East Bali Poverty Project brings hope<\/p>\n
Simon Howland, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Long regarded as one of the brightest jewels in the Indonesian
\ncrown, Bali has suffered its share of hardships of late, with the
\nbombings in Kuta in October last year being the most publicized
\nof these.<\/p>\n
Long before the terrible act of terrorism impacted the island
\nof Bali and its economy, however, a group of people living in
\nthree hamlets in the district of Kubu in Karangasem, East Bali,
\nhad been suffering.<\/p>\n
As recently as 1998, many of the 10,000 inhabitants of these
\nhamlets lived in such abject poverty as to inspire comparisons to
\nlife in the Middle Ages.<\/p>\n
With no running water or education, limited food, no medicine
\nand no access to the outside world, the villagers led lives of
\nsuch subsistence that to dwell any further in the future than the
\nnext day was pointless. Such was the isolation of several of the
\nhamlets, that they had no contact with their fellows a mere two
\nkilometers away.<\/p>\n
Tourism, being the flesh and blood of Bali's economy, was a
\nconcept unknown to the villagers. They had had no contact with
\nthe government in living memory. To date, no accurate map exists
\nof the area.<\/p>\n
The staple diet of the villagers consisted of corn and cassava
\n-- the only crops their outdated farming techniques could grow.
\nWhen cassava constitutes a major part of a person's food intake
\nit acts as a poison, preventing the dispersal of iodine in the
\nbody. This, coupled with an ignorance of personal health and
\nhygiene, resulted in a very high child mortality rate, severe
\nmalnutrition and widespread goiter and cretinism, ailments caused
\nby iodine deficiency and easily treated throughout the rest of
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
With illiteracy as high as 100 percent in some areas, any
\npossible interaction with the outside world and individually
\nmotivated improvements were little more than a pipe dream, as the
\nvillagers had nothing to offer. They were therefore ignored to
\nthe extent that people living a mere twenty kilometers down the
\nmountain did not know, or acknowledge, that these people existed.<\/p>\n
In April 1998, a foreign resident of Bali, an Englishman by
\nthe name of David Booth, first identified the area. The people of
\nthe last hamlet to be \"discovered\", and the one in the worst
\nstate in regards infrastructure and health, asked Booth for help.<\/p>\n
Deeply moved by the residents' plight and what he saw, he
\nagreed to do what he could to help. In conjunction with two young
\nmen from the area -- Komang Kurniawan and Ardika Adinata, who had
\nbeen fortunate enough to receive an education in Denpasar -- it
\nwas decided that things had to change.<\/p>\n
Booth, a civil engineer with experience in Africa, the
\nCaribbean and Asia, decided that outside help would be required.
\nLater that same year, after consulting with the village leaders
\nand conducting preliminary surveys of the area and its
\ninhabitants, he formed Yayasan Ekoturin and began the East Bali
\nPoverty Project (EBPP).<\/p>\n
The aim of the EBPP is to promote sustainable economic and
\nsocial development in the village. Since 1998, several projects
\nhave commenced with the help of various donors and sponsors.
\nTaking the villagers' thoughts and experiences into account, the
\nEBPP has initiated projects to improve health, education, water
\naccess and infrastructure.<\/p>\n
With the help of UNICEF and under the supervision of Balinese
\nnutritionist Dr. Indraguna Pinatih, the EBPP has successfully
\neliminated iodine deficiency in the village.<\/p>\n
Through surveys and interaction with the villagers, the EBPP
\nconcluded that the best way through which to achieve their goals
\nwas through the children. By improving education at the
\ngrassroots level, they believed the entire area would benefit.<\/p>\n
By educating the children in basic health, language and
\nagriculture, the hope is that the children would pass the
\ninformation on to parents and others.<\/p>\n
Although schools had existed before 1998, they were
\ninaccessible to the people living further up the mountain.<\/p>\n
Several groups have aided the development of schools in the
\nhamlets, including Tjeerd Hoekstra and the Dutch village of
\nOppenhuizen, Bali's Dynasty Hotel, the British Women's
\nAssociation (BWA) and the Australia\/New Zealand Association
\n(ANZA). The villagers themselves, assisted by the EBPP, have so
\nfar constructed three schools that are attended by children three
\ntimes a week.<\/p>\n
Literacy among the students at the schools has reached 100
\npercent.<\/p>\n
Through a partnership with Thames Water in the United Kingdom,
\nthe EBPP is also working to establish a clean water supply for
\nall in the villages. Previously, the villagers had to walk
\ndistances of up to several kilometers to obtain water.<\/p>\n
The improvement in basic infrastructure has been the result of
\na concerted effort with the villagers, who provided the labor
\nforce under guidance of the EBPP team. The water sources have
\nbeen cleaned up to improve the water quality, and a basic
\nconcrete trail has been constructed to enable better access to
\nthe hamlets higher up the mountain.<\/p>\n
The motivation of the local people and the dedication of the
\nEBPP staff, nearly all of who are from the area, have so far
\nensured the success, or have indicated the imminent success, of
\nall the projects undertaken. The funding from those mentioned
\nabove, along with organizations such as Standard Chartered Bank
\nIndonesia and Bali's Sari Tours, has made these improvements
\npossible.<\/p>\n
However, the EBPP is still a long way away from its ultimate
\ngoals of establishing complete self-sufficiency and sustainable
\nsocial and economic development in the hamlets. In order to
\nachieve this end, donors and sponsors are urgently required to
\nensure the future survival of the project.<\/p>",
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