Singapore

Leaving Brisbane there were four of us in the group - Suzie, Nathan, Brendan and myself. None of us were strongly affiliated to the organisations who we were going across to Indonesia with. The three organisations behind our trip were ARMS, Partners and Oaktree, of these, Partners were really the main driving force. All of us discussed what we could expect ahead of us. There was a chance we would not be doing anything medical. We might just be going in and lending a hand in whatever way was most needed. If that meant putting bodies in bags, that's what we would do.

We had to change planes in Singapore, and here we would meet up with some more Australians, the ARMS branch of the group. The details of precisely who was present at that meeting are a little blurry, but my feeling is that it was Kathy and David. From there we hopped onto a plane to Medan.

Now if it seems that this all happened very quickly, it did. Such was the quickness, that a precise plan had not been worked out. For instance, we did not have any accommodation planned in Medan. Our general plan when we got there was to find accommodation, and then begin gathering supplies for what we would need, and to meet the rest of the team (more Australians and some americans).