Report from the Trustees visit of April 2007

The village of Bukit Lawang was devastated by a flash flood in November 2003. The freak flood saw a 10 metre high wall of water and trees and jungle debris wipe out the village killing 300 people and taking out everything in its path.

It only took thirty minutes for the whole episode to be over, but the village is still recovering from the devastation four years on. People lost members of their family and friends and their homes and businesses. Without compensation these people have had to rebuild their lives from nothing. There are many people still traumatised. They still have nightmares and find it hard to move on. Without support from the government and no prospects its very hard to start again. However the Trust has been aiding the road to recovery.

We arrived on the site of the much needed health clinic to find the local builders had already done a lot of work. They had reached the first floor and so the first job was to get the area ready to concrete. We had to lay wooden boards on the floor and tie the metal reinforcements by hand. All work was carried out without western mod-cons. Then it was brick-laying to reach the roof level. It was very hot on site with temperatures reaching 40 degrees. So it was refreshing to have a river nearby to cool off after work.

While the concrete was left to dry volunteers worked on a nearby bridge. A new bridge had been built across the river but it had extremely steep steps which the young and old found very hard to climb. Volunteers made bamboo handrails, which were appreciated by all the locals. (There’s a photo of an orangutan using the handrail we built).
 
Volunteers also rebuilt the other bridge further down the river, which was unstable with loose wooden planks and no handrail and made this much safer for everyone.

Three of the volunteers also used this time to travel to Nias to review a water project in the village of Botohiliato. The local people here have to walk 500 metres every day to refill their water bottles and carry them back to the village.

In the dry season the water supply can dry up completely and the people try to filter the sea water to make it drinkable. It’s also a huge fire hazard as the temperatures soar to 45 degrees and a fire can spread in seconds.

The water supply problem can easily be resolved by building a container to hold the spring water and a large storage tank, and then pumping the supply up to the village.

The weekend was spent trekking in the jungle. Stopping off at the orang utan feeding in the rehabilitation centre nearby. Most of the orang utans were happy to hang out with us, but some wanted to get more up close and personal more than others.

The orang utans found in the Sumatran rainforest are the same species as those Durrel are fighting to save from extinction. There is a rehabilitation centre in Bukit Lawang that saves those orang utans that have been kept as pets and tries to release them back into the wild. 

The local Indonesian people were very happy to work along side us, and the project was a good cultural exchange with many of the locals making good friends.

The project has given jobs to over twenty local trades men and labourers and the small clinic currently employs a doctor, nurse and mid wife. The small temporary clinic is open every weekday at present and sees over 20 patients a day.

This new small hospital will employ another doctor and nurse and be open 24 hours a day and will have twenty beds and an x-ray and ultra sound facilities. The locals are delighted with the new facilities and can’t wait for it to open.

It was an amazing experience for everyone involved and it was a sad day to say farewell but everyone was proud of the clinic, which is due to open in July this year.