HOLDING ON FOR DEAR LIFE

By: Kathy Mueller
Info & Community Outreach Delegate
Banda Aceh, Indonesia

The title kind of describes how I was feeling for four days, recuperating from whatever nasty little bug I had picked up.

During that time, I did venture out one time, to go to the pharmacy. It was nighttime, and the city was alive. Motorbikes were everywhere, zipping in and out of traffic. Their headlights reminded me of fireflies dancing in the summer air.

Perched on many of these bikes are not one or two riders, but sometimes four, or five. Kids, young kids sitting on their parents lap, their tiny arms wrapped around their guardian’s waist.

But there isn’t any fear on their young faces. These children aren’t hanging on for dear life, like I would be in this Indonesian traffic. The children of Banda Aceh grow up on these bikes. It’s second nature to them, much like riding a bicycle is to many Canadian kids back home.

And although I love being on a motorcycle, the feel of the wind in my face, the feel of freedom, I think while here I will stick to vehicles of the four wheeled kind.