Eco Tourism Field Research, no really

On Monday the community development team took 5 members of the Mns Balee village to the island of Sabang to visit Santai Sumur Tiga, an eco resort owned by a South African guy by the name of Freddie who used to work for the UN. We thought a first hand visit to look at the building materials, construction methods, and to talk to Freddie about the "eco" resort concept would be important for the long term success of their project. While we are working on the design of the restaurant now, they have plans for a complete eco resort that caters to both foreign and local tourists.

Freddie gave a comprehensive talk defining the following:

• An eco-resort is not only about the use of natural materials, but also the social benefit that is provided to the community. It is critical that the community is involved throughout the process.
• All materials should be supplied by the local community. Virtually all of the materials were supplied from the island itself, including the harvesting of the palm trees and the beach chairs, the sheets and e pillows.
• The tables and chairs are made from salvaged wood from the tsunami.
• He sells local handicrafts.
• Local construction workers built the resort.
• He contacts locals to maintain the landscape, including removal of the coconuts every 2 weeks so they don't injure his guests.
• He contracts locals to do a complete check for termites every 2 weeks.
• He has a full time staff of 12 locals.
• Support from the community is essential for your project to be successful.
• Cleaning, including litter from the ocean, is very critical. The bathrooms must be scrubbed daily, everything must be spotless at all times.
• Provisions such as mosquito repellent, tissue, candles, flashlights are supplied in the bungalows.
• Hot and cold bottled water - the large refillable bottles - are provided in each bungalow, with tea and coffee and a small refrigerator.
• While he respects the Sharia law for Muslims, Sharia law does not apply to foreign tourists and therefor he sells alcohol to his guests. This is something that needs the support of the community.
• The community will also need to accept foreign women wearing their bikinis on the beach, and the resort's staff will need to ensure that local men are not taking photographs of the women.
• The local government will also need to support the resort's activities.
• Trash cans should be provided everywhere.
• He opens the shower areas to locals that are not staying at the resort as a welcoming ammenity.
• He hosts conferences and caters food based upon what the guests would like, not what he would like to cook.
• Each bungalow cost 21,000,000 rupia or about $2,100, including construction labor and materials, not including furniture.
• Termites and rust are two of the biggest maintenance issues.
• The roof is constructed of two types of plant leaves, there is no intermediary layer. It is weather resistant.
• The majority of wood used is palm wood which is local and grows quickly. Bamboo is also used.

It was a good tour, and it was fun. We ate lunch there before heading back to the ferry.

I on the other hand went on Saturday with Karla and Luca and spent many hours listening to my ipod in the hammock. I also went snorkeling which was incredible. I am amazed at how much coral there was. I saw a blue spotted sting ray close up for a long time, and some really big eels. One came out from the coral and I saw it's whole body. It was like a ribbon blowing in the wind as it went to another piece of coral. It was a very relaxing weekend, although much more expensive than my previous $6 a night accommodations. He gave me a discount when I told him I was volunteering though. So it was about $22 a night. But so worth it. Bathroom in my own bungalow with a toilet. Maybe I'm a priss or maybe I just need another few months to adjust.

More Random Photos

These were taken on my walk home from work the other night. 

The doorway centered between the columns - there's another picture of this somewhere in my blog. Someone left the old house and built a new house behind it, perfectly centering the new door with the old house. It's charming. 

The market is typical of the narrow streets in the residential neighborhoods. It makes me want to open a little shop in the garage in Portland in the spirit of mixed use development. 

And the house with the white window frame - I like the contrast of modern - black painted wood, white frame, with the little wooden shop in front.

There are fields and cows like this in between the neighborhoods. If you look closely you can see some girls walking across the field in their hijabs (head coverings).

And the food - this is where I eat lunch almost every day. They have cabbage and green beans, greens, tofu, tempe, potato cakes, and omelette with peppers - plus lots of non-vegetarian food. I also get a mango juice. 

I can't speak Indonesian but I can still feel the excitement in the office that it's Friday and almost the weekend - a universal excitement I guess.

Stormwater Management Strategies

So we had a meeting the other day to discuss storm water management strategies. Currently they utilize concrete ditches, however, it seems less than ideal because there is generally not a larger municipal system so that the water just sits there until it dries up or otherwise goes to the rivers and ocean. It rains heavily here for brief periods, so our thought was that maybe a bioswale system would allow the water to absorb into the ground, reducing malaria and water pollution. 

Emily and I met with Mercy Corps Community Development to discuss alternate methods - bioswales, rainwater catchment, permeable pavers, green roofs. I created a powerpoint with images. Thanks to Anna for sending some pictures of the bioswale in front of her house. Overall I think the meeting went well in terms of starting to think about the issue. However, when we let them identify their favorite option, they selected (as seen by the check marks) the existing system. For one thing, Anna's pictures had leaves in it, seeing as how it's fall at home, and this is perceived as a negative, unmaintained thing. They also think of concrete as very nice looking. It was interesting to understand their perceptions. They are an opinionated group and perhaps as we all are (human nature), resistant to change. Part of the issue too, understandably, is that ngo's have these great ideas that are often constructed improperly, and fail - so it's tough to change the familiar.

Random Photos

I took these photos on Saturday afternoon as I went around Banda trying to find a halloween costume. I really like Banda Aceh. It's the perfect size, like Portland, not too big, not too small, close to the beach, close to the mountains.

Halloween Party in Aceh

Karla - the woman in the black pants, black tank top, and afro wig - hosted a big halloween party on saturday. The theme: heaven or hell. Actually she co-hosted it with the director of Save the Children, but it was at her house. They rented a sound system. It was actually dark, but the flash makes it look like people were dancing with the lights on. There must have been 120-150 people there, lots of NGOs. They had to mop the tile dance floor at one point in time. It went until 4:30 am, though I only made it until 2 before retiring to my air conditioned room. Mostly it was just super hot. A fun party, though I didn't actually know more than 5 people...

Mns Balee Community Workshop #2

So yesterday we held the second community workshop. The last one was two weeks ago with the objective of information gathering, including site assets, program requirements, and discussing a systems approach to sustainability (people, place, profit). I took that information and created a site diagram that illustrated primary and secondary districts, paths, and edges, in addition to nodes or "special areas", gateways, and landmarks. I wasn't sure how this would go over since the diagram is rather abstract. But I think it was very helpful to explain before I moved to the map which actually showed how all of  their program elements might be located on the site, including how the pedestrian and auto circulation concept. I created a powerpoint with 110 slides, mostly showing images of other eco resorts, and what steps they are taking to make it "eco" such as turtle egg protection, locally grown coconut biodiesel, etc. We also talked about how important it is to source supplies locally as an economic benefit to their village and region. I showed them images of "Bali" style landscaping and architecture and we talked about what tourists like - clean and natural. We talked about the importance of providing activity options to tourists, creating a local identity, and showcasing their culture. 

We also talked about the restaurant concept. I thought they wanted seating for 24, and in fact they would like 24 tables. I told them we would price it and see how much we could afford for $21,000 - the converted amount which depends on the exchange rate which most recently has been fluctuating as a result of the world economic turmoil. They also are concerned about the wind and rain blowing into the seating area. However, I told them the cost of folding windows would be expensive. They said additional seating is more important. Maybe we can detail it so that windows can be added later, and in the meantime provide rolling coconut shades for weather emergencies. I will work on developing both the master plan and restaurant in more detail based on their feedback. I plan on continuing to develop the presentation, finish having it translated, and making them a nice image book that the village can keep after I'm gone. Since it's a long term development project, hopefully they can use it as a resource. For example I will show them some natural looking retaining walls, coconut mulch pathways, etc. The meeting took 2 hours which is longer than the 90 minutes I had planned on. The whole translation thing pretty much doubles the time.

If you're wondering about the bird, it just showed up at the meeting. It was huge! They live in the wild, but apparently this one is known around town for its begging for food. It flew right past me and landed on the low wall behind me. The beak could do some serious damage. But its these types of things that make the experience worth it. It's all such an adventure with the meeting finally starting an hour late, the power chord to the projector having problems, using a building without walls, sitting on the floor - oh, there was a stack of korans (muslim bible) that I started to reach for to prop up the projector - luckily Miki quickly squelched that mistake. Miki is in charge of the community development department and has a degree in English Literature. He is very good, not just at translating, but in managing his team. At the meeting he translated which was great because he understands the concepts and didn't just translate word for word, but so that it made sense I think. I get the feeling that he might actually improve upon what I say.

We are trying to coordinate a trip to Sabang to visit an eco resort on Friday. We will take 5-6 people from the village and 4-5 people from the community development team. We will take the ferry, which takes about an hour, and have a tour and lunch of the resort. Mercy Corps drivers will pick the villagers up in the morning and pick them up from the ferry in the evening. Hopefully we will have a tour and talk with the owner. Karla and Luca (the woman and her son who I am staying with) will come out either Friday morning or afternoon and stay with me at the resort for the weekend. It's going to be so much nicer than the other bungalows I have stayed at, much more expensive too at $25 a night. They have clean white sheets though and attached bathrooms with real toilets and showers. It should be fun.

I've really enjoyed working on this master plan and have realized that I would really like to work on more master plan's in the future. No more map making for me though. And I do miss having a plotter and a large scanner. It's nice working on the large scale trace paper, however the only scanner is smaller than 11x17, so the hard copy cannot be inserted into the powerpoint, that I did in photoshop. I think working by hand is more efficient and flexible.