The Spice Islands - Indonesia

Jen was wildly popular with the village children

Why did a province held up as an example of religious and racial tolerance in the worlds most populous Muslim country explode into sectarian violence?  I spent two months in Ambon on a DFAT funded exchange program in the village of Tawiri and in the regional centre - Kota Ambon.  It was a wonderful experience where I met many wonderful people.  Afterwards I travelled solo across Java staying with people I met in the villages.  These pictures record that experience.  More than 10 years later I began to look for answers to what happened in Ambon.  I would welcome insight from anyone else with knowledge of those events.  What can we learn from them?

Brother Herson at church in Indonesia.  I do not know if he survived the violence

Some Muslim friends I made along the way took me to a local volcano

Happier Days