Below you can see some of the major projects that I have financed and fascilitated during the period from 2009-2011. These projects have had positive impacts on the natives lives, but I want to take these efforts a step further and hopefully in the future, with your help, be able to do projects for alternative energy and education in other parts of the world as well.

THE LUCKY STRIKE PROJECT

I call it the Lucky Strike project because they offered to renovate Bang Id’s student café. In return it had to look like a cigarette commercial off course. Bang Id and his family is living in Padang, Sumatra, and is running their home café near a big university. I didn’t really like Lucky Strike’s idea to say it the least.

One day Aman Paksa asked me if I could bring him into the city for the first time in his life. He was curious, besides he wanted to try to earn money. I asked Bang Id  if the jungle people could renovate his café instead of Lucky Strike, and he agreed. It turned out to become a huge cultural exchange project based on fair trade and sustainability. In the photo you can see the traditional houses that Aman Paksa and his clan built on Bang Id’s land. It was a bold project inviting “pig eating savages” to do this job, but eventually the muslim society changed their mind about these people, and vica versa. The full story can be seen in the coming feature length documentary Newtopia.

THE WATER PROJECT

Water directly to the house was well received by my family in Mentawai. Aman Paksa’s wife Bai Paksa was particularely happy because it is usually the woman’s job to get water for the whole family.

Do you know the story of Ignaz Semmelweiss? Sure, but story short; he was a Hungerian physician who in the 1850’s proposed that doctors should wash their hands. It wasn’t until much later people in Europe realized the importance of hygiene and germs. People in Mentawai still live in the time of Semmelweiss and to be honest it was hard to convince the natives that washing their hands could possibly save lives. Aman Paksa has had 10 children, and today 3 of them are alive. I am hoping that easier access to clean water will improve this situation.

THE SOLAR POWER PROJECT

Solar Power is an amazing invention that fits perfectly for people living like Aman Paksa. They too want the benefits of electricity, and the good thing about solar power is that it demands minimal maintainance and cost after purchase. Solar Power is a great example of modern technology that can have a positive impact on these peoples lives. I loved the fireplace and its dancing flames, but equally the jungle people loved constant light from bulbs. To be honest some of the magic of being in the jungle was taken away by the “dead” light that I provided, but then I reminded myself; it is not for me, it is for them, and it would be selfish of me to maintain my romantic illusion just to satisfy my own superficial needs.

PROVIDING LIGHT TO THE LOCAL SCHOOL

When I asked the communities living further down the river from Aman Paksa about what they needed, one of the things was a generator for the local school. Not only would it make more flexible learning hours, but also create a meetingplace for the whole community. I decided to help them and brought a diesel generator from the city.