Lambrineu Foundation - Commonication Report June 2007

Hereby an update of the activities developed in our multi purpose building ‘Rumoh le Guna’ in Lhoknga, Aceh province. Now, 30 months after the devastating tsunami of December 26th 2004, our Community Home becomes more and more a real focal point of the Lhoknga community, where farmers meet for discussion & information, families visit the doctor or dentist and where children happily join every morning their playgroup.

Consequently, our future goal for the coming year is to transform all projects developed and activities implemented into economic feasible activities that are coordinated, implemented and fully supported by the Lhoknga community itself. In this way, our Community Home can become a real harbor for social assistance and economic growth for the Lhoknga community and should become in the end independent of all the generous and heartwarming donations it received from your side. On this part we are very happy that we managed to develop in February this year a new partnership with Oxfam-Novib and Rabobank Foundation focused especially on safeguarding the long term future of our economic and agricultural projects by establishing a small micro finance bank and farmer association in our building.

What happened last months? First there is the Medical Clinic, which is now fully managed by Dr. Julinar herself and her two assistants Mimi (Nurse) and Tjut (Pharmasist). They managed to transform their clinic in a transition of only 5 months into an economically independent private clinic which earns its own money through consultation fees of the patients. After the introduction of the fee we saw a drop in amount of patients, but this is stable now on around 200 patients per month. Together with Dr. Tan from Bimesa who rejoiced us with his dedicated help and second visit at the start of this year we are developing now a stroke prevention folder as we noticed a high amount of stroke related problems in Lhoknga.

Secondly we have doctor Safri (Dentist) and Nurhayati (Assistant) who likewise successfully transformed their dental clinic in an economic independently run clinic receiving about 80 patients a month which gives dental, orthodontist & dental prosthesis services to clients coming even from Banda Aceh. Thirdly, with Unicef and Dinas Social we agreed upon a new year rental contract lasting till May 2008 so we can continue our successful cooperation for accommodating their children playgroup and branch office in our Community Home. New is the start-up of a physiotherapy clinic in our building that is managed by Humaira (physiotherapist) and her assistant Desi. She started this practice with assistance and help from Ineke de Jong and the physiotherapy practice FDEO from the Netherlands, for which we are very grateful.

The Chili farming project was finished in February 2007 and resulted in a good harvest and income for several of the initial 40 farmers, although repayment for the revolving fund is still low. To improve this we decided to set-up a professional micro bank in our Community Home, together with Rabobank Foundation and their Indonesian micro finance consultancy partner Rekadesa, which will handle the community loans and savings. At the moment a selected group of women and men from Lhoknga are involved in the intensive training scheme of Rekadesa to train them in handling their own micro finance institution.

Last months was a very busy time for the ginger farmers as planting season continued form January till around the end of March. In total 70 tons of seedlings were distributed over 200 farmers or 35 hectare. Unfortunately, many of the fields suffered due lack of rainfall in combination with young and some times lower quality seedlings as it didn’t rain for around 2 months. Some fields could recover when sufficient rain came in around April and May, but it gave the farmers a very difficult start. Furthermore, after thoroughly discussions with agronomists and experts from Wageningen University, Bogor Institute and Shyiah Kuala University we designed a comprehensive strategy for the farmers to control the still existing infections with a bacterial rot disease in the area, which includes the use of biological pesticides and the start-up of a small research test field. First in the field training sessions were given last month and we expect to harvest first ginger in August 2007.

To overcome these kinds of setbacks in the future we signed a partnership contract with Oxfam-Novib concerning the establishment of a Farmer Business Centre run by the farmers themselves through a farmer association. By signing this truly mile-stone contract we can continue to further strengthen and develop farming practices in Lhoknga sub-district by establishing a Farmer Business Centre where farmers can buy agricultural inputs in the farm shop, get information and extension service in the Resource Centre about pests & diseases or rent a water pump. Together with an agri-consultant from the Netherlands and a small group of ginger and chili farmers we are working out the legal structure and activities to be developed of this farmer business centre. Consequently, we hope to reach a final agreement with two private partners for the establishment of the farm shop in our building and a farmer demonstration plot in the very near future...

Lambrineu hopes to have informed you sufficiently about the progress in Lhoknga and would like to thanks all its donors for their strong commitment and their generous contributions during the last 2,5 years.

Notes for editors: For further information on the project or the Lambrineu Foundation, you may contact the spokesperson of the Lambrineu Foundation, Mr. Hugo Lamers (+62 815 8562 0436)