bang at the door to get in and holler ‘Ina, Ina, Ina‘ until someone opens it or he’ll stand beside me at the table and yell ‘Ina, Ina, Ina’ when he wants up. He’s been having a bad rash in his groin so I have been letting him run around without his pants on. One day he was BM from head to toe so I plunked him into the bathtub and turned on the cold water. He screamed hot, hot, hot much to my surprise. He wants ‘ut’ all the time.

Boy, Jennifer must be really getting to be a young lady and an artist too. I laughed over the ‘Debble’. Paula  only knows pysa when she sees a picture up Jesus. She rattles a mile a minute in her gibbles with a few coherent words but not too many. Paula has had a fever for 3 days, a runny nose and a cough. I’ve been looking for measles which are real prevalent here. Her two year molars are so big and red and she is drooling like mad. She acted like this at Grand Forks with her first molars so maybe that’s it. Her lungs are clear, so I’m sure it will pass.

We had a really big weekend. A family of 5 spent the weekend here. He was taking blood samples from our cows. Then the teacher from Bula, Barbara (probably Barbara Ida Moore) came to the plantation. The family had 3 kids- one year, 2 and a half, and 3 and a half. So Paula and Tommy were quite awed as they watched them play. My, they are terrors, nothing went uninvestigated. Both Paula and Tommy got so they would play with them before they left.

Peter and Evelyn Beck and family from the sawmill and teachers from the Bula girls school.

Alvin has been busy visiting villages and giving communion and trying to keep the saw mill going.

He is trying to start a fishing market. These people live on the sea and yet, often don’t have enough to eat. He’s asked some of the Sunday school that want project money for a huge fishnet. The sawmill that the congregation owns has a boat, the Kuli, that pulls logs to the sawmill and is not busy all of the time. They could use the boat for fishing. Then they could smoke the fish. They have an abundance of hardwood, sawdust and coconut husks all of which are good for smoking. All the people that have native help, buy the fish in cans from Japan. They could instead buy the smoked fish from the local natives and get their own industry going. Our school boys and girls need a source of income to buy food while they are at school. He has several places in Lae inquiring about commercial fishnet so we can find out the exact price. Alvin hoped the locals would be able to sell enough to pay for the net and eventually themselves and have a kitty for replacement. Pray for our guidance in helping these people become self-supporting and not dependent on the mission and government for their livelihood. I’m sure their future under Indonesia is slavery so they have to be able to govern themselves. I’m sure when they get western New Guinea they  will demand Eastern New Guinea as well.

Kuli foreground and a tourist boat in background at Malalo. The poles in the water are marking the location of a future dock.

The other day,  I was trying to explain what a Shepherd was and was telling them a Shepherd was a man that watched the sheep. Then I was trying to find out if they understood and they said Wang instead of the word for the sheep. Wang means ship. I hadn’t realized what a little difference there was.

We surely miss you both, -well, all 5 of you, I should say. Say Martin, how about a game of West. No one knows how to play it out here.

God’s blessing Al Ina, Paula and Tom

Martin Boarner, caretaker at the Bula Girls school. Behind him are the side steps House girls, Ongunow, behind his right arm holding Kristin, Paula to his left. Presumably a short-term teacher at Bula, June Prange? behind Paula.

The natives were able to catch fish but it took lots of skill and athletic ability to canoe out to sea and catch them using a line. They had no nets or any way of catching them in bigger quantities. The man on left may have been from Lababia.

‘I just hope that it will be alright until we get him to the hospital on Saturday. Such is life here at Malalo.’

1962 May 9

Letter written by Ina Erickson from the Malalo Mission station to Beryl and Bruce 2314 So 7th St. Minneapolis 6, Minnesota, USA

Dear Beryl and Bruce,

Just to think only a month and you will have been married for a year. I hope it hasn’t been too rough. Happy anniversary.

I just finished a letter to Willa stating that Paula has had a temperature, cough and runny nose and then I was watching for measles but she didn’t break out yet. Well this afternoon, the rash has started to come on both of them. Tommy doesn’t have a cold or temp but he is breaking out. Tommy used to cry when Paula would shout at him if he did something she didn’t like but now he jabbers as loud as he can. Thank you so much for the darling little records and the books. Oh how the kids devour them. You really had such a nice selection. Our native pastors who have known English but have forgotten it sat down and try to read them -a very good refresher.

The night before last a baby fell off the bench on its head and would not stop crying. They were afraid it was really hurt badly. Its eyes were both the same size and it wasn't vomiting or drowsy so I sent them home again and told him to come back if anything happened. Today the baby was real fine. Thank God.

Then before we finish up supper one of the teachers brought this little girl Paula’s age up. She had dumped a kettle boiling water on her leg. It looks like second or third degree burns on her bottom and one leg. We dumped her into cold water right away and then bandaged her with gauze and Vaseline. We’ve been giving her penicillin so she doesn’t get infection. So for now there is no sign of infection. I hope on Saturday that we can get her out to the hospital. She still eats and drinks well so her hydration is good.

Then yesterday a little boy came up with a hernia. His intestines had ruptured down into his scrotum. I couldn’t get it back. He still has bowel sounds and his passing flatulence so I know that it isn’t obstructed yet. I just hope that it will be alright until we get him to the hospital on Saturday. Such is life here at Malalo.

Thank you so much for the names and addresses of the people for ordering supplies. I hope I can get a little more equipment.  The church is going to build a permanent dispensary so maybe we can boil syringes and a few things down there. Now they bring everything up here to the house and if it’s raining it is a little inconvenient. The only thing we have to do for our  ‘check obstetrics’ is to check the conjunctivitis of the eye to see if they have enough iron in if they have no pain or complaints, we send them on their way. I hope soon to have a better prenatal clinic and maybe a ‘ well baby’ clinic. So many of the babies here have pneumonia because the mothers don’t keep them out of the wind when they have malaria and diarrhea from not washing their hands. It will take a long time because I’ll have to learn the language before much can be done, then a native or 2 but maybe someday.

I hope you are both well and that Bruce’s hand healed without so much trouble. I sure hate to think I won’t see your baby for so long. You’ll have to send pictures. By the way, I did send some pictures to mom. I had taken 2 more rolls that didn’t turn out. I think that they might have been too old or something. I was so disappointed.

Believe it or not Paula has started to tell me when she has to go potty. She doesn’t all the time but it is so encouraging to have her tell me at least some of the time. Tommy got ahold of the letter I just wrote to Willa and tore it down the middle[1]. I’m going to send it anyway as I don’t know when I’ll get another one written and hope it gets there in one piece. For about a month now, we haven’t had any earthquakes. I keep thinking it’s about time for another one. We have been so lucky not to have any damage. The Scherle’s had the refrigerator go through the wall for them. Most of their good dishes were broken. I am glad I don’t have any good dishes to get broken.

Our equipment isn't electric and we could only play them when we have electricity in the evening. It runs on batteries. I got them going the day before Alvin got back. The cows had knocked down the arial and I found a place in the radio where we could use flashlight batteries as well as the big batteries. When I put new batteries into it, it work.  Don’t you think I’m a good mechanic? Don’t answer that.

Will you be able to keep your apartment for the summer and have Bruce commute? I enjoyed being able to stay at home after I put work when I was pregnant with Paula. You sound like you’re getting more done than I did. Just getting my housework done, was a chore after work, say nothing of getting any sewing done. Say, I think I left some crib sheets home in the trunk under the closet with the rest of my linens that you are welcome to use.

Paula’s breaking out did not amount to much so I don’t know what she has. She’s much better today and her temperature is down, but she still has a cough. When we get to Lae next time I’m going to send you a string bag that you can put your baby in. Paula and Tommy love to swing in them they feel so secure with something holding them on all sides. You can just hang it on the door knob or from a hook in the ceiling and swing them. Tommy goes right to sleep in it. The natives carry them around on their heads for going up and down hill with the kids. They sure are a clear thing to use for that. You have to put a towel or receiving blanket in the bottom. We love hearing from you and miss you both.

God’s blessing Al Ina, Paula and Tom

[1] I have that letter and it was taped up. It is the one up top this page.

1962 May 13 to Estelle

Letter written by Ina Erickson from the Malalo Mission station to Durward and Estelle Titus Box 224 Route1, Carlos MN USA 

Dear mom and dad,

Thank you for your faithful letters. I was so disappointed when I didn’t get a letter yesterday from you. We usually get our mail once a week on Saturdays unless the Victor has had to make a special trip to Lae. Today it did have to make a special trip and it brought a letter from you.

I thought maybe I’d better send a note along as it has to make another trip tonight. I found out we probably won’t be able to get mail out for 2 weeks as our boat will be going to Lae every other week now instead of every week. As the rainy season sets in, the seas get harder to travel on.  Just as the Victor got back from Lae today, from taking some sick people into the boat which takes them to the Mission Hospital, a man came up saying that his brother was all filled up with fluid and was constipated and had a big lump in his abdomen. It’s an hour’s walk down the Hill to the coast and the kids have such a bird when I go anywhere, that Al would rather go then take care of the kids. We will have to send the Victor to Lae again as the boat doesn’t leave for the hospital until tomorrow.

View from top of Malalo hill where can see a small portion of path on the right used to climb the 500ft hill.

The little girl that burned her leg so badly that I wrote about before is not going to the hospital her mother says that she gets very sick on the boat and won’t be able to take care of her we could give her Dramamine but no dice. I hope we can treat her here alright. How to keep her from getting infection… I sure don’t know… Their decision and we told him we couldn’t promise how well it would heal. I do not know she’ll need skin grafts later or not.

I told Beryl and Willa that Paula had a temperature. The temperature is gone but she still coughs. Tommy has it now. They are so crabby, I’m sure glad they don’t get sick more often. Alvin will be leaving in the morning for a trip down the coast. It should take him about a week. He hopes to get a little fishing done with some of the people but I really think it is wishful thinking.

I got a letter from Dorothy (Ina’s aunt) saying that she would like to take Laura’s kids. I think it would be good for her to try caring for them. It would be good for both of them. And they surely need some love. I think we could make an orphanage just for our relatives. Carol and Bonnie, Michael, Rose, Cheryl and Larry and now the Muggs kids. Maybe you could use some of your tithe money help support them. It’s too bad people who can’t be responsible and get married and have kids. I guess that’s the world we live in.

I have not heard a word from Bette. I keep wondering how everything is going for her. Is she happy with her folks? How is Lisa? What a surprise that Lainny have such a good time away from her family. Guess our little God-child is growing up. I hate to miss so much of their growing up here. Little Mickey sounds so big too. Jennifer must really talk a lot.

I was a naughty girl and stayed home from church. The kids were coughing so much and Tommy was running a temperature. I felt it unwise to expose them to anything else until they get better. How was your trip to the cities with the kids? I remember taking a trip with pastor Jensen to see tell Martin Luther film. It was quite an exciting trip and nobody got lost. We were in the confirmation class so must have been in eighth or ninth grade.

Beryl and Bruce sent box whole box of little books. New ones at that. I thought if you could find some used one’s they would be fine. Oh -how the kids love them. I read stories to my house girls and they love them. They try to read them for themselves. We have a teacher in one of the villages below us (Buakup) that is working real hard to improve his English. He comes up and writes to little stories about how pictures in a book that he is teaching his class. Then he will ask some questions. Had some very good statements and questions. I am so happy to see this initiative. People here lack any drive or push any foresite.

When the wood is gone then my house girls will come and say the wood is gone instead of telling me when it is low. I just have to check on everything. We’re learning you never take anything for granted. Just because I’ve shown them how to do something 10 times doesn’t mean that they will do it that way when I asked him to do something. I get so exasperated. Like cleaning. They won’t move furniture unless I’m there to make the move it. Sounds like when we would scrub at home doesn’t it mom? If there was a choice between gadgets to get your work done in native help I’d sure take the gadgets. I just mean we have to work real hard to teach them responsibility. They have very little discipline while growing up especially with boys. As long as the mission hospital will take care of them why work? It is so hard not to just give, but to help them help themselves. To mature. Even if they don’t want to, the have to for survival in this world of ours. Even if they don’t want to govern themselves, they will be slaves to some bigger power. Indonesia, if they get the Western New Guinea will want this half also. You just have to wonder what’s going to happen to them.

Oh- how desperately Christ is needed throughout the whole world. The things people have to live through is so sickening. I’ve been reading about the communist rule in Tibet. The torture they didn’t think of isn’t worth mentioning.

What a different world we would have if Christ could work through each question. That is a means to an end not an end in itself. I should be saying I guess that we should laud and glorify his Name.

I sure hope you’re feeling better- dad. How nice to have a little time off. Happy Mothers day, mother. I completely forgot about it until one of my classmates from Fairview wished me Happy Mothers Day in a letter yesterday. I wish another happy birthday to make up for it. I got about 5 Echoes (Alexandria Newspaper) yesterday that I’m saving to read while Al is gone. I’m really surprised how fast the time goes and how busy I keep so I don’t really get too lonesome. I’ll have to see if I can’t get somebody to run down to the boat with this letter quickly before at leaves.

Love Ina