As I never got to BA last week due to the UN plane having engine troubles, I went with her and one of the Livelihoods field officers for a drive around the island to have a look at some of the projects they are doing. There are some small-scale microfinance projects going on, such as vegetable plots and fish farms. The fish inside were amazing - blue and red spotted coral fish, colourful lobsters and sea cucumbers. They catch them as fingerlings and then grow them in standing net cages just offshore. You take a canoe out to them.
It was great to drive to a different part of the island - although it was slow going with all the potholes in the road. We skirted around a big bay, through some beautiful scenery; the rainforest is gorgeous. I let out a gasp though when we came over a hill to a view of total destruction: a government-owned, 10 hectare palm plantation. They had clearfelled 10 ha of beautiful forest, as far as the eye could see, to plant palm trees for the palm oil industry. I was extremely saddened to see it. There is all sorts of raping and pillaging of natural resources here. Whole mountain faces destroyed for the rock and gravel to build roads and make cement. We even mine sand and coral from the beach to build our latrines and soakaway pits. The coral is dead mind you, but its still not sustainable. The cost of sourcing materials from elsewhere is very prohibitive, so it's a tough one to get around.
This week our head of office, Paul, came back from R&R and so i'm no longer acting in his position (and having to sign a million forms more than usual)! We also have Marty visiting from BA to do some monitoring and evaluation work. He's from Radelaide as well, and I did my Red Cross training with him in 05. Things are so exciting here that we polished off half a bottle of johnny walker red last night and then watched the Simpsons movie (third time! it still cracks me up). Not a bad effort for a school night.
I'm going to BA tomorrow afternoon and staying over the weekend, so that's something to look forward to. Apparently they are having a party at one of the Red Cross residences (and hopefully it's where I'm staying!). They play touch footy on wednesday nights at the stadium, so it will be good to get out and do some exercise with a new group of people. :) Then the week after I plan to head out to Salang, so it will be good to get out of the office.
The weekend of 13-14 October is Idul Fitri, the celebration at the end of Ramadan, and a looong weekend (Fri - Tues holiday). So I've booked a flight to Medan, planning to go to either Lake Toba, a big crater lake on Sumatra, or to Sabang to the north, for some snorkelling/diving. Should be nice whatever I do. Some of the staff are going to Toba, so I might join them. It's a mass exodus during Ramadan - most of my staff are taking leave during this time because its the quiet period while the locals fast over Ramadan, and then celebrate during Idul Fitri - and as most of them are not from Simeulue, they want to either go home to visit family and friends or go on a short break away from here. I can see why - I may have some mental health issues when I come home :). It's such a small quiet place. You get a bit bored after a while. The expat community is shrinking, and soon I will be one of the few left. I would liken Banda Aceh more to Monrovia than Simeulue, in terms of a big expat community with lots of activity going on and money pouring in.
Still, life could be worse - on the weekend a small group of us spent a night at Alus Alus, at the beach house. More reading, sleeping, eating, relaxing and swimming in the washing machine of a beach. Ahhh... being stuck on a tropical island has its perks :)
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