A month dedicated to raise awareness about Bali’s environment

If you visit ROLE Foundation’s facebook page you will find more posts from our friends than from us, why? Simply because people start to be really concerned by the environment in Bali and elsewhere and that they know that we really want to improve the environmental cause. ROLE Foundation is not as known as WWF, Greenpeace, or UNDP Indonesia, but at our scale we are trying to impact the population and the visitors on the problems in Bali.
Every initiative is welcomed and we are trying to be a part of as many projects as possible such as the Bali’s Big Eco Week end at Kuta the 22^nd of June, Eco Surf Rescue at Canggu and Eco Surf Rescue at Keramas. We are trying to share our knowledge about permaculture, organic farming, waste management, sorting, recycling and composting so that more places in Bali can become cleaner.

According to the Bali Times (July, 1), « The « Bali Clean and Green » program must be encouraged regarding the increase of the foreign tourists attention on environment. One day they could leave Bali if they think that the environment is unclean,” said Agung Suryawan, the Head of Research and Culture Tourism Center of Unud. He added that implementing Bali Clean and Green program also lies on people awareness as many of them still litter and throw plastic waste wherever they want to. He said that he hoped the government continuously encourages the effort to recycle plastics waste so that people can participate to collect plastics. »

This quotation seems to be a good summary of the situation in Bali as tourists need to respect the environment like they would do in their homeland, we need the local population to become more aware of the impact of their acts when they throw their trash everywhere and we need the government to realize the extent of the environment destruction in Bali.

The conclusion is that everyone is concerned by the waste problem, the environment protection, the coastal and marine conservation : this is the reason why ROLE exists, to raise the awareness of every body and to try to commit everyone to the challenge of saving our counrty.

Kids Day

Saturday 29^th of June, the Island Sustainability Education Center, had the pleasure to welcome many guests to celebrate our love for kids! In the frame of the Children’s Interactive Environment, Diet and Exercise Education Program, ROLE wanted to create an event dedicated to our favorite visitors and to offer them an afternoon when they could discover environmental issues, sustainable behaviours and mostly great activities in the garden!

Our Kids Day Team had prepared a great set of activities: racing sacks, bowling, snail shell painting, finger painting, herb smell, herb hunting in the garden, hot potatoe, lucky dip.

While kids were having fun, the parents could enjoy the mouthwatering snacks prepared by our cooking team and Grand Hyatt for their huge contribution : they offered us the cookies, the muffins and many cakes. Thanks to them we could provide tables and chairs to the exhibitors, as well as the sound system.

Bali Safari & Marine Park has also been a great stakeholder for the Kids Day as they have brought an entire  zoo with them! It was one of the main attraction during the afternoon as everyone wanted to touch the small red snake or the braver ones were holding the big yellow snake on their shoulders.  Their support for our environmental causes was illustrated by a great draw of Bali realized with  bottle lips.

Along the game area, parents could also have a look to 5 stalls showcasing various products such as Bali WISE and ROLE Foundation products, wooden toys by Timber toys, clothes and garment by Little Boo Kids Bootique, clothes by Coco & Ginger, and face painting and kids jewelery.

For 4 weeks the Kids Day team had been collecting great prices for the raffle and thanks to our sponsors we could offer a Stay at Bali Eco Stay, a Night safari at Bali Safari & Marine Park  as well as a Day Safari. We also had vouchers from Little Miss Cupcake, entrances for Peek a Boo  playground, a scooter from Babyland, a scarf weaved by ROLE Foundation‘s staff, toys by Timber toys, a voucher for a workshop at Island Sustainability Education Center, a shopping voucher for Coco & Ginger Girls clothing, a Bambookoo voucher shopping voucher and a few other prices.
It has been a great afternoon and thanks to everyone’s generosity we have been able to raise almost $400 that will be dedicated to our Children’s program.
Even if it wasn’t the purpose, we are really thankful for the support of our guests and sponsors and we already think of a great way for using this money.

Eco Surf Rescue – Keramas – Oakley Pro Bali

Role Foundation is known in Bali and abroad as a foundation invested in many projects and people often want to join us to help on the eco surf rescue projects. In this frame, Role has participated to the ASP World Championship Tour during its step at Keramas. It has been the 5^th step of the tour, after Gold Coast (Australia), Bells Beach (Australia), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Fiji.
Last Thursday, the Oakley Pro Bali in Keramas has officially finished with Joel Parkinson leaving the final as the 2013 Oakley Pro Champion. We had two hot and hard working weeks in Keramas. Every day we got up very early, but motivated for cleaning the beach and to inform the visitors about our programs in our awareness tent. Beach cleaning is a very challenging job and consistency all day is required. We collected a total sum of 101m³ of solid waste in only two weeks. Not only did we clean up and collect the solid waste from the judging, announcing, media center, Surfers Area, VIP Area, car parking but also 500 meters to the north and south of the Komune/Event Area. Now we are starting the sorting, recycling and composting of these tons of waste in the Eco- Park. This impressive sum of waste shows us how important our job was. But it also shows us all the work and efforts that still need to be done to keep Bali clean in the long-term.
That is why we already started interviewing the possible candidates for the Environmental Ambassador Program, who will be sponsored by Oakley. We are very happy that we were part of this amazing event. Thank you to all the people, especially our Eco- Ambassadors, who worked extremely hard during the complete two weeks. Have a look at the pictures to get some impressions of our great time in Keramas! — Oakley Pro Bali 2013: Beach Clean up

Our Volunteers

Weaving Futures

Since two weeks we have started a campaign for our weaving futures project through various subjects that may interest our readers : How much chemicals do you absorb through your clothes? What would be your job 50 years ago? By those topics we tried to raise the attention and focus their interest on a cause that deserves everyone’s support : our weaving project!

As you know, ROLE started the Weaving Futures project in 2012 thanks to the Australian Consulate General’s Direct Aid Program (DAP) Grant, but as every project, it has grown and now we have 9 weaving looms waiting for new ladies to learn about it!

We have created the Indiegogo crowfunding in order to finance the next step of the project : become a cooperative! Thanks to this improvement, ROLE will be able to welcome more students and weavers, train them more effciently by giving them basic skills (English, computer) and technical skills.

You may not know the process of crowfunding but it is very simple : we are not looking for big donations but we would prefer if everyone could give 5$ to support the project! Our target is to reach $4500 so it would mean then 900 persons would help us! This is where your help is necessary : you may not want to donate but at least you could promote our campaign around you through the social media!

Weaving Futures is a wonderful opportunity for people like Desak, a young girl who chose to follow the training and become a professional weaver. At only 16 years she chose to dedicate her time to the apprenticeship of weaving so that it will ensure her a job for the rest of her life. As Desak, Novi would like to join the weaving futures program; both at Bali WISE for the Basic Life Skills program, these girls are presenting interest in their prospects and they are ready to take important decisions that will give them a safe future.

Help them, support them through the indiegogo campaign!

Environmental Ambassadors

The environmental ambassador program is one of the most important at ROLE Foundation as it is the best way to spread the knowledge about environment, sustainable practices and waste management. ROLE is endlesly looking for new students and for opportunities to build up partnerships with new areas in Bali. As you know, the Sawangan project has been completed and handed over to the local banjars. As it has been noticed by everyone in the area, the waste problem has decreased and it appears now as a Role model for any other community.

Currently we have three loyal students, Pak Ketut, Wayan Tusan and Ibu Wayan and ROLE is proud of their commitment and their achievements. Thanks to them the garden became the reflect of our love for environment : permaculture gardens have been built, organic vegetables and fruits are growing fast and bring their nutrients to our lunchs. More and more visitors are coming to ISEC in order to spend time in the garden and help our students building the garden beds, planting the young plants and taking care of the park itself.

Saturday 15^th of June has been a great moment at the ISEC as it was the Graduation Party for our 3 students; they have already completed the first level of their training « Basics : Introduction to Permaculture and Sustainability ». For this special event, a nice lunch has been prepared especially for them and a ceremony took place after lunch. Every stakeholder involved in their education told them a good word and offered them a diploma and a rewarding gift.

The graduation party was also a great moment for 4 visitors who came to congratulate the students and spend the afternoon with them in the garden. Even tough it has been raining all the afternoon, every one seemed to spend a good time wading in the mud!

The current students are going to spend 6 more months with us in order to learn about “Town and Farmland Planning: Technology, Design and Waste Management” and then “Community education, cooperatives and enterprise development”. We are also glad to have 3 new students for a new first semester!

Solar Energy Project for Role Foundation

Tytti and Tero two Finnish interns are conducting a research on solar energy as a way of improving the energy supply in the EcoPark of ROLE Foundation. ROLE is at times suffering from a low grid voltage and uses a generator and a voltage regulator to balance the fluctuations and lack of sufficient voltage. As Indonesia is located near equator, the solar energy is a natural choice to be studied as an optional energy source.

Although investing in solar energy has yet been expensive in Indonesia, with small steps the Ecopark could eventually be made self-sufficient in energy. After installation, the solar panel system can function for decades with only little maintenance. In long term the solar system would not only decrease costs of energy but also make a significant cut to the green house gases that fossil fuel based electricity production is now emitting.

As a developing country Indonesia’s need for electricity is growing faster than the energy supply of the country. At the moment Indonesia is dependent on imported fossil fuels in its energy production although the country has massive renewable energy sources waiting to be harnessed. The lack of knowledge and know-how among energy consumers about the importance and benefits of renewable energies is the major field to begin the development. As ROLE Foundation gives an important education for local people and communities in sustainable lifestyle, it also has a significant role in guidance of renewable energy usage. With this project ROLE can act as a green energy example and encourage communities to go solar.

The first improvement in the park would now be the installation of solar energy running light system for the pathways. The park will also be divided into small units whose electricity will be gradually changed into solar. One big project is to change the pumping system of water to be applied with one solar pump from the bore well all the way up to the top. In addition to watering the garden, the groundwater could possibly be also used as drinking water.