Volcanic Ashes Didn’t Stop Us: Making it to East Lombok
I was given the opportunity to travel to East Lombok to learn first-hand about Kopernik’s work and to meet some of our Wonder Women who are working in remote areas of Lombok. As this is my first visit to a Kopernik project, I was thrilled to meet the awe-inspiring women and couldn’t wait to make friends with them and hear their stories.
The island of Lombok may not receive as much as attention as its hugely popular neighbor Bali does. Nevertheless, Lombok is famous for a number of things: the island’s scenic spots which most are still untouched by villa and hotel developments, pristine beaches that encircle the land, and the second-highest volcano in Indonesia, Mount Rinjani. All that, and many other things except an adequate amount of clean, safe drinking water and reliable electricity supply.
Everything was well planned. My colleague, Ibun, who is a photographer, and I were ready to go when Mount Rinjani erupted, spewing volcanic ash into the sky, disrupting air travel throughout the Eastern Indonesia. All flights in and out of Bali were cancelled, including our flight.
While Rinjani may have been throwing a tantrum with its eruption and ash clouds, we were committed to our field trip. No air travel? No problem! We crossed the Lombok strait on a ferry boat instead.
Getting to Selong, East Lombok, was far from easy. It took us a 2 hour car ride from the office to the harbour, a four-hour boat ride, and two hours of docking when we reached the Lombok harbour, then another 2 hour car ride to Selong, East Lombok. During our four day stay in Selong, we followed one of Kopernik’s Wonder Women, Ibu Dasri, to document her activities as one of the most active and energetic project entrepreneurs in East Lombok and met technology users in the area.
IBU DASRI, THE SCHOOL AND THE KIDS
The next day, fueled by tea and toast, we set off to Montong Gading, a district located in rural East Lombok.
We went to see Ibu Dasri teaching a group of around 20 children in an Early Childhood Education & Development Center (PAUD), a small school with only one headmaster and three teachers. I was amazed to see how dedicated Ibu Dasri was in teaching her class, despite the modest facilities and it lifted my spirits when I saw Ibu Dasri singing with the children.
There are many children in her village who are not enrolled in the education center. “Some parents can not afford to pay the school fee”, Ibu Dasri said. I was surprised to learn that the school fees per year are Rp 60,000 rupiah, or around US$4.50. That’s equal to a huge cup of latte in Starbucks! Yet some families in the district can’t afford to pay.
Our next stop was Madrasah Ibtidaiyah, an Islamic primary school in Montong Gading. In this school, I learned that many of the 200 students rarely drink water. During break time, they’d rather go out and buy cheap, unhealthy, sweetened drinks. Can you imagine how unhealthy that is?
That is why Kopernik has provided three large Nazava water filters for the students and teachers, so they can enjoy clean, safe drinking water during their break time. The teachers and students greeted us warmly as we explained how to use and maintain the water filter and why drinking clean, safe water is important.
We also held a small ‘Green Class’ — a short lesson on the importance of clean water and how the water filter works. So how does it work? First, we talked to the students about the importance of drinking clean and safe water. Then we demonstrated how to assemble the Nazava water filter. It’s not everyday that I see kids in schools shouting and screaming so enthusiastically!
FACE TO FACE WITH THE TECH USERS
I also met some technology users in Lombok who bought solar lanterns and water filters from our Wonder Women and listened to their stories about how these simple, life-changing technologies are having an impact on their families and communities.
As a big city girl, what do I do when there is a power outage in my house? I light a candle or flashlight and wait until the electricity comes back on, which usually doesn’t take too long. But this is not the case in East Lombok, where electricity blackouts are a daily occurrence, and can last for 4–5 hours. Before they had solar lanterns, these families used candles and, even worse, kerosene lamps. They know that kerosene lighting is unhealthy because of the smoke, but they had no choice.
When the d.light S20 and d.light S300 solar lanterns were introduced to the community, everybody was eager to have one. A funny story arose when we talked with local communities.
One night, a man was walking past the paddy fields with his friend. He brought a solar lantern with him, and his friend brought a flashlight. Halfway, the flashlight was out of battery.
“You’re cheating! Your solar lantern must have absorbed light from my flashlight!” the friend said.
Well, who needs flashlights when you have solar lanterns, right?!
LESSONS LEARNED
At every stop in Lombok, I was welcomed with genuine warmth from the local people. People invited us into their houses, gave us smiles and expressed their kind intentions. Then they unhesitatingly shared their stories, foods and drinks. This trip has given me the opportunity to understand Kopernik’s work more deeply, as I have seen the condition in Kopernik’s target communities with my own eyes, and heard people’s stories with my own ears. I also got a chance to know better some amazing women, who I will introduce in my future blog entries!
Originally published at www.kopernik.ngo by Feby Ramadhani / Photographs by Ibnu Lukman for Kopernik
