Indonesia Trip, July 13-25, 2008

I was honored to invited by the United Nations Developement Program (UNDP) to a training for trainers workshop for community media practitioners, in Porong, Indonesia . I am back to two of my other passions, videography and community work.

The villagers of Porong, amounting to around 15,000 people have been almost permanently displaced from their homes because of a mudflow that was triggered by a gas mining company called Lapindo in 2006. The mudflow has not stop flowing since then, overflowing into the villager's rice fields and homes, hence losing their homes and livelihood. Communities were resettled in temporary shelters like market places and in tents. Their demands, so far, has not been met or compensated fairly. We empowered members of the community to make their own documentary to tell their story, which was later shown to the Indonesian media and other NGOs

Sze Ning and me at Pasar Baru, one of the bigger resettlements.



At Kaliandra Sejati, the resort that hosted us. This was taken at a lookout where we did our morning Yoga, yep I'm into that now.



Lunch was all organic, plus these glasses of water on every table.




View of Kaliandra Sejati, where culture meets nature. 850 meters above sea level on the slopes of Mt. Arjuna.




Ime, one of the most articulate woman I know.



Me meditating after our yoga session.



Street food...heavenly food. Bakso.


Kids fooling around in front of my camera.


Caught this photo of this small boy while waiting to do an interview.


Mamak and me. Mamak is a master video editor with plenty of shortcuts up his sleeves.




Trip back to the mudflow site with the community. A lot of emotions.











SUPOR FM (Suara Porong) with DJ Abid. Community radio with 5 kilometer radius.




Introducing video to the community




2nd Screening to community




With the other trainers after the 3rd screening of the communities video.




Jakarta Photos

This is with Kiki, an old college mate.



Series of photos taken at a very nice restaurant, forgot the name but should be the one on the Menu. Thats Dwi in the background, Nikon D80 user.