When an earthquake hits the Mentawai, or surrounding region, their world literally goes upside-down and we go into full-on emergency response mode.  For a couple of weeks, it’s a super hectic period as we try to reach the outlying villages with aid – food, shelter, building and hygiene kits - and raise funding at the same time.

After the October 2010 tsunami, we received an email from American photographer Michael Lawrence, who was in Bali at the time.  He wanted to help by documenting our work and the people of the Mentawai.  He didn’t want to be paid.

We got Michael onto one of the surf charter boats we had hired and he followed our staff working in the field, and documented the aftermath of a terrible tragedy. 



The first images we received took our breath away.  Very poignant, powerful and raw.  It moved us so much we ended up basing our whole new website design around Michael’s imagery.

He sent back this note: “Really happy to hear that the images are being received well.  It's been my pleasure working with you guys … I'd love to continue.  Truth be told, the trip was one of the best things I have ever done ... personally or creatively.  Life changing would be an understatement.  Affirming.  Slightly tormenting.  Entirely worth it.”

To raise funds to help people like the communities in the Mentawai, you need to present the reality of their lives so people can feel empathy. 

Thank you Michael for helping us achieve that.

You can view more of Michael's work at surfaid.tumblr.com.

Surfaid is resuming its landmark Malaria Free Mentawai (MFM) program on a major scale after the last widespread rollout in 2007-2008.

The insecticide-treated malaria nets have a lifespan of about five years before they need to be replaced.

Surfaid’s Country Director Anne Wuijts said malaria is a communicable disease which remains a community health problem around the world, including Indonesia.

“This disease has a high rate of morbidity and mortality in babies, children under five and pregnant mothers,” Wuijts said. “The incidence of malaria in Indonesia is still high, and efforts need to be made to decrease it.”

Wuijts said key steps that can help decrease the incidence of malaria are increasing the awareness and knowledge of the community about the disease, and promoting behaviour and practices that lead to malaria prevention.



“The Mentawai Islands are an area with difficult geographical factors which make it hard to access and this situation contributes to making malaria control and prevention efforts more difficult,” she said.

Since the inception of the Surfaid malaria program in 2000, Surfaid has delivered more than 60,000 nets and malaria education to over 300 villages in the Mentawai and Nias islands. This includes emergency relief work after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami and major earthquakes in the region, where people were displaced from their homes into temporary shelters. 

Surfaid’s government liaison and medical consultant, Dr Saiful Sofjan,  said malaria in the Mentawai Islands is caused mainly by Plasmodium falciparum, the most serious blood parasite that, without proper treatment, is fatal. 

“It's a life-threatening complication that affects the central nervous system, causes seizure, loss of consciousness and coma, or it's a symptom that appears as a high fever, shivers, severe anaemia and other blood related problems,” Dr Saiful said.



“This disease decreases the freshness of life, and deducts from the welfare and productivity level of the community in the Mentawai.”

The Surfaid MFM program manager Rintis said a new rollout of the program is due. “The Mentawai Health Department analysed malaria blood samples from March 2008 until February 2010 in several designated areas served by seven puskesmas (public health centres), and the sampling indicated that the incidence of malaria is still high,” Rintis said.

In the previous program rollout, Surfaid reached nearly 90 per cent of the then 70,000 population - in some extremely remote areas. Specialised Surfaid teams transported the nets up rivers by dugout canoe and hauled them through dense jungle to reach many of the isolated communities.  The teams would sleep in the villages to rollout their education program, distribute the nets to each household and conduct parasite testing.



Surfaid now has a plan to implement a MFM Program for three years from November 2012.  “The main activities will be similar to the previous program, with some modifications based on discussions with the Mentawai Health Department in order to support the national Elimination of Malaria 2020 program in Sumatra,” Rintis said.

“We fully support the national program as it is very difficult to implement national initiatives in remote areas like the Mentawai Islands, which lie 150km off the coast of Sumatra,” she said.

Surfaid’s Malaria Free Mentawai program is also supporting the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.

Are you on Tumblr? We have made a special Tumblr photo blog 'Catching Shadows' dedicated to the amazing photographers who donate shots to help promote our work. The first in an ongoing series is by Bob Barker. 

Check it out at surfaid.tumblr.com and follow away!

In a three-week journey, ranging from the Mentawai Islands to Nias and the Hinakos, Sydney-based photographer Bob Barker documented SurfAid’s work.

 “It was a fantastic opportunity to go beyond the surf breaks in the Mentawai and see how the people really lived,” Bob says.

“The people were really welcoming to these strangers in their village, and snaking down the rivers going to the remote villages was like something out of Heart of Darkness.

“It was so remote and some of the villages I don’t think had seen white people before.  They were amazingly poor but welcomed us with open arms as we came round the corner in the dugout canoe. They welcomed us into their homes and shared whatever food they had with us.

“I’ve been a professional photographer for over 35 years and this trip was certainly one of the highest of my photographic experience, getting off the beaten track, meeting all the local people and sharing their lives.

“It’s a beautiful place with verdant jungle and crystal water and outrageous humidity which is very, very difficult to work in.  Overall, I was very happy with the range of photos I got  - I shot about 10,000 frames - and through SurfAid being able to meet these people and photograph their work was a privilege. I’d jump at the chance to do it again.”

The past year has been a huge endeavour for our management and field teams as we rolled out our recovery program after the 2010 tsunami devastated many of the Mentawai villages.

We have now moved into long-term recovery for affected communities and we have a new program called SeSe, which means ‘appropriate’ in Mentawai language.

SeSe stands for Sejahtera Masyarakat, Sehat Ibu Anak (Prosperous Communities, Healthy Mothers and Children) and it will be implemented in the former internally displaced person (IDP) camps in South Pagai and one village in South Sipora.  These areas suffered the full force of the 3-4 metre tsunami in October 2010.



Ten community members lost their lives in Gobik, including seven children and infants.  Only three months before the tsunami struck, we had completed a gravity-fed water system in the village.  Somehow it managed to survive the onslaught of the ocean.

FRESH WATER AND NEW LIFE
The community has since rebuilt a new Gobik village which is safer from a tsunami as it is close to the foot of the mountain 700 metres from the old village. But they had to leave their clean water supply behind so village leader Mr Sandar Samangilalai asked for SurfAid’s assistance.





The local people agreed to work together with us. We supplied new galvanized pipes, tap stands and water kiosks, and the community retrieved the pipes from their old village. The new facilities are now providing fresh water for 20 families.

As part of delivering our SeSe program, SurfAid needs to improve the water supply and sanitation practices in other Mentawai villages. We will provide water facilities and foster community construction of latrines, together with locally tailored hygiene promotion. 




TAX DEDUCTIBLE BENEFIT FOR YOU
Funding is needed for water facilities appropriate to community circumstances including gravity-fed tanks, wells, filtered spring water collection and rainwater harvesting systems.   

It costs on average $100 to provide a sustainable fresh water supply to one family.

We hope that you will join with us in helping to improve the health and living conditions of our communities in the Mentawai.

Our programs rely on private donations and your support will go a long way. All donations are tax deductible.

Thank you very much for your support of the Mentawai people.

Together we are making a real difference to their lives and giving them hope for the future.

The winning fundraisers of our Get On Board campaign set off for an epic surf trip to the Mentawai islands in early March.  

Matt Belden and Will Hutchinson arrived in Padang to meet up with the SurfAid, Quiksilver and SDSU Center for Surf Research representatives and Quiksilver pros Balaram Stack and Ry Craike.  

The crew hopped aboard the Melaleuca charter boat, only to be met with a fierce storm that forced them to remain in Padang for the evening. The next morning the skies had cleared and they were ready to set sail for the Mentawai.

Matt, Will and the gang enjoyed some great surf days but all agreed that the highlight of their trip was time spent on the islands.  Will described it as “eye-opening”.  The aftermath of the 2010 tsunami was still very evident and Matt said it was “as if the jungle had been wiped out by a giant lawnmower”.



While on the islands, Matt and Will were able to witness SurfAid’s programs in action, and toured Quiksilver’s Katiet Center and radio tower projects.  

According to Will, it was evident that SurfAid was doing great work. “It’s amazing to see how much effect an organization has had.”

We are stoked that Matt and Will were able to see SurfAid’s work and bring home the experience to tell others.  It’s also exciting to hear about their epic surf sessions with Balaram and Ry, which Will described as “inspirational”.  

Quiksilver has an upcoming video of the trip with surf highlights, visits into villages and beautiful scenery of the islands. And stay posted for Get On Board 2013.

Thursday 12 April 2012

Two major earthquakes struck in the ocean off Sumatra yesterday setting off tsunami alerts and causing widespread panic.

The first quake, at 3.38pm, was of magnitude 8.6 in a depth of 23km, 434km south-west of Banda Aceh. It forced the evacuation of staff from SurfAid’s offices in Medan (North Sumatra), Padang (West Sumatra), Gunung Sitoli (Nias) and Tua Pejat (Mentawai Islands).

SurfAid’s Chief Financial Officer, Andrew Spagnardi, who is based in Medan, said the quake was very strong.  “It went on and on for more than four minutes.  We all ran outside and stood in the street with the rest of the local community away from anything that could fall on us,” he said.

Meanwhile residents of coastal cities and villages in the islands started fleeing towards higher ground in case of a tsunami.



Two hours later a strong aftershock of 8.2M hit, causing more panic.

“We had to evacuate our office again as we were concerned the building might collapse; it was a very eerie feeling,” Spagnardi said.

SurfAid staff rang all our offices to check that staff were OK and ascertain any injuries or damage in the villages.  Electricity was cut in many areas.

Three small tsunamis were recorded, the highest at 0.8m. The tsunami alert, which had been issued for the entire western coast of Sumatra by the Indonesian Meterology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), was lifted at 8pm.  Twenty-eight other countries had also issued alerts.

According to meteorological experts, there was no major tsunami because the quakes caused the earth to shift horizontally along fault lines – what is known as a strike-slip earthquake. It is usually the vertical shifts that result in tsunamis.

The USGS National Earthquake Information Center ranks the earthquake as the 11th largest since 1900 and it is the biggest ever of its type.

With warnings from experts of a major earthquake due for the Siberut region of the Mentawai Islands, SurfAid continues to roll out our Emergency Preparedness Program for the region. 

- Kirk Willcox

Indonesia is an archipelago consisting of more than 17,000 islands. The Indonesian population is the fourth largest in the world, with a total of 240 million inhabitants. About 19 million people try to survive on less than US$1 a day, while a staggering 120 million people live on less than US$2 a day.

The poorest areas of Indonesia are the remote islands where sometimes as many as 95 per cent of people in rural communities are poor. In isolated areas people can’t access the public basic services (education, health, work, etc.) that are usually concentrated in the bigger towns on the mainland. 

In the isolated Mentawai Islands this has resulted directly in unnecessary deaths, especially among pregnant women and children under five. It also contributes to the unacceptably high levels of malnutrition, diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections in children under five. The accessibility and quality of maternal health are still the major causes of high maternal deaths in Indonesia. Providing health care facilities for pregnant women and children under five in remote areas of Indonesia has been dauntingly challenging.

But SurfAid is up for that challenge!




Fighting poverty and improving living conditions is tougher than it seems. There are many different and interlinked factors that contribute to the situation. Any solution needs to take into account these different factors and find creative ways of tackling them.

So, SurfAid will provide very practical support such as materials to build water tanks, water taps and toilets for clean water and sanitation, mosquito nets to avoid malaria, and vegetable seeds to help establish nutrition gardens to eradicate malnutrition.

But it is the capacity building of community health volunteers, schoolchildren, community members and relevant government staff that really lies at the heart of what we do. 





Hardware is important but is not enough to address health, sanitation and nutrition issues. We need behaviour change to stop pregnant women and children from dying! Very much in line with the motto “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you will feed him for his life.” 

In 2012, SurfAid will work in the remote islands of the Mentawai, Nias, Telo and Banyak. We will further explore the possibilities of working in Sumbawa and the Northern Moluccas.

In the Mentawai Islands, SurfAid will work together with communities and the local government to stop children and pregnant women dying from malaria, malnutrition and acute respiratory infections.





We will also provide Long-Term Post Tsunami Recovery for the communities affected by the October 2010 Tsunami. This community-based program is called SeSe Program, which means in Mentawai language: appropriate. SeSe stands for Sejahtera Masyarakat, Sehat Ibu Anak (Prosperous Communities, Healthy Mothers and Children).

SeSe will be implemented in the former internally displaced people (IDP) camps in South Pagai and in one village in South Sipora. The Malaria Free Mentawai project will reach out through the whole of the Mentawai, but will start in South Pagai and South Sipora.





In Nias, SurfAid will also together with communities and the local government to work on severe health issues for pregnant women, mothers and children. This community-based program is called Sökhi program, which in Nias language means Healthy! It stands for Stronger Communities, Healthier Children and will concentrate in the Hiliduho subdistrict in Central Nias district.

Isolation contributes directly to the abysmal health and poverty status of the people of the Mentawai and Nias. On top of that, these islands lay on a ‘hot zone’ in terms of earthquakes. Scientists believe that another great earthquake (greater than 8 Magnitude) is imminent and that it will be centred close to, or under, Siberut Island in the Mentawai. It is very likely that this will lead to another tsunami that will impact the Mentawai Islands, the Telos and the wider surrounding area, including West Sumatra. 

That is why SurfAid implements an Emergency Preparedness Program (E-Prep) for remote islands in Western and Northern Sumatra. Communities will work together with the local government and SurfAid to map out risks, prepare and build escape routes, relocate where necessary and prepare young and old on what to do when the disaster strikes (again). 

By Anne Wuijts
SurfAid Country Director

You can help support SurfAid by participating in Billabong’s Life’s Better in Boardshorts initiative that is designed to capture the moments that enrich our individual summer experiences.

The interactive project calls on people to use the Instagram app to take a photo of whatever it is that makes their life better and then upload the image to a communal gallery at billabong.com/lifesbetter

The payoff for sharing the photo is twofold. Each entry is eligible for prize packs that include everything from clothes to a surf trip but — more importantly — Billabong will make a $1 donation for each photo received to make life better for some less fortunate members of our global community.

The aim is to get 50,000 photos on display to reach Billabong’s donation cap of $50,000 — all of which will be sent to SurfAid to assist in our humanitarian and disaster relief efforts in one of the surf world’s favourite playgrounds, Indonesia’s Mentawai Islands.

The Life’s Better campaign is already well under way, with more than 1000 photos so far uploaded to the website for viewing (and over $1000 raised for us).

Visit billabong.com/lifesbetter to see what all the buzz is about; start sharing your own stories and gain access to the Life’s Better in Boardshorts free movie download.

Thanks Billabong!

On February 10, 2012 the top fundraiser of SurfAid’s first ever ‘Get On Board’ fundraising contest was announced.  Matt Belden of Surfbreak Rentals and a friend will be joining an all-star lineup for a once-in-a-lifetime Mentawai surf trip.

On March 7th, Matt and his friend will leave for the Mentawai Islands, alongside Quiksilver pros Balaram Stack and Ry Craike, and representatives of the Quiksilver Foundation, Quiksilver Travel, SDSU Center for Surf Research, and SurfAid.

Matt’s fundraising efforts not only won for him two spots on the Mentawai surf trip, but also raised an amazing $4,300 for SurfAid.

Here’s an excerpt of Matt’s thanks to everyone who donated toward his fundraising, “I have never done something like this before and our goal was to raise SurfAid 5K and let people know that we may be about global vacation rentals but, at the end of the day, we care about the communities and people that live where we travel to find waves. When I found out that we got first place I realized how lucky we are have to such generous friends.” –Matt Belden, CEO Surfbreak Rentals



Coming in second place was long-time SurfAid supporter Steve Hindman.  Steve’s fundraising efforts could be seen all over the internet and social media, and his hard work raised $2,200 for SurfAid.  Steve qualified for several incentive gifts for reaching certain fundraising goals.  Steve will be receiving Quiksilver and SurfAid gear in addition to our deepest gratitude for his efforts and continued support.

Coming in third place was Kim Dang.  Kim raised $1,170 for SurfAid and also qualified to receive Quiksilver and SurfAid incentive gifts.

In total, the ‘Get On Board’ campaign raised $17,541 for SurfAid.  These funds will help further SurfAid’s work on the Mentawai and Nias islands.

SurfAid would also like to recognize Chris Von Clem who learned of SurfAid through the ‘Get On Board’ campaign.  Chris chose not to compete in the contest, but instead generously donated $7,500 to SurfAid through his family fund.

In addition to our fundraisers and donors, SurfAid would like to thank and recognize everyone who made this campaign possible: Quiksilver Foundation and Quiksilver Travel for offering the trip openings to SurfAid and for providing the incentive gifts for eligible fundraisers; SDSU Center for Surf Research for providing information on sustainable tourism for our winners on the trip; Melaleuca charter boat for providing the trip charter boat; and to Gary Sirota and the Coastal Law Group, who generously provided pro bono legal advice and guidance.

Thank you to Matt, Steve, Kim and all of the amazing fundraisers who participated in the ‘Get On Board’ campaign.  Your hard work and support will help save lives.

The Mentawai and Nias islands, off Indonesia’s Sumatran coast, are home to some of the most perfect surf breaks in the world. A dream destination for surfers. But look past the azure blue waters, and near perfect waves, and you’ll see a people challenged by regularly occurring natural disasters and disease.

Since 2000, SurfAid has been working to improve the health, wellbeing and self-reliance of the Mentawai and Nias people through education programs involving nutrition, hygiene and disease prevention. SurfAid has also taught Emergency Preparedness programs and provided disaster response to help prepare for and recover from devastating earthquakes and tsunamis.

These islands also represent a perfect case study to more deeply explore the challenges and opportunities related to broader issues of sustainability and the surfing industry’s connection to it … social, environmental, and economic.

All of this adds up to a driving need for more awareness within the surf industry in the United States … surfers, surf travelers, board shapers, glassers, apparel and accessories manufacturers … all of us.

So you’re probably thinking ...

“IT’S SO FAR AWAY AND I’LL PROBABLY NEVER GO THERE. WHY SHOULD I CARE?”

As a surfer we care about others and the environment, especially the oceans. And, it’s natural to want to help the remote regions of the world connected to us through surfing, while learning more about what we all can do to move the needle towards a more sustainable surf industry. Just in case that’s not enough, SurfAid has teamed up with the Quiksilver Foundation, Quiksilver Travel and San Diego State University’s Center for Surf Research to send you there to learn for yourself.

“HOW CAN I GO?”

Join our “Get On Board” fundraising drive. Between December 26, 2011 and February 10, 2012 register through our fundraising site, your personal fundraising page, and get the word out. At the end of the drive, we’ll take the top fundraiser and a guest with us on boat trip for two (2) to the Mentawai Islands, March 7-18, 2012, courtesy of Quiksilver Travel and the Quiksilver Foundation.

(NOTE:  The Mentawai boat trip offered through the “Get On Board” fundraiser is only open to legal residents of the United States, who have reached the age of majority (18 years) or older as of the date of the commencement of the Get On Board fundraiser drive: December 26, 2011.)

“WHAT DOES THIS BOAT TRIP INCLUDE?”

We want you to have an amazing trip. Actually, we want it to be epic. So we’re going to send you on a Quiksilver Travel chartered boat, the Melaleuca, accompanied by up-and-coming Quiksilver east coast charger Balaram Stack to keep your surfing inspired. We’ll add a couple of sustainable surf tourism experts from San Diego State University’s Center for Surf Research to promote awareness of sustainable tourism, along with reps from Quiksilver Travel and the Quiksilver Foundation. And SurfAid will round out your experience by giving you an insider view of what SurfAid does, and why they do it. All details of the trip are included in the legal language of the fundraiser “Terms and Conditions”, please make sure you read them.

WE'RE PRETTY SURE IT WILL BE:

Exhilarating. Eye-opening. Life-changing.

So Get On Board to: Give, Surf, and Preserve!