June 30, 2015 edition

Seventeen street lights shine over Ped village's unpaved roads on Bali's Nusa Penida Island. At 6pm, they light up automatically. Two kilometers away, in Toya Pakeh, the streetlights also turn on, just as the sun begins to set.
Just a year ago, the village was bathed in darkness as dusk gave way to night. "Now, all the lamps in the two villages are powered by an Ocean Wave-Powered Electricity Generator (PLTAL)," one Toya Pakeh resident, Restu, told Tempo. The generator lights the way for about 12 hours a day.

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More Outreach articles in other editions

June 23, 2015 edition

Saving Mandau In West Kalimantan
Craftsman Matius Ala is striving to revive the ancient tradition of mandau-forging in the hamlet of Kecukuh, West Kalimantan.

THE heat was so intense, it seemed to suck all the air out of the room as Tempo English entered the mandau (traditional Kalimantan sword) workshop in Kecukuh hamlet, Melawi regency, West Kalimantan. The heat was pouring in from the furnace, or puput, in the center of the room. Matius Ala turned half a kilogram of iron back and forth in the burning charcoal, using wood pincers to prevent blistering. "I need to wait until the fire turns bright red. It takes about 30 minutes," said the 58-year-old two week ago.

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June 16, 2015 edition

Helping One Another
The Kipas Foundation assists ex-prisoners in Bengkulu Province to re-enter society with job training, counseling and start-up funds. As many as 300 former convicts now run their own businesses.

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June 9, 2015 edition

Oceans Of Seaweed
A researcher devised ways to process seaweed into a cosmetic line with 20 products, empowering 500 farmers nationwide. What is the secret to her success?

THE Seaweed Cooperatives depot stands tall near the coast in Kertasari village, Greater Sumbawa Island, West Nusa Tenggara. In the backyard, rows of wrinkled seaweed sit drying under the hot morning sun, as a vaguely putrid smell wafts through the air.

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June 2, 2015 edition

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.
Kanca's sister, 25-year-old Leokrita Diana, sat next to her, skillfully weaving fiber strands into dew-droplet patterns. "This is called tangga ambun, which means 'natural coolness in the morning'," she said.

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May 26, 2015 edition

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

AFFECTIONATELY called 'Bang Alan', Muhammad Shaleh, who hails from Tololai, Bima regency, West Nusa Tenggara, drives the night bus between Bima, Sumbawa, and Mataram, Lombok. He had just returned from Mataram when Tempo met him two weeks ago.

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May 19, 2015 edition

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.
Fransisca, affectionately known as Chika, is a nurse. On that day, along with her team of colleagues, she was to start a week-long mobile puskesmas service in the area as part of the Pencerah Nusantara, carrying a complete set of medical equipment aboard a boat only about the width of an average adult.

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