The people that make it happen

Building 109 houses, a school, clinic, mosque and training center is no easy task. Especially when you are racing to complete the village before the rainy season!

But the great work that Team Sunut has done in sourcing materials quickly and getting them delivered to the construction site has been a real success story.

On site it is the Sunut community and their families that are really making a big difference. All helping to build a new future for their community. 

With about 200 people working, progress has been rapid.

 

On our last visit to the island before the new year, we managed to catch up with the Village Head also working on the site. Here are just some of the men, women and kids all helping to do their part.

OBRI will be back in the new year with a new update. Until then, Happy New Year to all our readers and followers. 

New village takes shape at Teanjah Bay

Each week Ocean Blue Resorts visits the site for a progress update.

View of new village from Gili Sunut

When we restarted the construction seven weeks ago, all we had were the foundations in place. The 7 hectare site was just a couple of dirt tracks cut into the hill with only the promise of things to come.

Since then, progress has been rapid. The new village at Teanjah Bay looks 55/60% completed.  From Gili Sunut you have clearly see two distinct villages in the making. Followers of the blog will remember that we had to stop work on the first village at Teanjah Anjah due to one individual claiming the land belonged to him. And while he lost the court case in Lombok, he went to appeal in Jakarta in his bid to disrupt our progress. So there stood the community’s new village, 80% completed and unusable. As a result Ocean Blue Resorts Indonesia and the community started the whole process again of building a second village next to the first.

View from the road approaching the new village

For the last two weeks, a team of workers have been carefully removing all the terracotta roof tiles, door frames and window frames from the first site (Teanjah Anjah) and is reusing them at the new village (Teanjah Bay). This has saved a lot of time in sourcing materials and transportation costs. Not to mention being good for the environment. 

Here are some of last weeks photos. The transformation speaks for its self. 

Appeal for Shoes UPDATE

In a surprise visit to the island, Ocean Blue Resorts invited a special guest from Singapore to meet the community and tour the area. Arjan generously donate shoes and clothes for the kids.

An impromptu fashion show resulted, with two young girls showing the crowd that gathered their new dresses. Not sure they enjoyed all the attention, but they did love the new outfits.

Many thanks to Arjan and his family in Singapore for providing all the cloths.

Meanwhile back on the beach, the boys wanted to get their photo posted on the internet again! Here is Anafi with 4 friends..

Kids on Gili Sunut November 2012

Always there to welcome you with a smile, we are adding more photos of the children currently living on Gili Sunut.  Watch out for frequent updates. 

They are the changing face of the community. And they get to see the builders and their families working on the new village each day. With the new village at Teanjah Bay visible from the island they watch as their new homes and future takes shape.

This group of familiar faces met me on the beach and wanted to be on the internet!  They know about the blog site and so we try to show them on the laptop when we visit.

“Celebrity" they shout as a friends face appear on the web.

School's out for the day and this eager student couldn't wait to say hi and see what all the other kids where doing on the beach. Seeing Ocean Blue Resorts could mean footballs and candy. No time to loose.

There is no way this young boy was going to stand next to the girls. 

Teanjah takes shape in week one

Two weeks into our building schedule, real progress could be seen at the new village site.  

The first 6 houses were taking shape and lorry after lorry had delivered the supplies needed to keep the builders busy.  With the threat of the rainy seasons soon approaching, everyone at Team Sunut was focussed on buying materials and ensuring as much as possible was delivered before the 10km track to the project became impassable. 

On site were Pak Yasin and Pak Muhasim to check on progress.

With the full support of the community the excitement once again mounts. 

Progress on the new village

After months of delays, it was a great relief to finally bring good news to Gili Sunut.

While many investors are good at talking, few actual deliver what they so easily promise. After 3 years of struggle, it was therefore a celebration day when Pak Martin COO of Ocean Blue Resorts was able to confirm that construction for the mainland village would restart immediately. At the village meeting to discuss the news was Pak Yasin and Pak Muhasim.

But the news did not come without concerns from the community. The meeting on the island was attended by hundreds of eager villages, including village elders, community leaders, parents and kids. Given that there had been serious delays before, including a court case over the Teanjah Anjah land title, the first reaction to the news was not as enthusiastic as you would imagine.

Given the opportunity to speak at the public meeting, Pak Martin confirmed that the restart was real and that this time, no legal issues would stop the completion of the new village on the mainland. He personally apologised to everyone for the delays and genuinely understood the hardship it had caused. He went on to thank the community for working together to help make this a success and looked forward to developing the sustainable future the community deserved.  

With some families concerns openly discussed, the community could see that finally their new village would become a reality.  And, that they would be allowed to be part of the construction process by working (and getting paid) to build their house. All 109 of them.

With everyone united, the race is now on to complete the project before the rain season arrives. 

Appeal for shoes

Village life on Gili Sunut struggles on as it does every day. A recent visit to the island welcomed us with the familiar smiling faces even thought the problem of relocating to the mainland remains.

During the visit two boys, took a shine to my trainers. ‘I like your shoes Mister’ said Fauzi. He has become the team spoke person when we are on the island as he’s been learning English and his confident smile sells well.

In fact they all liked my beaten up old trainers.

We take for granted simple necessities like shoes so you are reminded how lucky you are when you see the kids on Sunut. Growing feet mean an endless need to replace the pair you have. If you are lucky enough to have a pair in the first place!

We have set up a local Shoes for Sunut Appeal. Please help.  If you are in Bali or Lombok, then get in touch and we will collect. (only trainers and flip flops please)

We will keep you posted with pictures. Thanks for helping.