The Learning Farm: Youths, Organics & Empowerment

Thanks to Antonia Gorag, I learnt a little more about this teaching organic farm in Indonesia. It works with youths between 16-24 and takes them through a 5 month programme to teach them the basics of farming & entrepreneurship.

Watch their video:

How did WA come about?

Wild Asia: now it's not quite that awe inspiring story but our journey towards becoming a "Social Enterprise" might be of interest to those wanting to learn from our story. The following radio interview was made over our local business radio (BFM) and was recorded in Oct 2008. One thing that is clear, 10 years down the road, is that there are few journeys you can do alone. Along the way there has been so many people that have inspired me, motivated me, challenged me, suffered my crankiness, but with each step, I think we got stronger and we evolved to be where we are today. This journey has not stopped...

Listen to the interview:



Click here to download the recording.

Health in Harmony

Working in one of Indonesia's national parks, Gunong Palung, Health in Harmony has been supporting medical centers and providing health care to communities that have taken to protecting their own local environments.

Kinari Webb (picture shown here), the founder, says "In parts of West Kalimantan 25% of children die before age five, mothers often die in childbirth, and even "simple" injuries like a cut on the hand can lead to death without access to tetanus shots or antibiotics." Their organisation today works to combine "health, nature, and balance" and their "activities lie at the interface between healthcare and environmental conservation."

Health in Harmony works to support their Indonesian project Alam Sehat Lestari (ASRI) which translates as: "healthy nature everlasting". Reza, who was in Bogor (Indonesia) recently, and had a chance to catch up with ASRI's Conservation Director, Antonia Gorog, to share a little about what the organisation does, its beginning and how this is making an impact.

Listen to the conversation:


Click here for more info on their work. Download the podcast.

4th World Love - Indonesia

From an email correspondence today I find this: 4th World Love.

"4th Worlds" are communities that are just beyond the reach of the mainstream and here Misty & Lisa have simply said, here they are, come and help. They are not development specialists but adventurers that have made a commitment to one community. "We just come in and help them facilitate. We’ve found that people don’t always need a load of outsider thoughts, plans and schemes. What they need most are caring souls to assist them in realizing their own dreams and ideas."

Now facilitating is an art and working with communities is never easy. But it's amazing when people do pull it off.