Alumnus Spends Winter Vacation Serving Tsunami Victims in Indonesia
Biola alum, Ira Lippke ('98) was volunteering for a few weeks at a Bali orphanage in the city of Kuta with his brother, Samuel Lippke, and their friend Scott McAlvany when the tsunami struck on Dec. 26.
Fortunately, Bali was spared by the tsunami, but after hearing reports of widespread destruction and countless deaths, the three men felt called to assist the thousands of people suffering in other parts of Indonesia. Within two days they gathered supplies and flew to Banda Aceh to volunteer at a hospital.
"We just looked at each other and we just said, 'We need to go,'" said Ira Lippke in an ABC News broadcast. "We put all of our money together and we bought about $500 worth of medicine and filled up two big duffel bags full of medicine, and we bought plane tickets."
Although they had no medical training, the three men showed up at a hospital and spent a week caring for the patients. Working 16-hour days along-side hospital doctors and nurses and other volunteers, the men found themselves amputating limbs and handing out antibiotics to the patients in need.
The men left Banda Aceh on Sunday, Jan. 3 after local rebels threatened the relief workers, and they returned to the Bali orphanage to continue their volunteer work.
For more stories about Ira Lippke: Long Beach Brothers Rush to Aid Tsunami Victims and Fear Sends L.B. Brothers Away
Photo courtesy of Voice of America News