A 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia on September 28, 2018 ravaging the island of Sulewasi, and other parts of Indonesia. The earthquake and following 10ft tsunami destroyed many parts of the region, killing more than 2,200 people with another 5,000 still missing.

Around 68,000 homes had been damaged or destroyed leaving 330,000 people without adequate shelter. With limited access via the airport and roads, many areas are yet to receive assistance.

SISEAP initially funded SI Kemang, who partnered with local medical teams, to provide immediate emergency medical assistance for 500 families. More funding had been given for SI Kemang to dispatch medical supplies, personal care and sanitary items to Sulawesi.

SISEAP had funded SI Jakarta to supply family-sized tents and blankets, primarily to women and girls in Sulawesi areas who had not received any aid assistance. They were homeless, vulnerable and in danger from violent crimes as well as serious illness caused by heavy rains and mosquito borne diseases, like Malaria.

SI Jakarta had been working in Lombok to support disaster-affected families with shelter and essential emergency supplies. However, further relief funds were needed to help families across Indonesia that helped to:

• heal and recover with emergency healthcare and safety supplies;
• improved their access to water and sanitation facilities;
• built temporary and transitional shelter and schools;
• rebuilt their livelihoods through early recovery interventions.

How Donations Helped

The donations went towards helping those affected, especially vulnerable women and children. Which helped to:

• Provide tents and plastic sheets for flooring;
• Delivered clean water equipment and sanitation facilities;
• Built temporary safe schools and supply education materials;
• Built toilets and enclosed bathing facilities for women and girls to take showers and manage their hygiene and feminine care;
• Provided first aid kits, sanitary packs and new mother-baby packs;
• Harvested rainwater;
• Provided food security through farming and animal rearing.

Phase 1: WASH Infrastructure - Rebuk Satu Village, Lombok

Water Piping Project - Gangga Village

Funding from the SISEAP President’s Appeal Makmur Tsunami & Earthquakes Indonesia Appeal were then directed through to SI Jakarta in February, 2019, to secure the contract with a local contractor for work to replace the 1,000 meters of water pipes damaged in the earthquake in August 2018, affecting the village of Gangga in North Lombok.

Work commenced on Sunday, 3 March 2019 with the laying of the water piping in the village of Gangga. It was completed within one week.

From the outset, the local villagers, including many women, were involved in this project. They assisted in various tasks, from unloading the rolls of piping, digging the trenches where some of the piping was to be laid, and liaising with the contractor on how to maintain the pipes going forward.

This Phase was completed by the end of September, 2020. Since then, the Rebuk Satu villagers in Rembitan have enjoyed a good supply of clean water, sufficient for their daily needs. In fact, they have also been sharing water with the adjacent village, which currently has very limited access to clean, flowing water.

To ensure that the water quality remains suitable for human consumption, SIJ had water samples from Rembitan tested at a local government department. Results confirmed that the water is safe. Nevertheless, the Field Officer, assisted by senior villagers, constantly conducts checks of the water tanks, to make sure they are clean of any debris. This is part of the Project’s capacity building for the villagers in ensuring a quality water supply, by adopting an effective maintenance system.

A banner was erected by the Gangga Village, thanking Soroptimists for replacing the damaged water pipes in their village. The women, in particular expressed their gratitude to Soroptimists for making their lives easier through the installation of water piping to their village enabling them access to running water. 

Phase 2 - Capacity Building and Training Program 

Phase 2 focus was to rebuild lives, rehabilitate and build capacity of women and their families. 

Weaving – Ongoing and New Courses.
They did training for two separate groups:
1. On-going/advanced training for those weavers who commenced the first program in Sept., 2019.
2. New training programs for the 18 weavers who hadn't yet participated in any training. All of the weaving training programs continued throughout 2020, to ensure that the weavers became highly skilled at producing top quality woven cloths, using the most intricate, complex traditional designs.

Sewing

There was three sessions/classes per week, for a total of 12 sessions per month. The sewing skills were designed to help the women produce a variety of items to sell. Many such items was made from the woven cloth the women made. Some women were also trained to become small entrepreneurs so they could own and manage small businesses.

Literacy and Basic Mathematics
The basic literacy and mathematics classes were divided into two groups: The first group - for those villagers who had not yet mastered the basic skills of reading/writing. 2. The second group - for those who already had some basic literacy skills but needed on-going training.

Materials and teaching methods were adjusted to the needs of each group. The also did new classes in 2020 which focused on teaching basic mathematics(addition/subtraction/mulitplication/division).

Cake Cooking and Baking Training
There was 24 sessions of the Baking Program, over a 12 month perios. Twelve courses were offered over the first six months, followed by another twelve courses by the end of the year. The main aim of the Baking Program was to provide the women with the skills to make healthy, nutritious, tasty, inexpensive snacks for their families, for every day consumption, as well as for special occasions.

Through this program, the villagers were able to be more self-sufficient and not rely on unhealthy products on the market. Some snacks were also able to be sold at the local warung (food stalls) or at the market. This was to help supplement the income of some of the families.

Organic Farming
Focus was on teaching, by transfer of knowledge, the principles of organic farming. To the extent possible, the villager were discouraged from using any chemicals or insecticides and had access only to those fertilizers which were environmentally friendly. The aim was to produce healthier and tastier produce in abundant quantities. In doing so, it was hoped that the land would return to its original state before it was ruined by the regular use of chemcials. In this program, emphasis was on planting vegetables and fruits. Harvest time was, on average, 3-4 months. The desired outcome was for the villagers' incomes to increase from their organic farming produce, for them to become self-sufficient, and in so doing to improve their lives through consuming healthy produce.

Health and Hygiene
The aim of this program was to raise the awareness of the villagers in good health and hygiene practices. From observations of the daily practices of the villagers, it was obvious that many didn't fully understand the importance of hand washing and daily bathing using soap and clean water to ward off disease and to maintain a healthy body. Many did not possess towels to dry themselves. They plan to conduct this training for up to 10x/year, to include all villagers, male/female, young and old.

You can read the full final report HERE.