THE GOOD OIL!

We are excited to announce that the virgin coconut oil factory at the LEAP Appropriate Technology Training Centre is now in operation! After a year and a half of study, testing, designing, and hard work the idea has finally come to fruition. The kids club is going strong and they are enjoying their new centre, funded and built by a group of “Holidays with Purpose” guests from Australia. Water is flowing freely from the 22 communal water pumps sponsored by SurfAid and was in fact the only water available on the islands for much of the dry season.

Jogjakarta Earthquake

Our hearts go out to the victims of the Jogjakarta earthquake in Java. LEAP have responded by purchasing and distributing emergency aid under the direction of Habitat to Humanity. Channa and Charlie have been visiting remote village areas where 6 days after the quake and still no aid has been received. Please help us to continue to help through your donations. See the donations page for more details.

Farewell Richard and Jo

The Leap team and Indo Jiwa crew bid farewell to Richard and Johanna Wallace who have spent the better part of the past nine months volunteering with us. We are all so grateful to them for sharing their time, knowledge, enthusiasm and love with us. They have played an integral part in establishing LEAP in the Hinako Islands. Johanna has been training Tina a local woman to teach drama, songs and games to the children of Coconut Kids Club. Richard has been overseeing the work at the LEAP centre on Hinako as well as writing and encouraging the team. We look forward to welcoming them back in the future.



The coconut oil factory is steadily progressing; more blue and green canoes are to be seen bobbing in the bay and the children in the kids club can now sing up a storm in English. The water pumps and jetties are almost complete in all villages.

Hard work in the hot sun

As the dry season approaches the need for water is becoming urgent. The Leap team are working long days boring through metres of solid coral to install communal water pumps. The coconut oil factory is almost complete, looking shiny and new with it’s tin walls due to the wood shortage. Coconut kids club is thriving with Johanna Wallace and Natalie Correll teaching English through Drama, songs and games in the huge blue tent recently donated by UNICEF.
An ever increasing number of colourful canoes line the shore as more fishermen benefit from the fiberglass canoe building project.



Come out and join the action on a Holidays with Purpose charter!

www.holidayswithpurpose.com

The Year In Review

What an amazing year it has been! It started with the pain and frustration of the wanting to help after the Boxing Day tsunami and has ended with five major projects in full swing in Nias.



We have a coconut oil factory almost competed and ready for production to begin early in the year; a fiberglass canoe building workshop providing canoes and training to poor fishermen; the coconut kids club with almost 200 members who come twice a week to learn, play, draw and sing; a community training garden, teaching organic gardening techniques and a well drilling and jetty building project helping to overcome the difficulties experienced by the rise in reef from the earthquake.



One year since the tsunami and 9 months since the March earthquake that hit Nias, there is still much to be done. Thank you so much to all of our generous supporters, friends and family who have encouraged and assisted us to continue to help the people of Nias. Please continue to join with us in 2006 and help these communities to flourish.