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