Sukunan, desa wisata lingkungan

Thursday was Hari Waisak, a national Buddhist holiday, so I decided to spend the day off visiting Sukunan, a small village of about 300 families that has become quite famous for their community waste management program. It was initiated by a villager named Pak Iswanto in early 2000s but has since grown in scope and participation. In addition to separating trash for recyclables, and reusing where possible, the community also composts and treats household wastewater. Several organizations, including YDD, have also worked with Sukunan to develop the technologies in ways that are useful and appropriate for the community.

Of course, in order to ensure sustainability, it requires the participation of all people in the village. This means good leadership and education is needed, especially for children. It's this socialization effort, activated by the whole community, that I found to be really unique and impressive.

When I visited Sukunan today with my friend Matt, we were hosted by Pak Haryadi, a villager who spoke to us in Indonesian the whole time. We managed to pick up the most important parts, but I definitely want to go back once my Indonesian vocabulary on waste management systems has improved...

Bins set up around the village that separate plastic, paper, and bottles. The far left is hazardous waste.
Every household has their own system to separate trash, but they can go to any one of these public stations to deposit. 

An underground waste water treatment system, which was installed in partnership with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Yayasan Dian Desa (YDD) and Asian People's Exchange (APEX).

A diagram explaining the wastewater treatment system underneath all the houses.
Wastewaster is collected from 25-30 houses and is then passed through sedimentation and
multiple-stage biofilters before storage and eventual use for the rice plantations.  

A public composting station.
The entrance door is on the right-hand side (not pictured) and compost is collected from the rectangular hole at the bottom.

various composting bins

a beautiful kamar mandi!!

a urine-collecting station.
Urine, which is rich in Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (NPK) can be used as fertilizer.

A central storage facility for the community's separated trash.
These piles will be collected and purchased by waste collectors and recyclable waste facilities.

Students often come to Sukunan to participate in projects and try out new things.
This charcoal briquette, made by a Papuan student, can be used as biomass fuel for cooking.
Unfortunately, I accidentally dropped and destroyed this briquette right after this photo was taken :(

a composting site. this pile is almost ready!

The community also reuses coffee sachets and makes them into fashionable bags!

A ceramic pot-in-pot refrigerator. According to Pak Haryadi, it can keep vegetables crisp for up to four days.

They also promote the use of reusable pembalut (pads) for women.

Reusing paper to make the frame of a mirror.

The Summer

These next few months are going down in history. I can feel it. Here's what's happening:

- I will work my butt off and conclude my post at YDD. Hopefully the lab will be fully operational before I leave!

- Transition as a VIA staff member for the UCEAP summer program on community development (June 18-July 19).  It's going to be fast paced, educational, and simply awesome.

- Travel to Kuala Lumpur for a short visa run...hope to run into two of my college classmates, the beautiful Malaysian twins :)

- Spend Lebaran with my friend Novia and her family in Bukittinggi, west Sumatra. The Minang people have a rather unique matrilineal Islamic culture, and I'm excited to witness their celebrations.  Word on the street is that they cook rendang for days!  Yuuuum.

- After Lebaran, back in Jogja again. Soon thereafter, Ian, one of my closest friends from college, will fly in and we will spend three weeks traveling together in Jogja, Bali and Lombok. I'm stoked for Lombok, especially, because I'll run into some of my sanitation NGO buddies!

- Back in Jogja my Singaporean friend Lim gets in and we will travel also, around Jogja and maybe to Dieng.

- Finally, Mitch will arrive and we will cycle all over town, travel to Bandung together, return to Jogja, then pack up and head home :)

Afghan Pudding

My senses are telling me to update in the midst of all the busyness, exhaustion, and jaw pain. Santai saja. And so we will listen, we will chill, and we will write.

EARLIER THIS EVENING

At 6:30pm I sat on my bed and I was faced with the classic dilemma: go out and meet people, or stay home in solitude. The latter option was so tempting, and all sorts of excuses began to fill my head. You're sleepy. It's late. You don't even know the host. There will be other parties.  I almost caved, when suddenly another voice entered my thoughts. It was my friend Charlotte.

"While I'm in Indonesia, I am going to accept all invitations to hang out."

She said this to me in 2012 when she was living in Indonesia for two months, researching women's bicycle culture. Then I stopped to think, wait, 2012?  Has it really been two years? And it suddenly dawned on me that I have less than four months before I go home.

So I decided to listen to Charlotte's voice and found my way to the dinner party. I'm glad I did, too, because tonight I met a wonderful new friend. We talked for a few hours over fruits and homemade Afghan pudding.