The Java Village Foundation

The Java Village Foundation supports women and children in desa Cisarua, Indonesia, helping them to break the circle of poverty and to build a brighter future for their community. We are a small scale foundation and base our help on the priorities of the people of Cisarua. An important condition for our help is that it stimulates independence and cooperation. Once a month our field worker in Indonesia visits all the projects. We work together with local experts and organisations/companies. Because we work only with volunteers, our help benefits the people directly. This is our focus:

· Youth and education;

· Micro-credits for women;

· Health and environment.

Sukacita: Information centre in Bali for children with an intellectual disability

By: Yvette Benningshof

‘Sukacita’ in Bali provides information about children with an intellectual disability for special schools, teachers and parents. The founders of Sukacita have their own distinct vision on development work: ‘We share our knowledge and help people to develop. We don’t build schools or give money.’

‘In Bali the circumstances for children with an intellectual disability, like the ‘Down syndrome’, are not too favorable. There is a lot of misunderstanding and that’s why we got the idea to start an information centre’, Yolanda Onderwater of Sukacita explains.

Sukacita, originally a Dutch organization, was founded one year ago by Yolanda Onderwater, Marieke Nijland and Mila van der Meer. Sukacita collaborateswith the well-known Suryani Institute for Mental Health, led by Balinese professor Luh Ketut Suryani. This institute has several special programs to help people with a psychological disorder. ‘Ibu Suryani and I are both healers and mental coaches. We met in Bali and we immediately ‘clicked’, says Onderwater.

The Tileng Foundation

The Tileng Foundation’s mission is to improve living conditions in the villages Imogiri, Baturraden and, of course, Tileng on the island of Java in Indonesia. It achieves this by financing and supporting locally initiated projects.

The Tileng Foundation has been actively supporting projects in Indonesia since 2000. Through these projects, houses and schools have been built, scholarships provided and a prestigious cattle project has been set up.

The Mad Tuk Tuk Challenge: Part Charity/Part Madness

By: Gabrielle Yetter

Picture the scene: You’re riding your bicycle along a dirt road near Prolit village near Siem Reap when a tuktuk flies by. Nothing new in this part of the world, right?

Until you notice the driver is dressed as Fred Flintstone.

Another one bumps along in your rearview mirror. This one’s driven by an Aussie with a painted face. The next one bears an American flag. Then there’s the piece de resistance – a gold trimmed tuktuk complete with padded leather seats, a TV/DVD, electric fan and mood lighting.

It’s invasion of the tuktuks, barang (barang is the word used for a foreigner in Cambodia) style - better known as the MaD Tuk Tuk Challenge.

Cambodia’s One & Only Mad Tuk Tuk Challenge: A WHEEL Life Adventure!

GET READY to kick off a Cambodian adventure with the 2012 MaD Tuk Tuk Challenge, charity rally. A TURBO adrenalin rush! How about a gruelling challenge set to keep your blood pumping for a whole 11 days and more than 1,750kms!!!

The THIRD YEAR of the MaD Tuk Tuk Challenge, a tuk tuk rally with a difference, is set to commence on the Easter Weekend holidays on 6th APRIL 2012. A guaranteed adrenalin rush on 3wheels - with a bonus, for those forever searching for that perfect hit!

Teams are allowed to pimp up their Tuk Tuks to the max [OPTIONAL] then take to the tracks of Cambodia, crossing some of the most unexplored and extreme areas of South East Asia all in name of charity. The route will take the entourage through remote villages where they will set up camp. Each team is also fundraising for their Tuk Tuk Team through sponsorship and donations to reach a combined target total of US20K in partnership with MaD Cambodia.

Primary focus of the event is to raise enough funds to continue the charity MaD’s work in Cambodia and to build & manage their new projects in the coming 2011/2012 dry season. 100% of funds donated and raised go to MaD Cambodia's Projects... Not 10%!

Study Group Photography: The Story behind the Image

Study group Photography and New Media by Tino Djumini

Spotlight Media and Cemara 6 Art Gallery in Jakarta, in cooperation with Latitudes, organize a study group photography! In this study group  the basics and practice of photography and new media are presented to beginners and advanced photographers. The idea and concept behind the image and the engagement with the subject are the main areas of the courses. We start with a short history of photography and how the medium developed over the years, from the analogue camera, pinhole and photogram to the digital SLR that dominates today’s photography practices. The course encompasses a wide range of aspects emphasizing the importance of photography and its ability of changing the way people look at daily life reality.

The Meraih Bintang Foundation

In the West, going to school is one of the most natural things in a child's life, but in Indonesia this is not the case. Children are kept home for many reasons but mostly because their parent(s) or caretakers simply cannot pay for the necessary school uniforms, other school costs/materials and send the children to work so they can help out their family financially. The aim of Meraih Bintang is to take away all the reasons there are to stop a child from going to school. We want to offer children continuity in basic schooling from kindergarten to primary to higher secondary education.

Andre Graf: a French hot air balloonist turned dedicated well digger on Sumba

By: Jacobus E. Lato

Most stories on the Indonesian island of Sumba tell of local kids proudly riding Sandalwoods, the well-known Sumba bred horses across savannas and steppes of the island. This feature of young people riding sturdy horses, throwing spears at each other in a game called Pasola, sometimes seems the only thing Sumba is known for.

This story is not about horses. It is about a Frenchman by the name of Andre Graf. Andre Graf is currently 54, a former hot air balloonist and instructor with a degree in biology from the leading Strassbourg University. Meanwhile, Sumba, on the other extreme, though it is only about an hour flight from Bali is an outlandish island, part of East Nusa Tenggara, a province characterized by its remote location, lack of development and poor inhabitants suffering from malnutrition and draught.

Since 2005, Andre has been living in Waru Wora, the sub-district of Lamboya, 30 Kms away  from the capital of West Sumba district. Before he settled on Sumba he promised the locals that he would dedicate his life to the local community. He kept his word, as since that time he dug no less than 27 wells on this notoriously dry island.

Chow Kit Kita – A Community Project in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

By: Melissa Lin

Chow Kit is a neighnorhood in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. The area is known for the bustling market Bazaar Baru Chow Kit. It is located around Jalan Chow Kit (Chow Kit Road) and is enclosed by the parallel streets of Jalan Raja Laut and Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. The area has one of the largest Indonesian communities in Malaysia and had a recent influx of African migrants. It is both one of the most colorful as well as one of the most criminal districts in KL. Chow Kit Kita (Our Chow Kit) is a community based project that educates local youths by ways of workshops such as photography, research and graphic design. We talked with Pik-Svonn, project manager & co-founder of Chow Kit Kita, to find out more about this initiative.

Sungai Wain Protection Forest: Sun Bears find New Home In East Borneo

Only a few kilometers away from the busy seaport city of Balikpapan, Sungai Wain Protection Forest is home to Malayan sun bears (Helarctos Malayanus), the smallest bear species and one of the least studied. KWPLH managed to build a sun bear enclosure to preserve the species and also to make the sun bear iconic for species protection in East Kalimantan. In 2006, five sun bears that were confiscated from their illegal owners, were transferred to their new home, 1.3 ha (3.25 acres) of land.

So if you happen to go to East Kalimantan, schedule your free-time to enjoy the forest escapades and don’t forget to say hello to five playful and healthy sun bears in KWPLH sun-bear enclosure.