Lesan

February 15th, 2010

Just got back from Lesan. It was a very interesting couple days. Currently Lesan protected forest is at a turning point. The TNC has been working in the area with the local communities for the past years, trying protect the forest from palm oil investors. Driving in the boats up the river to the Research camp, the shorelines were littered with logging concessions. In the last year, the logging concessions and palm oil plantations have received permits from the local government to being extraction. The TNC has now removed all the their rangers from the research station for their is no more that the can do. On Friday, we were able to visit one of the recently established palm oil plantations and talk to the manager of the operation. the reality of the situation of heart breaking. It was very difficult at times to listen to the manager speak of his views on the environment. “Forest are not productive” he said. The sort of phrases bring back the reality of the overpowering nature of money. Quite obviously productivity = money. Its very frustrating knowing that unless we can provide these types of people with different economic options, they will never stop going in the direction in which they have begun. Moral and ethical reasons that many of us feel very passionate about have absolutely no connection to them. Even the biological facts behind forest protection is not enough to influence them and quite frankly there is just no where else for these people to work.

After two night at the research camp we got back in our canoes and traveled down river to Lesan Dyak village. The TNC still has a house in this community that still has one TNC staff member living at. The Lesan Dyak community has a population of 150 people and is the most remote that we have visited so far. Their ‘government’ in the village is composed of 3 chiefs. One chief in particular was very unwelcoming. For the first time on the trip we felt the hostile behavior towards us simply due to the fact that the we were unknown to these people. Over the next day we slowly got interviews with different members of the community are started to get the whole picture of what has happened to this community. The villagers assumed that we were all part of the TNC and immediately did not trust our motive. Over the last 5 years, the TNC has been involved with this community helping them to protect their environment and convincing them to say no to palm oil development on their land. Unfortunately, the community and the TNC suffered some communication issues, and many of the offers that the TNC made to the community were taken as promises. Therefor when the oil palm plantations received their permits despite the conservation efforts of the TNC and the TNC were forced to make the decision to walk away from the project, the community was left with very little.

The community has now lost their forests in which survived off of and there hopes and dreams for education for their children, doctors for their elders and preserving their community has been lost. It is extremely sad to think that these people will literally be forced off of their land because they will longer be able to sustain their basic needs.

Through many conversations and translations, we were finally able to explain to these people why we were here. They slowly began to trust us and open up to our questions. After two days of working through the language barrier we had the entire community asking us to stay for longer. It was incredible to observe how quickly mindsets can change and trust be built is you approach a situation with patience and understanding and of the others history and state of mind. it was very hard leaving this community knowing that there really is nothing that we can do and that it is now in the hands of the palm oil plantations. As we are observing the loss of the biodiversity of all the creatures in the forest we must remember that it is culture and diversity of people that we are losing.

It is now time for vodcast editing. We have a long 24hours ahead of us as we prepare ourselves for the final leg of the journey.

It’s almost island time and the one-piece bathing suit is ready for some action.

Quick stop in Tanjung Redeb

February 10th, 2010

Tomorow we head into Lesan. The last four days in Tanjung were not as productive in regards to documentary work as we had hoped. one of the days that we were suppose to have free to get stuff done turned into a meeting from 9am-4pm, with government officials and students from the Berau region. It was a very informative day, but extremely exhausting. By the end of the day we probably had upward of 100 photos taken of us by various camera phones, newspapers and journalists. The attention and exposure that we receive for simply being young and white is pretty incredible, and it reminds us all of the influence that we could have here.

Unfortunately, our busy schedules finally caught up to us, and many of us the spent the next two days in bed taking it easy.

So now it is off to Lesan for 4 days, then back to Tanjung Redeb for 24hours to edit our 3rd video log.

Rain and river walking

February 7th, 2010

We just arrived in Tanjung Redeb after a very long day in the cars driving for 8 hours on some of the bumpiest roads yet. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Wehea. It was really nice to be able to reflect on the trip so far and be able to relax. Last thursday we went river tracing down river. We had heard that there was a really cool swimming hole, so we wanted to find it. We walked down the river in chest deep water for 1.5hours until we came across the most beautiful pool of water with a water fall flowing into it. For the first time on this trip we were able to drive into the water and let our bodies float. On the way back upriver to camp, we got caught in the most intense rainstorm i have ever witnessed. Within 10minutes the clear water had turn a murky yellow, the green of the trees changed probably 4 shades and the river rose 5 inches. The rainfalls so far on the trip all have reminded me the reasons why these forests are so incredible.

Before embarking on this trip we had all been warned about the rain that we would faced since we are traveling through Borneo during the rainy season. Its been almost 6 weeks and i can only count maybe 5 times in which we experienced the rain that we had all been expecting. When we talked to some of the TNC (Nature Conservancy) Staff regarding the drastically low rainfall, they seemed somewhat indifferent regarding it. It seems strange that they would not be more concerned regarding this, and over the next couple weeks, we plan on looking more into this issue and predicting if it will have any long term effects on their crops over the next year.

We are now in Tanjung Redeb for 3 days to regroup and prepare ourselves for Lesan Protected forest and the issues that they are facing.

Day two at Wehea Village

January 30^th, 2010

Woke up this morning bright early to the sounds of the rosters. We were invited to a tradition naming ceremony which began at 6am, so once again it was an early start to the day. The naming ceremony occurs 7 days of the birth of a child. Rice and coconut milk are stuffed into bamboo rods, and roasted over open flame for about an hour. During the time that the rice was roasting, Tim, Matt, Darwyn, Alanah and I got to go with two of the local men to wrestle a pig that would later be sacrificed. We got in wobbly canoes and paddled across the river to where all the pigs hang out. There wasn’t much wrestling the happened on my part but the men successful got the pig tied up and back in a canoe across the river. We had breakfast of rice and noddles, then it was time for the sacrifice. With the mother holding the baby in tradition clothes, the chief said the blessings and the pig was killed.

In the last two days, I have seen my first two sacrifice. Although I found it very hard to watch, there is a sense of calm and peace that fills the air.

After the sacrifice, we pilled into the backs of jeeps and drove out to an area that the community is trying the reforest. They have a beautiful nursary in full operation and they have already begun planting trees. Darwyns 23^rd birthday is on February 2^nd, so Jesse, Spencer and I decided to buy him 23 trees. After planting all the trees, we drove over to the rice fields. All afternoon, we were sat and talked waiting for our lunch of coconut rice to slow cook over the open flame. It isnt rice harvesting time right now so unfortunately we wernt able to pick any rice, but at least we got a feel for the effort it takes to cultivate rice. Lunch was amazing, and probably one of my favourite meals thus far. The simplicity of the food and the cooking process really added to the entire experience. Its so nice to be able to finally be a part of the food preparation process and have that direct connection with our meal. After the afternoon spent in the rice field, we got into back into the beds of the trucks for the ride back to Wehea Village. During the ride home, we were hit with another intense rainstorm that left us soaked from head to toe and feeling refreshed. Dinner was served to us at the Chiefs house. We are all staying in small groups in different homestay families, so it was nice to all join up for dinner. The elders preformed tradition music for us after our meal. Their voices filled the room with intense energy and once again I felt extremely lucky to have these generous people allow me experience their culture first hand.

Tomorrow we head out to Wehea protected forest where will be staying for 7 days. I can’t wait to have some down time in the forest to reflect on all that we have experience so far and to recharge for the next month of this trip.

Wehea Village

Late last night we arrived in Tanjung Redeb after a long 8 hour drive on bumpy roads. Our last 10 days in the Wehea forest were pretty incredible. The next four days in Tanjung Reheb are filled with meetings with various government officials and university students as we prepare to go into Lessan Forest. Here is the first update from the last 10 days and ill add more later :)

This morning we met with the Bupadi of Kutai. We got to go into the government building and they had set up a press converence type meeting for us. They began by explaining their efforts for establishing the Wehea National Park. The framework that has been established to protect Wehea is incredible. Wehea village is a key factor in protecting the forest. The rangers employed to protect the rainforest are all employed from the village. By incorporating a strong bond between the local community and protecting rather than exploiting their environment, the project is bound to be more successful.

After many photographs in the government building, we jumped in a convoy of jeeps. We drove for 7 hours on bumpy, muddy, twisty/turning roads until we finally reached Wehea village. Our entire drive gave us views of defforestation, palm oil plantations and coal mines as far as one could see into the horizon. It is so hard to believe that destruction that has occurred in this area throughout the last 10 years. Only remanants remained of one of the most spectacular rainforest in the world.

The community of Wehea village welcomed us with a tradition ceremony. We were blessed good health from the chief, who then proceeded in sacrificing a baby chick for us. The blood was smeared on our foreheads and thin red bracelets tied to our right wrists. Then came the dancing, in which the chief insisted we participate in. As the community stood on the sidelines, we attempted to follow some of the elders in a tradition dance to the sound of the gongs. Definitely quite a few laughs as we all tried to move to the rhythm of the drums. This ceremony, compared to the ecotourist experience that we had on the Mahakam river, had a much stronger feeling of connection between us and the dyak people. The ceremony truly made us feel welcome into this community that we will call home for the next 2 nights.

Walking up and down the dirt streets of Wehea village I can feel the energy that this community has. The people radiate and they all speak so highly of their forest. Without all of their support any conservation efforts to protect the forest is futile. The local communities must believe in what they are doing rather than just following orders from the government, and this is apparent here in Wehea village.

So for the next 2 nights we are all spread out across the village in different homestay families. I am very excited to learn more about the culture.

As we have learnt over the time here in Borneo so far, is that culture is constantly changing, just like everything else in this world. For us to think that their culture will remain stagnant in its old ways is unrealistic and narrow minded. But yet, in a community such as Wehea it is apparent that it is their culture that is preserving the environment. I wonder how we can preserve the aspects of their culture that represent their connection with the environment while allowing them to evolve with this changing world.

Our only hope for conservation efforts lies in the hearts of the local people.