Night was falling as Yunita Kanca hauled in the Bemban bark (Donax Cannaeformis) that had been drying in her yard. The 28-year-old woman from Kenasau village, Sentarum Lake Region, West Kalimantan, hurried to strip off the bark fibers with a penknife. "The fibers make the weaving uneven and cause the price to fall," she told Tempo two weeks ago.

A Driver's Dream

A bus driver founded an Islamic elementary school in Tololai, West Nusa Tenggara. Attendance is free of charge.

After a 10-minute drive from the Kelay district community health center (puskesmas) in East Kalimantan, the rumbling engine of the ambulance gives way to the splashes of the Kelay River. Fransisca Sinambela emerges from the ambulance, shielding her eyes from the glare of the sun. It is 8am in the morning. A ketintingthe local name for a boatis waiting for her and six others on the Kelay riverbank. "Let's have an excursion along the river!" the 24-year-old woman joked late last month.

AN aerial shot of Bukit Sebayan, a fertile zone of green hills in the Tayan community forest area of West Kalimantan, can be seen on a laptop. Pius, who is the chief of Sejotang village, in the Tayan Hilir subdistrict, is in a hurry to finish mapping the customary land. "From 300 hectares, 100 have already been partitioned," he told Tempo three weeks ago.

From Student To Entrepreneur