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  • From: Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson <lakinroe@silcom.com>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] Endless Sun and the Slowboat to Recovery in Aceh
  • Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 06:05:12 -0800

Endless Sun and the Slowboat to Recovery in Aceh
Monday, March 07, 2005

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/03/20/1111253864398.html?oneclick=true

Endless Sun , a wooden a 40 metre 700 tonne custom-made shallow draft boat equipped with two Boston Whaler skiffs will depart from Jakarta to take it's maiden humanitarian voyage on Wednesday, March 9 th , 2005 to deliver relief supplies to the worst hit and most inaccessible areas of the tsunami disaster along the Northwest coast of Aceh. Sailing for 7 days Endless Sun will reach areas that other relief agencies have been unable to access due to poor or non-existent ports and roads and to get supplies where airlift drops have been infrequent or impossible.

The most recent body count for the Indonesian area of Aceh has about 125,000 buried bodies with close to 112,000 missing and close to half a million homeless. The Acehnese have had their livelihoods and self-sufficiency taken away. The amount of aid pouring into the area is well beyond the distribution capacity of the Indonesian government, NGO's and UN agencies to handle alone. The difficulty in coordinating the efforts of the many agencies involved has resulted in delays that have reduced distribution of much needed supplies. The advent of the monsoon season in Aceh looms, posing yet another challenge.

Yayasan Andaru Selaras, (the NGO Shooting Star), YAS , funded by AsiaWorks, Asia's leading experiential training and consulting company ( www.asiaworkstraining.com ), and in partnership with Yayasan Indonesian Development of Education and Permaculture (IDEP) ( www.idepfoundation.org ) have outfitted Endless Sun with relief supplies that will rebuild communities and livelihoods instead of creating long-term dependency to aid which refugee camps and orphanages foster. Dr. Hafiz Pasha, UN Assistant-Secretary-General and Director of UNDP's Asia Pacific Bureau who has visited UNDP's Aceh and Jakarta offices this week has said, "It is time to focus on rehabilitation and infrastructure and to let people return to their homes and start making a living." YAS , IDEP and Endless Sun and it's crew have exactly this mission in mind and will deliver commodities and self-sufficiency items such as brick presses, mechanical carpentry and fishing implements to empower local communities to rebuild themselves. Cargo on Endless Sun will also include personnel from NGOs and aid agencies requiring passage along the Northwest coast and for evacuation of people in need of medical care. JOURNALISTS ARE WELCOME TO BOARD ENDLESS SUN at any of "it's ports of call" and can also fly to locations where the boat will stop to cover the story from the ground. Good logistical communications, radio and satellite communications and on line services are available for filing stories. A documentary film-maker will be on board and footage will be available.

AsiaWorks and YAS founder, Chris Gentry, was one of a small group of volunteers to arrive via boat to first attend the horrific tsunami aftermath in Calang, Aceh. The vessel, Sumber Rejeki traveled to Aceh under IDEP and details of this journey including a short video clip can be found at ( www.asiaworkstraining.com/chris_in_aceh.htm ). Endless Sun is the vision of Chris Gentry who explains, "When a tragedy of this magnitude occurs everyone has a responsibility to get involved. I couldn't stay at home knowing how the victims of Tsunami were suffering. At YAS we have both immediate and long-term development plans to help the affected communities rebuild for the future and Endless Sun is a big part of our picture. Our help is just beginning."

Project personnel are divided into two teams, an office coordination team and a mobile delivery team. Procurement of items by IDEP and YAS will be in Surabaya, Jakarta and Medan to be delivered by cargo ship or truck convoy to warehousing where it will be picked up by Endless Sun . Once in Aceh, the mobile delivery team will offload either in port or directly onto the beach where there is no port or harbour access. Once off loaded local NGOs and aid agencies will be responsible for delivering commodities to affected communities in line with their programmes. The Endless Sun will be in regular communication via radio and satellite phones and with the office coordination team, local NGOs and aid agencies to determine its delivery and pick-up routes.

The Project is designed around a 12-week cycle. In each 12-week period it is anticipated that the mobile delivery team can make 5-10 trips along the coast delivering 500 tonnes of commodities at a time. After each 12 week cycle, project effectiveness will be measured in tonnes of aid delivered, the number of communities reached and the impact on the local community . Additional funding to continue a regular schedule of trips is being solicited through both YAS and IDEP.

The YAS and IDEP mandate is "Helping people in Indonesia to help themselves." Since 27 December 2004, IDEP efforts raised over US$330,000 in donations for the 18 projects they support in Aceh including on site mid-wives, permaculture and cottage industries. YAS has raised approximately US$100,000 from corporate and individual donations, and with its asset the Endless Sun , is now in a viable position to continue aid delivery to the region.




  • [permaculture] Endless Sun and the Slowboat to Recovery in Aceh, Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson, 03/26/2005

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