Hand Washing With Soap Day
Health Songs International held its first ever Hand Washing With Soap (HWWS) day on October 8^th 2011 at an Indonesian elementary school.
Our aim was to teach the children of the school the importance of washing hands with soap.  Of course we taught the best way we know how through a song.  We designed the entire program around the lyrics of the song ”Mari Cuci Tangan” which you can find on the HSI website wwwhealthsongs.org

Accelerated Learning
The program for the morning was based on accelerated learning principles combining word game, short dramas, competitions and our song of course.  The range of activities provided lots of opportunities for the children to yell and run,  two things we all know children love to do.  There were also prizes, snacks and Health Songs International certificates for the children who won the colouring competition. 

The Dramas
The 4 dramas told the story of a boy called Rahmat who was very resistant to the idea of washing his hands.  He was looking forward to going to his friend Budi’s birthday party in the weekend.  During the dramas Rahmat shows his lack of concern for hand washing as he eats his lunch without washing his hands, plays goalie for his local soccer team but doesn’t wash his hands before eating and worst of all doesn’t wash his hands after using the toilet.  Well it seems that Rahmat gets sick and by Saturday he is to ill to attend Budi’s birthday party.  The kids loved the dramas and had an opportunity to shout out to Rahmat to wash his hands and not to forget to use soap but of course Rahmat wouldn’t listen to them.

The Game Frame
This is the Game Frame which we created out of PVC piping and nylon cord.  We used this very durable apparatus in several of the games and it offered the opportunity to involve running games with learning the words to the song.  This style of game helps children learn much faster than would be possible through traditional rote methods.

Graffiti
We wanted to leave a lasting reminder of our visit for the children so we invited two graffiti artists to join us for the morning.  They painted two works.  One was a spin on the game "Hopscotch" but using bubbles and bars of soap instead of the traditional boxes.  They also painted a wall with a happy looking boy eating with clean hands and included some of the words from the song.

Saving Lives With A Song
Rob

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This week we want to give a plug for a local business “Venny Music”.  Pak Iwan and Ibu Venny have been long term investors in the local music scene and recently got behind Bambang Dwiatmoko our latest health songs producer.  Venny Music have donated equipment and software to Bambang to enable him to record our songs.  This is a wonderful endorsement of our work here and we are extremely grateful to Venny Music for their support of Health Songs International and the local music community.

Midi Guitar?
Okay guitar purists you’re going to start hating me at this point but please keep in mind that I have only ever owned two guitars in my life. 1. Yamaha FG160 (34 years) and my Matin for just the last 4 years so when Pak Iwan dropped this in my lap I was a bit worried.  That was until I plugged it in and had a play.  Wow so much fun and never needs to be tuned and the neck is detachable so you can carry the whole kit in the bottom of your suitcase.  When you get to the hotel you just plug into to your laptop speakers or headphones and you're in guitar paradise. It has a built in synth for special effects and some very very cool midi backing tracks so you can practice your licks and riffs . For those like myself who want to do Midi recordings but have never learnt to play a keyboard then this is a great option.  I will be checking out a compatible software package soon from Prodipe and hope to offer my review.  If you live locally you can purchase You Rock Guitar and Prodipe software and interfaces from Venny Music http://www.vennymusicindonesia.com/
If you want to know more about You Rock Guitar then just check out their site http://www.yourockguitar.com/

Health Songs
Some time next week we hope to have 2 brand new songs for you.  One of course is the long awaited “Ketika ada gempa besar” or when there is a big earthquake.  This is a translation of the song I recorded in Aceh in 2005 after the December 24^th earthquake and tsunami in Aceh.  The other song is entirely new and is all about how to quit smoking.  I will give you more details as soon as the songs have been released.

Saving Lives With A Song
Rob

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Layang-layang (Kite flying)
Every afternoon during the dry season around 4pm millions of kites take to sky in this part of the world.  Some clever person in the past discovered that if you coat the kite string with fine glass you can cut the line of another kite flyer.  Two things generally happen at this point.
1.  Some kid (or 50 something foreigner) ends up looking very disappointed
2.  A stampede ensues with dozens of children running, eyes focused skyward, laughing and yelling until, usually the tallest of them catches the plummeting kite before it touches the ground.
Kite flying only takes place during the dry season for fairly obvious reasons and sorry ladies, but it seems its only for the boys. 

Fickle winds near the ground
One of the lessons I have learnt from my “vast” kite flying experience is that when the kite’s flying high it’s very boring.  The winds are predictable and stronger than down lower so the kite just hangs up there and hardly moves at all.  However when the kite’s in the process of getting airborne the winds are fickle and unreliable.  The kite seems in peril much of the time and the kite flyer needs to work frantically to keep it aloft.  It twists and shudders, spinning and diving then rising again triumphantly only to hit the doldrums once more appearing to float helplessly towards trees and power lines.  BUT… it sure is exciting  and beautiful to behold.  I feel this little drama is a reflection of life or business or ministry or anything good we work at to get off the ground.  Maybe one day you’ll have “made it to the top” but in the meantime enjoy the fickle winds near the ground.

Introducing Bambang Dwiatmoko
In my last blog I explained how HSI was moving into a new phase.  Last Sunday night Bambang Dwiatmoko, our newest member, recorded the vocal track for our new song “Ketika ada gempa besar” or “When there is a big earthquake”.  (I wrote and recorded this song originally the Acehnese language shortly after the boxing day 2004 tsunami in that region.)   

Bambang is a very capable, very resourceful young man with a vast and diverse background in the music industry.  He is a native Javanese and a good family man with one primary school aged son. 
One of things I think I like mostly about Bambang is that he is a visionary himself and
I will be mentoring Bambang in the process of creating health songs throughout the next 12 months.  Training and equipping young Indonesians is the key to success in this country.  It is also important at this stage to focus on quality at every level.  Quality of research which provides the accuracy of the content and of the song, quality of melody delivering a catchy and memorable tune, quality of recording and editing.  Each aspect of creating a health song presents itself chronologically so it’s not difficult to walk a newcomer through each phase and running a checklists before moving on to the next stage. 

In our next blog we will introduce you to Hunduo from the north of India who has just begun work on our first Hindi health songs about (you guessed it) hand washing .

Saving Livers With A Songs
Rob

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Just Jandels
With a population somewhere in the vicinity of 280 million you wouldn’t be wrong if you imagined that Indonesia might consume a decent number of Jandels every year.  But don’t despair if after unpacking your duffle bag you find you left your favourite pair on the doorstep back home.  There are entire shops dedicated to selling “Just Jandels” (Gonna register that name as a trade mark).  There’s nothing quite like a Just Jandels shop to brighten up those grey old monsoon days.  Yes those are pineapple jandels.

Visas.  Oh dear!
Well it looks as if we have found a sponsor for our visa however the process of acquiring the necessary documentation to get the process started took much longer than we had expected.  This has caused a few problems for us and we are hoping that we do not have to spend any extra time out of the country waiting for the documentation to be released from Jakarta.  Being a refugee in Singapore can be a very costly experience and one we are trying to avoid.  We have a some good friends there who are trying to help us out.

Latest song in process. (When there is an earthquake)
Shortly after the Boxing day 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Aceh I wrote a song in the Acehnese language entitled “Wate na geumpa rayeuk” or when there is a big earthquake.  This week I finished translating it into Bahasa Indonesia and I have just finished creating a new back track and guide track for the song.  Follow this link if you'd like a preview.
http://healthsongs.org/node/94.
The guide track is recording which has my voice on it and acts as a guide for the singers learning the song.  I am hoping that those 6 little girls who recorded “Mari Cuci Tangan” will be keen to help so sit tight and look out for this song which is now called “Ketika ada gempa besar”. 

Strategy to help us go forward.
These last few weeks have been a bit tumultuous for us but it’s also been a good time just to sit and listen.  I guess as I am getting older I am beginning to understand even more that time is truly limited and so not to be wasted on doing the wrong thing.  We want to do the right thing at the right time in the right way and for that we are truly depending on God to provide the answers.  Bear with us, we know that Health Songs International is going to make a significant impact on the lives of so many and you are part of it.

Saving Lives With A Songs
Rob  

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Monsoon Asia
Monsoon season in Indonesia is well and truly underway. Most mornings in our neighbourhood start cool at around 23 degrees celcius with little or no wind and the sun peeking through the bamboo grove at the back of our house.  By 11am humidity levels have risen, dark clouds begin to gather and the sound of approaching thunder can be heard like some rumbling giant.  Then the heavens open.  Diving from the front door to the car without an umbrella is like taking a quick bath.  Still if you want to see a part of the real Asia don’t avoid coming during the rainy season, just bring your brolly.

A Powerful Time
Last week our family visited Singapore, the only air conditioned island on the planet.  It was a great time to catch up with some old friends and meet some cyber acquaintances.  (Friends you've only met online). 
During our stay Sandra and I spent some time with our friend and mentor Andrew Wilson who is also one of HSI’s directors.  Andrew challenged us to think in ways that we hadn’t thought before.  He challenged us to “Think Big” and to plan for success.  One thing became very clear to us and that is that if I continue to focus most of my energies on songwriting then HSI growth will be limited. 

Changing Habits
Andrew also challenged me to begin reading and following the instructions in a book called “The Greatest Salesman in the World” by Og Mandino.  It tells us that we are all slaves to habits and if we’re going to be slaves to habits then we should be slaves to good habits.  Fortunately Mr Og also offers a remedy for exchanging bad habits for good one.

Visas
It looks as we will be extending our study visas for a period of time as other visa options haven't born much fruit to this point.  We will be searching for a new sponsor so that we can make HSI grow in Indonesia and help to improve the lives of the most vulnerable here.

Saving Lives With A Song
Rob

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Borobudur
No visit to Indonesia would be complete without a half day trip to the spectacular Borobudur. Borobudur is a 19^th century Mahayana Buddhist monument near Magelang, Central Java.  The monument comprises six square platforms topped with three circular platforms, and is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues.  A main dome, located at the centre of the top platform is surrounded by 72 buddha statues seated inside perforated stupa. A tip for newcomers, don't visit on a public holiday.  This is the most visited tourist attraction in a country of some 270 million. 

Special visitors
Last month we had some very special visitors from Singapore, Steven and Lilian Loh.  The Lohs have been long time friends of mine and have always shown an interest in my antics.  One morning I felt prompted to ask them if they would consider becoming advocates for HSI in Singapore.  Before I knew it they had purchased tickets on Air Asia and spent a week with us discussing our various needs.  We were flabbergasted even more recently when they contacted us and offered to pay for us to come to Singapore to meet other folk that had an interest in HSI.  What has impressed me so very much is the way the Lohs have adopted to 2 ladies of the household and their needs also.  Where would we be without our friends?

Here’s a little gift that the Lohs brought over for me.  
It's a Mandolin and something that I have wanted for many years.  I'm getting some pretty cool sounds out of it and hope to use it in some of my own personal recordings

Visas and a place to set up shop
We’re presently engaged in house hunting (our tenure in this current house will run out in 3 months) as well as searching for a suitable visa.  This has largely come down to finding the right kind of organization who would be willing to help promote HSI goals in Indonesia in exchange for songs to support their own work.  I am presently in negotiations with a TV production company here and I hope soon to be able to bring you some good and exciting news.  Hold tight!!

Saving Lives With A Song
Rob

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Posted January 6th 2011
At Home On The Sea
Chances are if you live in or visit Indonesia it is likely you will have the opportunity to travel to some island or another.  I say “likely” as Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world.  I have heard the number of islands vary from 13,000 to 17,500.  Sometimes however the islands don’t quite seem to be in just the right place and so enterprising fishermen often erect fishing platforms.  Location is everything.  Some are even equipped with generators allowing TV sets and electric lighting though most are fairly sober affairs with a place to sleep and eat and play cards until the rain settles.

Preventing The Spread Of Flu
Last night I went to a local recording studio and recorded the vocal tracks for HSI,s latest release “Mencegah Penyebaran Flu” or preventing the spread of flu.  Actually I understand that slowing down the spread of flu is vital to avoiding a pandemic.  I used the same text as I used in the English version merely translated into Bahasa Indonesia however the style is very different.  I thought I’d have a go at trying a rock style and aiming at a youth audience. So finally the long promised flu song has been released.  Follow the link and tell me what you think.  http://healthsongs.org/id/store

No Friends Like Old Friends
Recently I was prompted to ask a couple of longtime friends of mine Stephen and Lilian Loh if they would consider helping us raise HSI’s profile in Singapore.  They got so excited they made a luncheon date with our Singapore Director Andrew Wilson to discuss HSI and also decided to come and visit us here.  They will be arriving in several weeks and we can’t wait.

Disaster Preparedness Song
My daughter and I have started working on a new song about disaster preparedness.  This is a very important song for Indonesia as most will be aware with recent catastropihies such as the eruption of Mt Merapi, a devastating flash flood in West Papua and a tsunami in Mentawi. We will be meeting with some experts in disaster recovery to help us with our lyrics.  We'll keep you posted.

Saving Lives With A Song
Rob

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Ever Feel Like Could Use a Little Assistance?
In the cool morning light I guess I could be forgiven for thinking that someone had dropped a towel on the floor leading into my office.  As I bent down to pick it up I noticed it had several pairs of rather annoyed looking eyes glaring back at me.  I lept back in surprise (great fear) as I realised I had stumbled across an early morning “Duel to the death”.  Not the first time since arriving.  These very large ghekos known here by the onamatpaec name “Toké” (They make a tremendous noise) are usually very timid and it is rare to get such a close view.  I could have caught them both but might have lost my arm in the process.  Some traditions have considered them ancestors and must not be disturbed whereas others have made medicine from them for all manner of maladies.  We have about 8 of these critters in and around our house.  Anyway I did intervene and break up the fight though I think neither of the Toké will thank me for it.

Stephen Price
Speaking of helping others out of a sticky spot, let me tell you a little about one of the people who has been a tremendous help to HSI since its inception.
Stephen Price has been a good friend of mine for over 10 years now and in that time he has sorted out just about every technical issue I have ever had.  “Steve” as he is known to his friends seems to be able to fix things in seconds that would take the layperson months to sort through.  Steve heads up an IT company called WebHQ.  One of the coolest things ever is that even though Steve is in NZ and I’m all the way out here, he can still work on my PC through remote access.
I think the thing that I admire most about Steve though is his genuine interest and his sense of personal investment in my work that is evident in everything he does.  HSI is extremely privileged to be have Steve on the team.  If you need Steve's help just click on the following logo:

Preventing The Spread of Flu
Keep an eye over the next few weeks as we finish off the recording and editing of HSI’s latest song which is about preventing the spread of flu.

Saving Lives With A Song
Rob

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WAY (Wawan, Andi and Yudi) Studio
As promised, this week I’d like to introduce you to three young men with a BIG and beautiful dream namely: “To become the best fully digital recording studio in the district”.   From left to right, Wawan, Andi and Yudi make up the team at WAY Studio.  These young guys have huge hearts and a great vision.  There is quite a bit of competition for them but they are working very hard to achieve their goal.
With only very basic equipment, some free download programs and a reasonably quiet recording room they are helping many young musicians and performers around town realise their own dreams.  They have adopted a very simple principle to help them achieve notoriety:  Everyone leaving WAY Studio must be wearing a memento of their time recording, “A smile”.  The boys all agree that if they can help other achieve their dreams then theirs will also be realised.  I think what I like most about Wawan, Andi and Yudi is that while they do not have a lot of money to go out and buy the best equipment they are able to innovate and adapt whatever they can find to meet their needs. 

I meet with the boys once a week at WAY Studio and have been teaching principles of recording and mixing as well as how to write up a recording schedule, set and achieve goals, market their service on a tiny budget, work with musicians and how to manage time and take care of each other.  For me I see sowing into the local community as vital to the success of HSI.  It’s all about building relationships.

Helping those Affected by Merapi
With the very generous help of Hornby Presbyterian Community Church(HPCC) in Christchurch New Zealand, HSI was able to help send in clean drinking water to a number of badly effected villages to the south of the fire mountain (Gunung Merapi means fire mountain).  So far we have been able to send 250,000 litres of water.  Most of the refugees have left the camps now and have returned to their villages and are trying to piece together their lives as best they can with any help they can get from outside.  Crops have been destroyed along with live stock in many cases so the inhabitants of these villages will be dependent on outsiders for some time to come.  As most of the water has been contaminated due to toxic deposits from the mountain this precoius commodity is truelly the water of life.  It looks as if the good folk of HPCC have continued to raised more funds enough now to send in around 1 million litres.  HSI will continue to coordinate with a local NGO called Obor Berkat Indonesia (OBI) http://www.obi.or.id/

Technical Issues and Productivity
I am still wading through quite a number of technical issues related to my new laptop.  Mostly the issues seem to be related to the new Windows 7 operating system for those of you in the know with computer talk.  My dear friend Steve Price has been a tower of strength and patience through this time.  For me personally I have struggled a bit with the inability to produce at the level that satisfies me.  I like to feel like I’m doing what I came to do, that is produce numerous songs about these vital health messages.  So this “down time” coupled with my current and compulsory 5 hours of language study a day have slowed things down considerably recently.  Well the good news is that I will complete my language study in 2 weeks time and that should hopefully coincide with having ironed out the last of the technical glitches.  Let’s look forward to a productive second 6 months.

Next week I want to introduce you to my good friend Steve Price my IT guy and to Reason MIDI software which I use to make HSI backing tracks.

Saving Lives With A Song
Rob

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Mt Merapi Indonesia                                                                                                                               
I guess it would be true to say that none of us really give much thought to disasters until we happen to be parked right besides one or even in the midst of one.  Our home town of Christchurch recently experienced the activity of a previously unknown fault lying beneath the city causing a destructive earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale .  Whilst we were very concerned for the friends we had left behind we also considered ourselves most fortunate to have escaped the trauma of the whole ordial.  Then HALLO, what’s this?  Seems catastrophy is never really too far away these days.  Mt Merapi started to show signs of a new eruption in early October and one morning this is what we awoke to.
Health Songs International has had the great privelege of being able to visit a refugee camp with some very much needed supplies.  At this stage it looks as if many of the 360,000 displaced people will have to stay put for some time as Merapi is showing no signs of abating.

Back In Action
For around 6 weeks now I have been without my own personal laptop and have had to try to work in with my wife and daughter’s communication needs.  All the time I’ve been wading through a virtual river of technical informations in an effort to determine the laptop that best meets my needs and won’t become outdated too quickly.  So the new Dell Studio XPS is ready for business.  I am now looking around for some reasonably priced studio speakers so I won’t ruin the remainder of my hearing with headphones.

WAY
Wawan, Andi and Yudi
Stay tuned.  Next week I'll be telling all about 3 young men with a burning passion in their hearst to build up there own recording company.
Catch you then

Saving Lives With A Song
Rob

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