Canadian charity lends helping hand in Solor<\/p>\n
By Maria Kegel<\/p>\n
VANCOUVER (JP): Miracles do happen and one place they have is
\non the remote island of Solor in East Flores.<\/p>\n
When a devastating drought destroyed 98 percent of farmers'
\ncrops and threatened the lives of 13 feuding communities two
\nyears ago, the locals overcame their differences and formed an
\ninnovative community cooperative to help one another through the
\nfood crisis.<\/p>\n
A handful of volunteers from two non-governmental
\norganizations (NGOs) who witnessed the locals' fierce
\ndetermination to solve their problems by working together were
\ninspired to bring the story home with them and to continue
\nfurther aid.<\/p>\n
And at a small restaurant some 10,000 kilometers away in
\nVancouver, Canada, those volunteers, grouped as the inVolVe
\nnetwork, gathered to host a fund-raising event called Footwork
\nAgainst Famine to aid the miracle on Solor.<\/p>\n
Close to 100 people from the Indonesian community here as well
\nas Canadians who have lived in Indonesia packed the Tak Sangka
\nrestaurant last week to enjoy a buffet dinner and an array of
\nentertainment in support of the effort to help the people of
\nSolor help themselves.<\/p>\n
More than C$2,200 was raised from the sold-out event as well
\nas from additional donations made at the end of the night.<\/p>\n
This is not the first event to raise money for the cooperative
\non Solor. The volunteer network also organized six Vancouver
\nrestaurants to donate a percentage of the dinners served on Oct.
\n4, 2000, and collected further donations from more than 200
\ndiners. They raised C$4,000.<\/p>\n
Through this year's dinner, one of the coordinators, Jerome
\nCheung, said he wanted to mobilize the Indonesian community here
\nmore.<\/p>\n
\"We had lots of Canadians turn out for the first dinner. But
\nthis time, we wanted more of the Indonesian-Canadian community to
\nbe a part of it,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Cheung now heads the inVolVe network, the Vancouver-based
\ngroup of people who have been touched by Indonesia through their
\nvolunteer experience, travel or family ties.<\/p>\n
The group comprises eight to 11 volunteers, seven of whom are
\nactive, while the others give their time during events.<\/p>\n
\"My vision is to have people who have been to Indonesia, or
\nare from there, to be involved in the network here in Canada and
\nwho can send back money. I'm hoping for $15,000 to $20,000 a year
\n-- that would be good.\"<\/p>\n
Since the donations are channeled through USC Canada, an NGO
\nsupporting the community program activities in Solor, the
\nadministration fees are omitted, maximizing the amount that
\nreaches the communities. The Canadian International Development
\nAgency (CIDA) has also pledged to match all public donations,
\nsometimes up to three times the amount.<\/p>\n
\"Fund-raising is all about telling a story. The most effective
\nfund-raising is done by people who have witnessed the activities.
\nAnd so the volunteers are like the witnesses, who have gone to
\nSolor, lived in huts and slept on dirt floors. And this is a
\nface-to-face event with the young volunteers who were inspired
\nwith what they saw and did, and want to give a helping hand,\"
\nCheung said.<\/p>\n
\"I first went there in 1995 when the Canadian World Youth
\nprogram started a partnership with USC, which had a water project
\nthere. I then returned as a volunteer to USC's office in
\nYogyakarta and had opportunities to return each year to Solor as
\nI knew the community really well. The Canadian World Youth
\nprogram continued to send people there and soon 30 Canadians
\nended up living there, and USC is the link to the island.\"<\/p>\n
The projects helped communities build their own water systems
\nwhich they could manage, and together with a USC field officer,
\nthey developed a plan to help each other through the food crisis.<\/p>\n
With the emergency food assistance, the 13 communities set up
\nthe Gelekat Lewo (caring for our village) Cooperative.<\/p>\n
Now in its second year, the cooperative is providing farmers
\nof villages on Solor with fair commodities trading, bulk-food
\npurchasing, a new microcredit program and access to a living seed
\nbank, where traditional crop species are conserved and
\ndistributed. The bank also allows members to acquire seeds during
\ncrises when their seed stocks are depleted.<\/p>\n
But the cooperative is still struggling under the impact of
\nthe continuing financial crisis, which is paralyzing the
\narchipelago's economy.<\/p>\n
\"The community is very poor and isolated, and no one really
\ngoes there except 30 crazy Canadians,\" Cheung said referring to
\nthe Canada World Youth volunteers.<\/p>\n
\"But (by going there) it's changed our lives. And despite the
\npeople's poverty, they believe they can change things and help
\nthemselves.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/canadian-charity-lends-helping-hand-in-solor-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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