Hope for marathon runners left disappointed after volcanic ash disruptions

In light of the recent massive disruptions to UK and European air travel because of the Icelandic volcano eruption, many marathon runners have been disappointed as they are missing their chance to run a marathon. Runners scheduled in for marathons in Paris, Antwerp, Hamburg, Boston, London, Brighton, Vienna, Nice and Belgrade, have been left stranded and unable to make their destinations in time for the marathons.
SOS has one free slot for the Edinburgh Marathon taking place on 23rd May. If you have been unable to get to your chosen marathon due to the flight chaos, please get in touch and you could run for SOS in May.
You have to give us a ring or drop us an e-mail asap as we would need to finalise registrations before Thursday 22nd April at 17.00 BST.
Ida Bondø
PR, Communications and Outreach Officer
Sumatran Orangutan Society
Tel: +44 (0)1865 403341
E-mail: info@orangutans-sos.org


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Painting Harapan, the elephant.

Hi, I'm Rebecca Sutherland, and I have designed and painted Harapan for The Elephant Parade.

I usually design things that can be scanned, photo-shopped and attached to emails. And although a life-sized baby elephant was never going to fit on my scanner, it was probably one good reason to say yes to this project. It was going to be BIG, three dimensional and extremely unusual. How hard could it possibly be? Paint elephant - job done.

Throwing myself into the project I worked out the design and ordered lots of paint and brushes, then waited. I wanted the design to reflect the endangered elephants and orangutans along with the habitat that links them. As the ele/tree trunk pun was arrived at, the rest followed easily. SOS were originally allocated a sitting elephant, however after measuring both front door and side gate, it was clear it wasn't going to fit. The Elephant Family took pity and found us the slimmer standing variety - which was great. The next problem was where to put it.

When the elephant arrived I was excited. There he was, clean and white, just like the weather outside. We stood him in the centre of our unheated glass box conservatory, and I soon found out that to work out there was akin to working in the garden. A blow heater blasted air at me as I made the first brush strokes. Half an hour later I was driven back by the cold. So behind glass doors the first badly rendered vines caught my eye as winter stubbornly kept its grip on February. Never mind, I had plenty of time.

On into March, and I acclimatised to conditions. And as the weather warmed I'd like to say I painted away oblivious to everything, mixing away on my plates then standing back to admire my progress. But daylight hours were still short and I had a full workload of other projects on. The only solution was to get up early and work late into the night. Progress was made slower by my complete ignorance of painting with acrylics, so I discussed my feeble efforts at length with my arty friends. Ultimately it was time and practice that taught me.

Four weeks later and I was only halfway up the legs, and with one week to go it didn't take a genius to figure out I wasn't going to make it. Yet my old friend fear drove me on. Then as my deadline was extended I breathed a sigh of relief, just before more work that needed my undivided attention fell on to my lap. An illustrator never turns work away, and I was determined to get it all done.

Legs, trunk, back, tail, eyes and orangutan were all eventually underway, but it wasn't until I began the background that I actually began to relax and enjoy what I was doing. I'm like this on every piece of work, not sure of what I'm doing and willing to let the autopilot of experience get on with it. Art and design looks easy, but can be as hard as writing an essay or doing a maths equation. And when that step back moment comes and I take it all in, I know if my work is good or, well, not so good.

Thankfully Harapan was good - I liked him.

Before I started this project I remember telling Helen Buckland I wanted the SOS elephant to stand out like a jewel. Well he certainly became a bit of a local attraction here, with even my window cleaners loving him. One said he reminded him of Goa where he'd seen their festival of colour. That's what I was wanted to achieve; a festival of colour.

Finally, Harapan is Sumatran for hope, a wholly appropriate description of what SOS represents. For all the difficulties encountered Harapan was certainly worth it. Because the reward is riding on the front of him, as the eye-catching and fabulous orangutan we all hope to save.


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Please don't feed the orangutans.

It makes us really sad when people that are visiting the jungle feed the orangutans.
I will tell you why:

1. Bukit Lawang is a site where both semi-wild and wild orangutans live. The semi wild orangutans have been returned to the forest to that they have the chance to be fully independent again, but in the meantime they will get more dependent on people if tourists feed them.

2. Our DNA is so similar that orangutans can catch our diseases, but they don't have the immunity so they get sick and then die. This doesn’t only affect the individual orangutan but 3 can affect a whole group as they live so closely. It is especially sad when babies are affected and infant mortality is much higher in areas where orangutans are in close contact with people though tourist operators cite lack of direct evidence. This also works the other way; people are vulnerable to zoonotic diseases (carried by the orangutan) as well.

3. They are wild animals, and really strong. Accidents can happen which could endanger the person and the orangutan.

4. Orangutans do not usually spend a lot of their time on the ground, they generally stay in the trees and avoid coming to the ground. Semi wild orangutans who are used to and like human contact spend more time on the ground where they are more likely to contract parasites which are considered a major threat!

We cannot afford to be giving the orangutans our diseases, please let anyone who is visiting areas with orangutans know that they should keep their distance and under no circumstance feed them or touch them.

If you want to read more about this issue please read our guidebook to the Gunung Leuser National Park.

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Pedal Power Cinema

Hi, My name is Suzanne Turnock and for the past two months I have been funded by The Vodafone Foundation to work with SOS. I entered a competition called ‘Vodafone- World of Difference’, the prize was to work with a charity of your choice for two months and all wages are paid by Vodafone. I jumped at the chance and I knew straight away who I wanted to work with. I have been the Volunteer Fundraising Officer for The Great Apes Film Initiative (GAFI) since June 2009, SOS is one of GAFI’s partners and have worked together for the past 5 years.
I saw this opportunity as I chance to organise the SOS and GAFI Pedal Power Cinema project in Sumatra. So for the past two months I have been organising and fundraising for the project, based at the SOS UK headquarters in Oxford. One of my main goals was to organise a Pedal Power Cinema event in Oxford, to raise funds and to raise awareness about SOS and GAFI’s work. This event took place on the 10th March at Oxford Brookes University. Using Pedal Power Cinema, we screened Patrick Rouxel’s ‘Losing Tomorrow’, a poetical film on the habitat of orangutans and an insight into the logging industry in Indonesia and ‘Dear Mr President’, a short film created at the request of local communities in Sumatra. World renowned Conservationist, Ian Redmond OBE was our special guest speaker for the evening and David Smith, Olympic Athlete on the GB Rowing Team, started the pedalling for us. We also had a raffle, refreshments and merchandise for sale. From the feedback we have received so far, it seems like this was a really successful event and guests were interested and excited about using Pedal Power Cinema for conservation education.

During my time with SOS, I have been writing grant applications, liaising with the team in the field to organise the project and helping Helen out with the day to day running of SOS when needed. I also helped out with the SOS collection day in February at Victoria Station in London.

This project has the potential to expand on SOS’ conservation education programmes in Sumatra. The Pedal Power Cinema can be taken to remote communities, which often lack electricity and show wildlife films to local people, who may have never seen an orangutan or are not aware of the need to protect the critically endangered species. Film screenings attract large crowds, therefore providing a unique opportunity to deliver powerful and effective conservation messages as well as providing a platform for people to raise their conservation concerns. Once we have received the required funding for this project, it can begin.

I finished my two month placement with SOS on 12th March. I am really proud of what I have achieved in a small amount of time and I have enjoyed every minute of working with the SOS team. I chose SOS as I believed they are an organisation that works tirelessly, with passion and determination, to save the Sumatran orangutan and their habitat from extinction- and they proved me right.

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Urgent campaign alert

The EU Commission is proposing to reclassify palm oil plantations as “forest” in order that biodiesel from palm oil plantations can still meet EU biofuels sustainability criteria under the Renewable Energy Directive.
Please click here now to support the campaign to overturn this proposal - and please pass this on far and wide.


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Visit to ROLE

A couple of weeks ago we received an e-mail from ROLE Foundations Eco Learning Centre in Nusa Dua. ROLE have leased 1 ½ hectares of land down on the Bali bukit, and they want to use this area in an educational manner, working with the poor and disadvantaged. They are focusing on education and creating eco-friendly job and business opportunities, locals to make a comfortable income, without destroying the environment. ROLE has invited SOS to be a part of their education area on de-forestation which will focus on taking the pressure off natural resources, while reviving the health of the environment through awareness and assistance. The area of land they have available is in an amazing part of Bali, right between Nusa Dua and Uluwatu, and with great views across the peninsula. We are currently putting together an information pack for them and waiting eagerly for the learning centre to open later this month.

Good luck guys, looking forward to working with you!
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Lucy Wisdom, SOS Founder, sadly passed away

Last month Lucy Wisdom, founder of SOS sadly lost her longstanding battle against cancer.
Lucy was working as a performance artist in Europe in 94, when a holiday to Indonesia to recuperate from cancer treatment unexpectedly changed her life.
On a visit to a rehabilitation centre for endangered Sumatran Orangutans, she found herself overwhelmed with the desire to help. For the next three years, Lucy visited Sumatra regularly as a volunteer to help orphaned ex-captive orangutans return to the wild. In 1997, Lucy set up SOS to raise funds and awareness about threat of logging to the orangutans disappearing habitat. Despite the constant political instability in Indonesia and the onset of secondary cancer three years ago, Lucy refused to give up the fight for the island’s estimated 6.600 wild orangutans.
Lucy founded the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC) in Medan In 2001, along with Panut Hadisiswoyo, to promote awareness of environmental and orangutan conservation issues amongst local communities living in North Sumatra and Aceh.
Her passion landed her the UK’s Women in Ethical Business Award in 2008 and saw her appear in the hero of the month pages of magazine Marie Claire.
Here in Bali we had a gathering celebrating her life where all her friends came together to reminisce her, and hold a Balinese ceremony.
Lucy will be much missed by all her friends and SOS who will continue her legacy by working to save the Sumatran orangutan and end deforestation in Indonesia.
Thank you Lucy for all your hard work

You can reach Lucy's tribute page by clicking here.


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