This is a “sea-story” about my visit to Indonesia.
When I was stationed in Yokosuka, Japan, I was a crewmember of the USS Vandegrift.
At the
beginning of April 2005, I was nominated by the captain, to assist the
sailors onboard the USNS Mercy.
The Mercy was near
a small Indonesian island, Nias, which was devastated by a tsunami and an
earthquake. She was one of the vessels called during Operation Unified
Assistance and worked, offshore, since January (Smith, 2005).
After receiving my temporary orders, I quickly packed and
was driven to Narita Airport. Two jets and a helicopter trip later, I was on
the Mercy. Besides having a dinner
conversation with a female NCIS agent, teaching a civilian nurse to salsa and
getting my picture taken by a US Navy media-representative, my first twenty
days were uneventful. I confess that was getting grumpy. So, when my supervisor
asked for volunteers for a Nias boarding-party, I quickly signed up.
Our group was transported by a USS Jackson helicopter. Once on Nias, we were greeted by three male
translators. The young men told us that Indonesians enjoy smiling, even to
strangers, and consider not smiling in return to be rude. In addition, the
translators said that Indonesians are extremely friendly to visitors. After a
brief tour, the boarding party broke up into smaller groups. I stayed with one
translator, sitting on a park bench. In the middle of our conversation, an
8-year-old girl sat on my lap! She smiled at me, showing her missing front
teeth. Being polite, I beamed back. Then, the girl took off my ship-ballcap and
grabbed my hair with both hands. She said a phrase that I did not understand,
so I turned to the translator. The interpreter stated that she liked
African Americans with curly hair and asked for an autograph. While the young
admirer was messing up my hairstyle, I scribbled my signature, my rank and
“United States Navy” on her notebook.
Reference
Smith, J. (2005, June 17). Operation Unified Assistance:
Sailors reflect on historic mission of mercy. https://www.cpf.navy.mil/subsite/tsunami_relief/tsunami_relief.htm
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