Balinese wedding ceremony

Being a volunteer in a foreign country should always be more than just sitting in an office. It should be about making new friends and experiencing a different culture. Luckily for me this is easy in Bali, where the locals are superfriendly, and especially being based in Ubud, which is known as the cultural heartland of Bali. So it was with great anticipation and a big smile on my face I accepted an initiation to my colleague – Widi‘s- wedding.
In Bali it is customary to have two separate ceremonies for a wedding, first there is a ceremony in the place where the couple will be living (usually with the groom’s family), then a second one saying goodbye to the old home (usually the bride’s family) and so it was his time as well. Weddings start early here, and at 8.30 we where in the office trying on our new outfits. That is, having someone else dress us as if we where small children, in order not to loose our sarongs or otherwise make a cultural fau paux. For us girls this was not an issue as we work with another female, the boys on the other hand had to poke their heads out the office and ask around until a male staff member of our neighbouring restaurant would help them. Anyway, we eventually got dressed and headed out on our scooters to the small village where the first ceremony would be held. Over the course of the day we made some great new friends, learned about the importance of family relationships, and were fed loads of yummy foods before the ceremonies ended. We never made it to the second ceremony at the bride’s family house, already being knocked out by the intense heat and the massive amounts of rice and whole roasted pork so duly headed back to the office and our SOS duties.
It was all in all a great experience and I wish Widi all the luck in the world now that she is starting a family on her own.
Thank you very much for including us on your special day!


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Arriving in Paradise

Arriving in Bali was like stepping into a totally different country. Indonesia consist of 17,000 islands and the difference from one to another soon becomes clear, especially as you leave Sumatra behind and head to the tourist paradise that is Bali. SOS has an office in Bali, which is where I am working from for the next month or so. The rationale behind the Bali office is quite obvious: there are enough ex-pats and tourists here to keep you fundraising for a lifetime. Because there is such a massive amount of foreigners that have moved here to Bali, there is also a massive opportunity for SOS to go into both private schools and work with classes on a long term basis. We already do a lot of work with local schools, but with fundraising opportunities this would allow us to work with schools on a more long-term basis, and who knows, perhaps the next school trip could be to the jungle to see the Sumatran orangutan?
Bali is not just famous for its epic surf, but is also a hub for craftsmen that create lovely merchandise for SOS and helps us spread awareness and raise funds on a global basis. We reach a massive international audience here, and loads of people come into our office wanting information on the orangutans and how best to consciously go about visiting the orangutans. We help them with general information, work with companies in Sumatra who donates a cut to us and also generate awareness with the tourists before they even reach the jungle
Bali has also been identified as a hub for illegal trade of protected animal species, so it is extra important that we are generating awareness to make sure Bali is not involved with trading of the orangutan or other endangered wildlife.
Since we got to Bali we have also been able to update the Flickr site, so have a look if you want to see more photos from Sumatra, including replanting, school visits and of course Bukit Lawang.
Right, off to see the SOS ‘Jungleshop’ now, will tell you all about what this is in the next blog...



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Ida Bondø – PR Volunteer, Ubud, Bali

Hi, and welcome to our newly created blog.
Through this blog we hope to spread the word about the Sumatran orangutans, the work we do in the Sumatran rainforest and how you can help us save a species.

About me- My name is Ida and I am going to be working with the Sumatran Orangutan Society for the next few months. I will be based in their Bali office in Ubud, which I am really looking forward to. With me I have my partner William Lee-Wright, who is also dedicating his time in Bali

to working with SOS.

Luckily for me, I arrived in Indonesia around the same time as Helen Buckland, the UK Director, made her annual trip out here. Which meant that I had the opportunity to go to Sumatra and visit some of the projects in the field before heading towards Bali.

Arriving in Medan was quite a culture shock. I came across from Malaysia on a small ferry, and stepping out of the boat it was immediately clear that the skyscrapers and Gucci filled shopping centres of Malaysia were several sea miles behind me. The roads, lack of roads and the rally-driving turned out to be a bit much even for the most hardened traveller, but eventually we made it to the hotel. Our room incidentally turned out to have the best view of the Medan’s main mosque, and we were woken up before the crack of dawn the following morning.

In Medan, SOS shares their offices with the Orangutan Information Centre, OIC, which is a local NGO doing much of the fieldwork here. So on Monday, holding on for our dear lives, we ventured into a ‘becac’ (a moped with a small chair-box on the left hand side) and headed towards the ex-pat community in Medan. Finally, one year and half a world since I first made contact with SOS, I got to meet Helen. We had a great introductory session where we talked about how I can best utilise my time in Bali to ensure I can provide maximum support to SOS throughout my stay. I also had the chance to meet the team working in Medan, including Dave the whistling Scientific Director, Panut the knowledgeable OIC Director and Aiba the energetic AUSAid Volunteer. I left the office with hands full of reading material and a brain full of new ideas to process.

My main projects will be PR related and I will introduce you to some of them as the weeks go by. Though, next week I will first have to tell you about our trip to Bukit Lawang, and my first encounter with some of the beautiful orangutans that live in the national forest.
Till then, take care...
Ida



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