Forgotten village shakes off poverty and disease with help

Forgotten village shakes off poverty and disease with help

In the mountains of eastern Bali lies a district that, until
recently, went unnoticed by the rest of the world. There,
children died of diseases that are easily cured in the world
outside. People starved and access to clean water was severely
limited.

But a union between the villagers and a Bali-based non-
governmental organization, the East Bali Poverty Project (EBPP),
is expected to bring in positive changes, and certainly hope to
the people.

I first heard about the EBPP through an English correspondent
in Jakarta, who spoke of a district in Bali that the world had
turned its back on and a group of people who were trying to help.

After contacting the founder of the program, David Booth, from
Jakarta and asking him to provide information, he supplied a
bundle of information but said that the only way to closely
understand was by coming to Bali and seeing it for myself.

I met with Booth in Denpasar and he told me about this and his
team's aims and ambitions, painting a picture of a group of
people working selflessly to help others and give the people of
the village hope for the future.

I must admit that I'm generally a cynic; I was skeptical as to
the truth behind these men and women devoting their lives
unselfishly and with no hope of reward. But more than that I
found it hard to believe that the pictures I had in front of me
of rampant infections and prehistoric living conditions could
have been remedied in such a short time.

We left at sunrise and traveled by four-wheel drive up into
the mountains around Lake Batur. From there we crossed over the
highlands between mounts Agung and Abang into the scarcely
chartered territory beyond.

On one side of the mountainous divide you have fertile
tropical terrain leading down to the sea. On the other side, the
area where the village is located, the terrain is arid. It's the
middle of the wet season but streams are dry as the porous
volcanic soil spewed forth by the active Mount Agung over the
centuries sucks the moisture from the ground.

The first thing that hit me was of the sheer scope of the
area. From between two ridges I stared out across a green expanse
stretching as far as I could see. As you move further down the
mountain your visibility improves and up in the distance on all
sides you can make out small settlements and houses. Many of the
visible structures stand alone as if dropped carelessly by some
clumsy god.

Just how the villagers came to be in this area is open to
debate and arguments vary from ancient sea migrations to
resettlements through the course of one of the many conflicts
that plagued this region in centuries. Whatever the case, it is
hard to imagine a more isolated and desolate environment. The
thought of an arid environment in a tropical forest was difficult
for me to comprehend before I went up there. But the volcanic
soil conspires to make crops difficult and the lack of water
poses a daily dilemma.

Over the two days we toured three of the outlying hamlets. The
differences between the pictures from the beginning of the
project were inspiring.

The children were healthy and attending schools in their own
areas. The health and agriculture classes being taught in the
classrooms impacted upon the entire village as children went home
and passed their findings on to their parents and families.

Already, cooperative farmers' gardens were popping up under
the guidance of the project men. Potatoes, until recently thought
impossible to grow in such terrain, were showing the first signs
of success after several hardy attempts. When you see what the
villagers and the EBPP have had to deal with their progress over
the past four years takes on epic dimensions.

But the most impressive thing of all in the hamlets was the
general feeling of pride that was prevalent. From the children at
school to the men plowing the terraces, gleaming eyes and smiling
faces abounded. From the sorry, decrepit bunch four years before
the people had transformed into a group with a sense of purpose.

Whether it be the cement tracks put in place by the villagers
to allow better access or the good state of the houses there was
proliferate proof that these people could and would survive and
that the subsistence lifestyle of the past was no more.

I have so far given little note to the men and women of the
project though and they deserve some credit. The group of men and
women has worked under the direction of Booth over the last four
years with a small handful having been there from the beginning.
They work nonstop, acting as advisors and consultants, but more
importantly they serve as the backbone of the whole village. They
lead by example and they help to keep the various factions
together.

The project defies any comparison. Examples of self-sacrifice
and successful sustainable development abound that the rest of
the world might do well to heed.

I asked one of the men of the East Bali Poverty Project why he
devoted his life to the project. He was well educated and could
have earned a far better living elsewhere. He said it was because
it was his village. It was his village and it was where he wanted
to raise his family. Money meant nothing if his people were left
in squalor.

-- Simon Howland