Sunday, May 21, 2006

Pics from Bali 2


two days intense meeting for brainstorming.
Most of the participants are from the Philipines


horticultural planted by the women farmer group



Raymond explained the whole operation of the farming


Pak Adi explained his Sweet Purple Potato

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Kintamani Lake


Beautiful Mountain



Quality time


Kuta Beach is quiet after the bali bomb blast


Dewa Wisnu


Joel, participant and as photographer as well


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Thursday, May 18, 2006

Pics from Bali 1


Bali's Welcoming Dance


Bali Fresh's Project Site


Sub-Regional Participants

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Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Legian, Kuta, Bali

I always think that I’m very lucky despite all the constraints, challenge and problems that I face day by day. Yes, we have just ended up our four-day conference here in Bali and I gained a lot insight in which widening my horizon on the farmers products and the market. It’s just great due to we are starting our livelihood program and the only constraint that we face is after enhancing the farmer’s productivity in terms of quantity and quality and then what? But now I have some basic ideas and working frame that is clear in my mind. Yes, that livelihood program is important and yet should be started as soon as possible. What we are going to do then is to form new farmer groups and we can start with the community whose houses are going to be built after the quake disaster. We will start this program and at the same time we are going to conduct comprehensive survey; assessment, starting from technical information dealing with the farmer’s product such as cocoa, coconut, rubber or horticulture to market survey. By the way, we will define one of the farmer products in which we will focus on. I’m thinking of the two products that are cocoa and coconut. Attending this meeting always energizes me.

After two days seminar; presentation and discussion, then we went to “Bali Fresh” a profit company taking initiatives to link farmers to market. It impresses how the private sector took initiative for that. And yet Raymond, the owner of the company, combines the strategy of the non-profit and profit for empowering the farmers. His ideas and putting women as the group and only women are accepted to work there is a good combination of the strategy.

Then another lesson-learnt is from Adi “Sweet Purple” combining the local products and other non-local resources to be new products that is; sweet purple.

Farmer..
Farmers as it should be the group community whose prosperity but facts show completely different. Farmers have their own land, the plants to grow for their lives. But farmer in Indonesian context and mostly in Asian communities means the group of ignored and marginalized. Mostly of them are poor is not because of mainly their laziness in which always marked on them. Mostly the poverty is caused by referring to the social science term the structural poverty in which state that should be responsible for empowering them, giving chances for better farming on the contradictorily oppress them. Agricultural department who should train the farmers, opens market resource and decrease the poverty somehow they contribute for the poverty itself. Corruption is everywhere. Government even supports the capitalist to take over the farmer’s land forcefully and very often uses army and cops to force the owners. Most land conflicts force farmers to give their lands away to capitalist backed up by state.

Interesting lessons from Philippine was that the 1990’s new land law allowed farmers to have land, cultivate it and giving freedom to plan what farmers want to plant.


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Bali is getting up
I went to Kuta beach last night along with Vivian, Obi and Arman. We really enjoyed our night there. One of the most interesting spots we visited was humanitarian tragedy monument where the bomb blast not only kills the lives of hundreds people but also the other life’s of Bali depending on tourism. Some crazy people whose mindset was totally insane devastated the lives of others. But now Bali seems getting up from the bomb’s affects after the 7 months.

Kuta is just beautiful with its white wide sandy beach. It’s getting up though not as it used to be and thousands moved away to search new lives instead of depending their lives from the visitors’ humbleness.

Balinese as it is still respect their cultures and keep opening from the international world cultures. It doesn’t close itself from the outside world. It’s the mixing of the local people and international communities.

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Christine and New Changes

I didn’t know that Christine was no longer in IDEP and divorced. It’s surprising me. We spent hours last night for champagne and talked much about lives so far. We worked much closed for the tsunami emergency last years and she also wrote a recommendation letter for me to join APLP. Now, she changes as she admitted that. But a thing that never changes in her what I saw was the full energy of her to face the lives no matter how challenge it is. I talked to Sam in which was still Aceh and surprisingly they were still like before. This friendship that never change although the time changes. They both worked for USAID now. USAID should be lucky to get them.

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Monday, May 08, 2006

Arriving in Bali Today

It's little bit tired. I didn't sleep at all last night. I packed at 7 a.m. and then at 8.30 we had a meeting with my 4 staffs in Medan Office before I left to Jakarta and Bali. We discussed about the drafting of function structure of LPAM, the jobdesk and the next strategic planning. Ida takes the job for that. Then I left Medan to Jakarta at 10.30 arrived in Jakarta around 12.30. My next fly was at 16.00 and I took a nap in the waiting room for an hour. Then at 16:30 I flew from Jakarta to Bali and it took around 1 and half hours. Time zone in Bali and Jakarta is one hour different. The time here is earlier than Jakarta. From airport to the hotel it took half hour. I checked in at Sanur Paradise Plaza Hotel, had dinner, taking my favourite hot bath and now I'm in the hotspot wireless connection. It's pretty cool...
Tomorrow, we will start our new agenda...

Bali, I'm Coming..!

I’m heading to Bali to attend a sub-regional conference on Enhancing Capacities of NGOs and Farmers Groups in Linking Farmers to Markets.
Another interesting journey… let’s see..