OUR ACHIEVEMENTS TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Our achievements since the first projects started in 1999 have all had one common theme: a partnership with the community, with the well-being of disadvantaged children as the initial priority. We now have a wide range of sustainable projects in children's education, health improvement, nutrition, appropriate technology infrastructure improvement, natural water resources development, sustainable organic farming and erosion control in this steep and dry terrain. The long term goals of food security and self-reliance through sustainable social and economic development for the overall empowerment of the communities are now being realised through recently developed organic farming cooperatives.
The driving force behind all the projects has been the passionate community motivation and participation. One thing became clear when we started working with the scattered communities: all the hamlets, whilst in one huge and sprawling village, have different climates and cultural directions to life. Hence our approach had to recognise these variables and be versatile in the way we packaged the awareness programmes, discussed new ideas and found solutions to go forward based on their aspirations.
EDUCATION
At the very beginning of the project we asked the villagers what they felt was their number one priority. They chose education for their children. At the time, the nearest government schools were 4-6km away and, in some hamlets, illiteracy rates reached 70-100%.
Integrated education programmes for illiterate children
With hundreds of illiterate children, support and approval from the local government education department, we designed a literacy programme that would serve as a foundation for future development, especially in health, hygiene and self-reliance. The first programme began in Dusun Bunga in August 1999, sponsored by a Japanese foundation, Bali Shogaku Kikin. Two more programmes began in Dusun Cegi and Dusun Pengalusan in 2000, sponsored by Bali Dynasty Resort. In January 2001 a programme began in Dusun Manikaji that was sponsored by the Hard Rock Hotel Bali until December 2001. Now more than two hundred previously illiterate and malnourished children aged 6-15 attend EBPP schools in their isolated hamlets: the pride of their respective communities
EBPP provide the teachers: local people with the motivation to learn and lead their community forward through their own children. The curriculum is tailored to their needs. As well as reading and writing skills, children learn about nutrition, hygiene, sanitation, good health practice, organic farming, environmental education, social sciences, arts and crafts. Pak Made Budiana, a well-known Balinese artist, also visits Desa Ban regularly with a group of volunteers to help the children develop their artistic skills.
By 2003, children in three of our four programmes are now in schools with classrooms, a library, teachers room and kitchen. Each one is funded by a different donor and built by the community with our technical and logistics support. We call these schools community learning and development centres as they are owned by the community and will double as vocational training centres. Creative arts for teenagers started last year; recently we launched nutrition and organic farming theory for the kids parents who have joined the organic farming cooperatives.
Secondary School Scholarships
Beginning in 1999, EBPP has given scholarships to 12 children to allow them to attend junior high school in Singaraja. The children stay at Dana Punia orphanage in Singaraja during term time. Unfortunately, four of the children have had to drop out of the programme for family reasons but this year the others graduated from junior high school and have continued on to study at senior high schools in Singaraja. Their education costs are funded by the caring American-owned Danu Enterprises: many of their Bali-culture-tourists donate annually after seeing EBPP fundraising video.
By 2003, we are proud to report that these children are not only excelling in their respective classes, but also have visions for their future: they want to go back to their village to share their new knowledge and participate in developing a new generation of children who can initiate and encourage sustainable development for self-reliance. On their school holidays, they join EBPP field team and get involved in teaching children, learning computer skills, working with our health/nutrition staff and developing their creative art skills. They really are an amazing bunch of young adults that we are all very proud of.
NUTRITION IMPROVEMENT
School children in EBPP Integrated Education Programmes
The priority from when we launched our first integrated education programme in Bunga hamlet in 1999 was to ensure that the children had the motivation to learn through good mental and physical health, knowing that most suffered from malnutrition and serious iodine deficiency, complicated by their staple of cassava and the lack iodized salt in their diet. Free school meals were carefully designed to give the correct balance of carbohydrates, protein, minerals and vitamins. A daily glass of milk provided more protein and fat intake. The meals are prepared by local women, trained by our team how and where to purchase the correct food items and how to prepare hygienically in the school kitchens. Our school organic vegetable gardens have provided a "learn by doing" process by which all children learn the nutritional benefits of all of the vegetables and herbs they learn to plant, grow, harvest and seed-save - providing a foundation for teaching their parents and equipping them for when they are parents.
For sustainability, we educate the children about the importance of a balanced diet and the key sources of iodine and other essential micronutrients, especially vitamin A and iron, from their first week in school. The children then transfer this new knowledge to their parents. Regular analysis of the school meals by our volunteer doctor, Indraguna Pinatih MSc, one of Bali's top nutritionists, shows each child gets 470-550 calories, 15-18 grams of protein and 10-13 grams of fat every meal.
Many vegetables for the children's school meals are now provided from the organic vegetable learning gardens established near all our schools. These are rapidly becoming the foundation for future food security and sustainable nutrition, not only for the children in our programme, but also the community as a whole. From experience in these experimental school gardens since 2000, the children rapidly understood the nutrition value of these previously unknown vegetables and how to grow and nurture them. But more important, they enjoyed them and took samples home for their family to try! The best result is that their parents and other community members were excited by these strange new vegetables and once they learnt from the children that they could provide healthy food for their own families, they decided they wanted to learn, as reported in our Sustainable Agriculture report.
HEALTH IMPROVEMENT
Community Health
At the start of the education projects, 40-60% of the children were ill due to a combination of inadequate nutrition and lack of knowledge about hygiene. Many children were suffering from impetigo. Iodine deficiency was a major problem. Now, tutors help the children to learn good hygiene habits including the importance of regular bathing, boiling drinking water, washing the hands before eating etc. After every class, the children receive a nutritious meal which includes a glass of milk and a multivitamin/mineral tablet. Nowadays, almost 100% of the children in the programme are healthy.
Iodine Deficiency
When tested in 1998, nearly 85% of the children of elementary school age were suffering from iodine deficiency. As well as affecting metabolism and general growth, lack of iodine is linked to arrested brain development. In 2001, EBPP worked with the local health department and the provincial government of Bali to develop a programme to raise the villagers awareness about iodine deficiency and its prevention, introduce iodised salt and distribute iodine capsules to all children under 15 and all women of reproductive age. Altogether, 858 women and 1,909 children were involved that year. The programme has continued in 2002. Between June and August iodine capsules were distributed to 1006 women and 1055 children aged 6-12. Further testing has been undertaken to monitor the effects of the programme and assess future needs. The costs of this programme have been sponsored by UNICEF.
Dental Care
The nearest dental care used to be over 12km away with no public transport links. To assess the children's dental health, Drg I Panji Triadnya and his colleagues from the Dental Health Faculty of the University of Mahasaraswati in Denpasar made voluntary weekly visits to the hamlets between February and May 2001. In August Drg Panji returned with some of his students to spend another two days checking children in Desa Ban and also teaching them about preventative dental care. EBPP plans to continue this programme until all the children of Desa Ban have been checked and taught about preventative dental care. East Bali Poverty Project (EBPP) proudly launched a free dental health care programme on 6th October 2006 for the children and community of Desa Ban (Ban village), Kubu Sub District, Karangasem Regency, one of the most isolated and under-served areas of Bali, with a fully equipped Mobile Dental Clinic. Click here to read the latest newsletter about this programmes. Funding is still required for this programme.
Cataract and Cleft Palate Operations
This was a joint programme with Rotary International working in co-operation with the provincial health authority, Yayasan Kemanusian Indonesia and the John Fawcett Foundation. Cataract operations are carried out in Rotarys mobile clinic and cleft palate operations in Denpasars Community Eye Centre.
Primary Health Care
Dr. Gde Ngurah Indraguna Pinatih from the Health Faculty of the University of Udayana in Denpasar, our expert health volunteer, meets regularly with EBPP health education team to design and regularly review our health curriculum. He also visits the programmes on a voluntary basis to assess the general health situation. Where there are serious health problems, the patients are referred to an appropriate doctor or hospital, often escorted by EBPP Balinese staff.
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
Organic Vegetable Farming for Nutrition and Eventual Income from Sales
The mountain land in Desa Ban is so steep, dry and sandy that it can only support cassava and corn, the staple for the majority of the 2,500 families who have almost no alternative source of food supplies apart from a remote market that is up to 5 hours walk on steep mountain tracks. Following our philosophy of teaching the people how to feed themselves for life rather than giving them free food for a day, we introduced organic vegetable learning gardens near all schools as an integral part of the children's education programmes. First, vetiver grass (vetiveria zizanioides) is planted to conserve soil and water and initiate natural terraces. Vetiver roots can penetrate 2-3 metres below ground in their first year and act almost like an underground dam to store water, making it available to plants over a longer period. The terraced planting beds are then improved with organic compost and cow manure. Organic worm farms provide the natural organic fertilisers needed to nourish the soil directly before planting potato and vegetable seedlings. No chemical fertilisers or pesticides are ever used.
We piloted our first organic school learning gardens in December 1999 and March 2001, kindly funded by the British Women's Association (BWA) of Jakarta. In the first season, we successfully grew 20 types of nutritious vegetables: a welcome addition to the children’s daily school meals. The gardens have introduced a whole new range of nutritious food to the children and their families who previously knew only cassava, corn and pigeon peas. Now there are organic school gardens in all EBPP schools. Apart from the direct result of providing good food for the community, this project has significantly improved the local environment.
Children in all EBPP schools go to their organic vegetable gardens daily as part of their integrated education, theory coming after practice! They learn how to improve the soil with cow manure which they bring from home, monitor the condition and progress of the worm farms for premium organic fertilizer (certified worms purchased from worm farm specialist, Dr Kartini in Denpasar), prepare seed beds for nurturing until planting time, check for insects/pests and record progress daily. All activities are overseen by EBPP’s education, agriculture and health teams, with regular input from Indonesian and foreign volunteer advisors. Children take all reports home to explain the processes and progress to their parents who are keen to study with them. By late 2002, parents in all hamlets asked to learn how to improve their family land on condition their children in EBPP schools taught them. This request formed the foundation for the now successful community learning gardens, initiated in November 2002 with a 3-year grant from British Embassy Small Grants Scheme.
Potatoes, carrots, tomatoes and many green vegetables are now the vegetables of choice for future economic development by all farmers. Why? Because they know through their children that their present staple of cassava (a goitrogen) contributes to iodine deficiency by blocking iodine absorption - the essential mineral for healthy brain and body development, that the nutrition content of potatoes far exceeds that of cassava, and that there is a good market for future sales in Bali and beyond.
IMPROVING INFRASTRUCTURE WITH APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY
Labour and local materials for all projects described below provided by the respective communities as their contribution, knowing that they own them on completion. EBPPs field team provide organizational support, transporting all the materials with their 4 WD Ford Ranger, donated by Standard Chartered Bank (Jakarta).
Access
When the project began, the village of Desa Ban was only accessible from the lower mountain slopes and the hamlets that now benefit from the sustainability projects were only accessible by trail motorcycles. In November 1999 EBPP began improving a 3km dirt track from the southern border of Desa Ban in the saddle between Mt Agung and Mt Abang to the hamlet of Daya. Volcanic sand excavated on site was mixed with cement and laid in strips to improve the road surface while Vetiver grass (Vetivera zizanioides) was planted on the verges to control erosion. Technical input was provided by EBPP and the villagers contributed the labour. The project was a success, creating easier and much safer access. The donor for this first project was Rotary Club of Bali Taman. So far, over 6km of dirt tracks have been improved making it possible for over 240 families to reach medical help, markets and other essential services that were virtually inaccessible before.
Building with Appropriate Technology
Guided by the EBPP team, the villagers of Dusun Bunga built the first community school using appropriate technology with locally-grown bamboo used as reinforcement, dispensing with the need for steel reinforcement. The building is 80 square metres with two classrooms, a teachers room, a library and a canteen and provides a purpose-built learning environment for the children. It also doubles as a vocational training centre for children, teenagers and adults. Work was completed in February 2001. Funding for this project came from Island Angels (Bali and USA).
Two other schools were completed in early 2003 using breeze blocks for the walls, due to difficulty gathering bamboo. The 164 square metre school in Dusun Pengalusan has 4 classrooms, a teachers room, a library and a canteen and was funded by The Community of Oppenhuizen en Uitwellingerga in the Netherlands. The 160 square metre school at Dusun Manikaji has similar facilities and is part funded by the Java St Andrews Society, (Jakarta) and Hard Rock Hotel (Bali).
Clean Water Reservoirs
With technical input from the EBPP team, five hamlets which lack a nearby natural water supply have built hygienic rainwater storage tanks. These use the same bamboo and cement construction as the schools. Rainwater is collected from rooftops via a bamboo gutter and then passed through a gravel and charcoal filter to clear sediment and bacteria. By August 2002, 24 tanks had been constructed. Each tank stores 4,500 litres and they provide the first-ever clean water supply for the people of these hamlets. Already their use has substantially reduced infant mortality and sickness. The donors for this project have been The Royal Society of St George (Jakarta), The American Womens Association (Jakarta), and the Tierney family (Bali and USA).
Sustainable Clean water Supply From Mountain Springs
This project began in August 2002 in Daya hamlet, where the only water available is from remote springs or rainwater catchments usually uncovered and very polluted.
It is a long-term project that involves monitoring the flow of water from each of the hamlets three springs over several seasons, improving water storage and surveying the water needs of the community to create an efficient and effective water distribution plan. The key benefits to the community will be more water for bathing and washing clothes and safe drinking water something they have never really known. This project is funded by Thames Waters Sustainability Committee. Click the link belows to read newsletter about safe water supply projects:
Exciting Developments in Safe Water & Education, February 2004
Vision for 2004: Safe Water, Good Health & Sustainable Nutrition, December 2003
Vetiver Grass: Bio-engineering Erosion Control
Vetiver grass, a non-invasive, clump-forming grass has been used successfully both to control erosion on steep tracks and to enable development of organic vegetable gardens on the very steep and sandy mountain slopes (see above). The closely planted slips of Vetiver grass rapidly grow into dense hedgerows with tough, fibrous root systems that can reach down to two or three metres in the first year.
Since we introduced Vetiver to Bali in 2000, we have helped many villas, hotels and individual householders to stop erosion on steep land, beaches and rocky cliff slopes. Click here for more information about Vetiver Grass
THE NEXT STEP FORWARD
The projects summarised above are the key inseparable elements - the foundation - for the long-term solution to improve the lives of thousands of disadvantaged children, but there is still a long way to go.
