Bali bomb survivor resumed his OE

By MONIQUE DEVEREUX and NZPA

After helping people to escape the burning Sari Club and then searching night and day for a missing friend, Mark Skridulaitis boarded a flight to have his own burns treated in Singapore.

The Wellingtonian had just left New Zealand heading to London for his OE. Bali was his first stop, and he was determined not to make it his last.

Stories such as these will resonate tomorrow at services on the first anniversary of the terrorist bombing that killed more than 200 people, including three New Zealanders and 88 Australians.

The Government is helping about 75 people travel to commemorations in Bali and a further 10 to a service in Wellington.

Mr Skridulaitis told his mother, Maureen, that despite the bombing, if he came home, he might not be able to leave again.

"He wanted to get on with it and do his OE."

For his mother at home watching television footage from Bali, it was extremely difficult.

"He did call in the middle of the night to tell me he was okay, but it's not the same as seeing it for yourself, just so you really know they're okay."

Ten months passed before Mrs Skridulaitis saw her son. She flew to London, where Mark, 28, is working as an IT contractor.

After the bombing he spent two nights in hospital in Singapore before heading to England.

He was burned on his face, hands and legs but is now left with just mild scarring on his hands. His hearing is still damaged but he hopes that will also heal.

Although Mrs Skridulaitis lives in Wellington, she will not be at the Government's commemoration of the tragedy tomorrow.

"That [seeing Mark] was really my closure. It was such a terrible, terrible time. I just don't want to be reminded of it any more."

But for Auckland nurse Julia West, getting back to Bali as often as possible is a priority.

She is one of the founders of the Bali Health Trust, set up in 2001 to raise money for the Balinese people. The idea grew from holidays spent on the Indonesian island and seeing the Third-World conditions endured by people in outlying villages.

After the bombing, Ms West and two other Auckland nurses headed to Bali stocked with medical supplies. They treated the injured Balinese in their homes.

Ms West has just returned from eight weeks in Bali catching up with some of those patients.

The island was suffering, she said. Hundreds of businesses in the capital, Denpasar, had closed, leaving thousands jobless.

The passage of time has not eased the strain for Whangamata woman Judy Wellington, who lost her son Jamie in the bombings.

Two weeks later, she was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer.

Although she is recovering, Mrs Wellington has decided against travelling to Bali for the anniversary. She will attend the Wellington service with her two other sons, aged 18 and 33.

The Balinese believe in reincarnation so they do not mark anniversaries of death, but the Sari site has been planted in trees and a plaque beside Paddy's Bar remembers the dead and injured.


Herald Feature: Bali bomb blast