The crowdfunding campaign for André’s project was a great success. The generosity of 71 donors, including you, raised a total of 10,400 euros, enabling “De L’Eau Pour Sumba” to donate 200 million Indonesian rupiahs! The local communities welcomed this magnificent gift with great emotion and gratitude, and celebrated the gesture in style.
As promised, we’ve sent you some pretty stickers bearing the logo of our association, and some superb isothermal metal and bamboo water bottles have been offered to people whose donation was at least 100 euros. If we’ve inadvertently forgotten any of you, please don’t hesitate to let us know so that we can put things right as quickly as possible.
A few gourds are still available, and if you’re interested, we’re selling them for 25 euros, including postage, in aid of the association. You can place your order from our website or send us an e-mail to: contact@deleaupoursumba.org, giving your postal address, and make your payment in accordance with the instructions available on our website under the heading “support bulletin”.
Not only do these bottles keep your hot or cold beverages at the perfect temperature, but they also look great!
IN THE FIELD AT SUMBA
Since our last newsletter, things have progressed well in Sumba. In addition to regular field visits to check the facilities installed over the past two decades, the Kambala Malupu training site in North Sumba was successfully completed. The KM distribution system, with its photovoltaic-powered pump and water house, is working perfectly, and the villagers have already started to plant their gardens.
A significant milestone has been reached thanks to the collaboration of PKK (a women’s and family development association): each household will now contribute 10,000 rupees a month (around 0.65 euros) towards the upkeep of the facility. This initiative marks an important step towards the autonomy of local communities.
SEKOLAH AIR ONLINE (SAOL)
To complement the theoretical and practical sessions that have already taken place, André is exploring ways of extending his audience beyond Sumba’s village communities. Given that the Internet and smartphones in Indonesia are on the verge of supplanting the teaching profession (especially in very remote areas), André thought it would be a good idea to use social media to share practical tutorials in support of his “Sekolah Air On Line” project.
To achieve this, SAOL relies on its long-standing partners: equipment suppliers, engineers, contractors, physics and chemistry teachers, columnists and writers.
A dozen themes will be covered:
What is water, where does it come from and where can we find it? How can we purify it, transport it to the village and store it? How can we organize maintenance by the communities and make the installation sustainable? What are the sources of contamination, grey water? How can we protect springs and evacuate grey water?How is the local water organization structured: legal and operational structure of the WHO (Organisasi Maseyrakat Setempat)? What are the relations between the WHO and NGOs, local and regional political players? All these videos will be relayed on YouTube, and also on social networks, the aim being to target mainly young Indonesians from Sumba and beyond.
This major online project involves a considerable amount of work in selecting from all the existing tutorials, then editing and publishing the videos. Its launch is scheduled for before the end of 2024.
To prepare for this, André is building his press strategy, and has already made two appearances on Indonesian television in the last six months: TVRI and Lapiero TV.
L’ESPIEGLE VAGABOND
Last but not least, André has just published an autobiographical account entitled “L’espiègle vagabond” (The Mischievous Wanderer), recounting his many peregrinations in the Lesser Sunda Islands.
This book is available to order from Fnac bookstores, Amazon, Eyrolles and Les libraires de l’Est. You can also buy it in any good bookshop, or directly from the publisher, Le Lys Bleu.
Congratulations to André, who has found the time to write this fascinating 400-page story while at the same time managing this major transmission project!
To give you a taste, here’s a short extract:
To set the scene: in 2005, a tourist arrives in a village where people obviously live “frugally”. No hygiene, no visible comfort facilities, monolithic food limited to rice rarely accompanied by vegetables or meat except in the event of death in the village. It’s a good reason to smile at a “departure for a far-off destination” (jalan jau): the death of a fellow human being.
During funeral rituals, the plate is suddenly filled with a debauchery of animal fibers: chickens, dogs, pigs, cows or buffaloes – sometimes goats or kids – to the point of bursting one’s underbelly… and one’s lucidity! In this context, I’ve sometimes seen villagers waddle like the victims of ritual heat madness (the “Kalango”). Disturbing ramblings in and around the village: a hazardous, wobbly gait, often on the verge of a fall. Animal protein!
As you can see, the style of André, this free-thinker and poet-traveler, is quite unique, and we sincerely hope that this extract will have inspired you to read this story in its entirety! Finally, our entire team would like to thank you once again for your interest and generosity. Thanks to you, beautiful projects continue to be carried out for the benefit of the most underprivileged populations. We’re moving forward together…