Posted by: Admin | March 15, 2017

Baby Jacques

Whilst in Sintang recently to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our wonderful friend, beloved priest to so many, as well as our Sintang Orangutan Centre (SOC) project partner, Father Jacques Maessen, we were thrilled that a baby orangutan rescue also took place. Needless to say, the lovely baby orangutan was renamed ‘Jacques’!

To celebrate his brother’s marvellous achievement, Father Jacques’ brother and sister-in-law also attended the event. Marcel and Margot Maessen then kindly offered to support the education and care of (baby) Jacques by the SOC team, until the day he can be released in a safe forest home. A truly wonderful day! 

Please find Willie’s article about Baby Jacques below.

We will be uploading an article about the anniversary event very soon!’

 ——- THE ARTICLE

Baby Jacques

Today March 4th, 2017, a new baby orangutan arrived at the Sintang Orangutan Center and we named the little male “Jacques”. Why such a difficult name? Because today, exactly 50 years ago, Father Jacques Maessen was ordained as a priest and since then he has worked tirelessly as a missionary to improve the life of the Dayaks in the interior of Borneo. Father Jacques is also, together with Dudung, leading the day-to-day activities of the Sintang Orangutan Center.

Little Jacques was confiscated today from a businessman in Sintang. He has a car rental company and he claimed that he saw this little, probably 3-year-old orangutan, in a restaurant. When he showed interest in the little fellow he was immediately offered the opportunity to buy him. And he did… even though he was aware it was illegal. It was less than a month later that his youngest daughter contacted the Ministry of Forestry about the baby orangutan kept in the back of their house. Her mother supported her because she thought it was unhygienic and dangerous to have a little orangutan so near her own children.

Together with the Ministry of Forestry Nature Conservation Police unit, our Sintang Orangutan Center team immediately left to rescue the little orangutan. Her husband was very unhappy but grudgingly had to witness his wife signing the confiscation papers and telling the team to take Jacques away.

During the month with the family all little Jacques had been given to eat was boiled rice with sugar. From his dense hair and the oiliness and even the smell of his hair, I estimate that he indeed was taken from his mother at most two months ago. Most likely his mother was killed so that poachers could take away her baby. Possibly baby Jacques’ mother was eaten, like so many other orangutans.

Despite the poor diet, Jacques seems very healthy and active. Of course, he was very stressed when he was taken out of the cage, but once the SOC car arrived at the center and our best babysitter, Jessy, stretched out her arms to little Jacques, there was no hesitation and he immediately put his arms around her. With the many leaves and appropriate food awaiting him in his quarantine cage, Jacques immediately laughed, rolled and played around. But he regularly checked to make sure Jessy was still there waiting for him. She patiently spent many hours with him keeping him at ease until he fell asleep at dusk.

In a few weeks we will get back his blood results and the outcome of his TB test and then we will know how fast he can join the other orangutan babies in the socialization facility. Below are some pictures of the confiscation and Jacques’ arrival at the center.

The team just heard that an orangutan baby had been spotted and immediately got the VSA sponsored vehicle and transport cage ready for a confiscation/rescue mission.

The team arrived at the home that had been reported for having a small orangutan. He was found hidden behind the house. The owner was upset, but not his wife…

Here is Jacques locked up in a cage the family had built for a pair of cats. No leaves, no toys, just a barren tile floor.

The wife of the owner did not want the orangutan in her house and it was her daughter that reported the orangutan to the forestry police.

Doctor Vicktor and Bayu (from inside the cage) taking Jacques out of the cat cage in which he was kept. Rice is falling from his back as he had only been fed rice with sugar for a whole month.

The head of the forestry police, Dr. Victor with baby Jacques and the businessman that bought the baby orangutan. They are shaking hands to show that the ‘owner’ agrees to give up the orangutan and a photo is needed for the police file.

Doctor Victor, the Sintang Orangutan Center veterinarian, carrying Jacques to the transport cage. It is easy to see how scared the baby orangutan is.

Lips tight Jacques waits to see what will happen to him next. But soon the traumatic experiences will be over.

Arriving at the Sintang Orangutan Center, Dudung, the project manager, steps from the car to open the cage.

Here Jessy, the SOC keeper specialising in baby care, reaches to Jacques and already one can see the difference in his look. Not afraid, interested and curious.

As soon as he accepts Jessy’s arms, little Jacques feels much better and clings on to his new ‘mom’, as he would have done with his real mother in the jungle.

One of the forestry police saying goodbye to doctor Victor after the formal paperwork of handing the baby orangutan to the Sintang Orangutan Center.

Jacques immediately loved all the branches, leaves and fruit that was awaiting him in his quarantine cage. You can imagine that this would have been such a nice change from what he had experienced the previous month.

Little Jacques looking up at Jessy, the babysitter, who stayed with him until he finally fell asleep just when it turned dark. His long journey back to the jungle is about to begin.

 

VSA Supporting Nature Conservation

Sale of Masarang HK 2017-2018 Calendars

Throughout December and January, a total of 176 ‘2017-2018 Masarang Hk calendars’ were sold at Victoria Shanghai Academy (VSA).

A warm thank you to Jeffrey Wai 4A5, Michelle Tsui 5A1, Harry Clark 5A3, Hilary Cheng 5A4, Aviva Wong 5A5, Cynthia Wang 5A6 & Bernice Chu 5A6, for their enthusiastic help in selling the calendars.

 

 

 

 

Annabella Deayton 3A2 and her sister, Eloisa 1A3, were also busy in December as they raised HKD 171 by selling toys and clothes they had outgrown and kindly donated this amount to Masarang.

 

First RAK Week at VSA

From Feb 13th to 17th, VSA students took part, for the first time, in The Random Acts of Kindness Week (#RAKWeek), which is a yearly worldwide event aimed at turning the world kinder. Throughout the week, students were encouraged to show their kindness and appreciation towards others through character building and special RAK activities led in the classroom.

 

 

 

Clothing donation

As part of RAK Week, Year 5 students were encouraged to bring clothing donations for the children of the Masarang’s village hub in Tembak, where six of VSA teachers will be going to over Easter. The clothing donation was led by the Student Council(SC). In total, the SC received over 4 full boxes of clothing. A fantastic effort that will be greatly appreciated by the Tembak community.

 

‘Dress the World’

To conclude this special week, on Friday Feb 17th, VSA Primary students and teachers wore clothing and/or accessories from around the world to show their openness to others and different cultures. They were also encouraged to bring a small donation of $10 to support Masarang. In total, HKD 6170 was raised.

‘Dress the World’ was an initiated action by Christine Ren and Anita Tse from 4A7. In this photo, Christine and Anita, helped by Faith from the same class, are counting the money collected.

On Feb 21th, as Ms. Adrienne Watson, President of Masarang HK was visiting VSA, Christine and Anita proudly announced the amount fundraised at the event of the ‘Dress the World’.  Anita and Christine were warmly congratulated by Ms. Watson for their initiative and support to Masarang.

On Saturday March 4th, 2017, Adrienne Watson, chairperson of Masarang Hong Kong handed over a donation in cash of 15.000 HKD or 24.750.000 Indonesian Rupiah. The money was raised from the sale of the Masarang Hong Kong calendar, using many pictures of the orangutans at the Sintang Orangutan Center. The calendar was produced by Adrienne and supported by Anna Conley and Olof Jonnerstig, Ross Burrough, Alexandra Vosmaer, Merrin Pearse and others. The donation will be used to extend the support that had already been provided to the medical team of the center.

The money was received by Father Jacques Maessen and Dudung Pakpahan, managers of the Sintang Orangutan Center. In the picture from left to right: Doctor Victor, Paramedic Rizal, Adrienne Watson, Father Jacques, Hilda, Joan, Dudung, Adang, Jessie, Nurdiana and sitting Willie Smits and Bujang.

A big thank you to all those who supported the calendar sale.

Willie Smits

Posted by: Admin | February 25, 2017

Masarang Hong Kong Calendar Update

On February 5th, Chairperson of Masarang Hong Kong, Adrienne Watson-Smits, officially handed over half the funds raised from the Masarang 2017 calendar sale to the treasurer of Masarang Indonesia during a board meeting in Tomohon, North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

The calendar sale raised HKD30,000 profit.

The calendar was the result of the joint effort of Adrienne and Merrin working with volunteers Anna Conley and Olof Jonnerstig. Several people contributed pictures, especially Ross Burrough from ESF. The calendar featured mostly orangutans from the Sintang Orangutan Center, to which the other half of the calendar sale income will be donated next week, but also many animals at the Masarang Foundation’s Tasikoki Wildlife Rescue Centre. The donation will help support the medical care of the animals at Tasikoki.

A particularly big thank you goes to the Victoria Shanghai Academy community as they sold 176 calendars. The sale was led by long-term supporters Primary Principal, Mr Ross Dawson and Teacher, Ms Bene Benoit, as well as the Masarang Club members.

From left to right in the picture: Joudy Sangari (secretary of the board/lecturer at Universitats Sam Ratulangi), Richard Siwu (head of the board/rector magnificus of the UKIT University), Tartius Timpal (advisor/rector Minaesa University), Willie Smits (head board of trustees), Onna Senduk (treasurer and holding the donation in Indonesian Rupiahs), Adrienne Watson (chairperson Masarang Hong Kong) and Erwin Tanauma, director of the Gunung Hijau Masarang company that manages the Masarang sugar factory).

Calendar Sale

Posted by: Admin | January 29, 2017

Happy Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year 2017

Posted by: Admin | January 18, 2017

The “Liez” Center in Sintang.

Willie Smits

Jakarta, January 14th, 2017.

 

Recently Adrienne and myself visited the “Weesaapjes” Foundation in The Netherlands. The name of the foundation literally means small orphaned apes, and represents the passion of our dear friend Liesbeth van der Burgt, the founder of this small foundation in Uden, The Netherlands. Liesbeth worked with us in the heart of Borneo caring for the many small orangutan babies especially with enrichment activities to stimulate their learning skills, vital for survival in the wild after their release. She also donated medicines and some quarantine cages for the orangutan rehabilitation center.

Our visit to Weesaapjes Foundation in Uden just before Christmas 2016. From left to right Marco van der Aa, Eric Engelbert and Ingrid van der Locht together with Adrienne Watson, chairwoman of Masarang Hong Kong.

Unfortunately, in 2016 Liesbeth fell ill and a few months later passed away, leaving her friends the non-enviable task of picking up the work that Liesbeth dealt with so passionately. Her friends contacted us after reading what we had written about our friend Liesbeth on the Masarang Hong Kong website and this visit was one of the follow-ups of this contact. The board of the Weesaapjes Foundation decided to use part of the personal inheritance of Liesbeth to the foundation to set up two projects, one in Africa for the chimpanzees and one in Borneo for the orangutans.

It was quite an emotional meeting, with each of us sharing pictures and stories about Liesbeth from different corners of the world. Adrienne and I afterwards went to visit the burial place of Liesbeth, a grave only marked by a section of a pine tree in a small opening in the forest. When the wood will have decayed in this special natural burial place, Liesbeth’s memory will continue to live in the “Liez” center in the Jerora forest school project while helping her beloved apes gaining a second chance to live free in their jungle again.

We are very pleased to announce that thanks to the combined donations of Weesaapjes Foundation and the Victoria Shanghai Academy from Hong Kong the new forest school for orangutans now soon will be reality. The new center will be built on land donated by my co-founder of the Sintang Orangutan Center, former Dutch missionary Father Jacques Maessen, in the Jerora forest, not far from our Sintang Orangutan Clinic. We will keep you updated on the progress of the project through our websites.

The section of pine stem marking her burial place, engraved with the words: “If you can dream it you can do it. Liesbeth”. That is how we remember Liesbeth, passionate, dedicated and loving wholeheartedly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rafi and Surin

Well done to Rafi in 2J. Rafi came into the school office to buy a Masarang calendar with some money he had earned and also showed some of the Kennedy School team a wonderful poster he had made with some of the Orangutans he has been able to adopt by asking for donations instead of birthday presents!

 

Surin, in Y2, is another eco ambassador and orangutan-lover. After learning about the destruction caused by palm oil cultivation, she bought a calendar to support Masarang projects. In addition, she refused to eat ‘Nutella’ dough balls in Pizza Express as she learned that Nutella contained palm oil. She even took her cuddly orangutan on a family photo shoot with Venture!

 

Lesley Davies

Class Teacher and ESD Coordinator

 

Some calendars are still available. Please contact us via the website if you would like one.

Posted by: Admin | December 15, 2016

Masarang 2017 Calendar – Now on Sale

A Christmas gift that helps keep a record of appointments all year, that will help
support the work of two endangered animal rescue centres AND shows the wonderful
environmental efforts by individuals, groups, schools and companies.

The 2017 Masarang Calendar

The calendar is HK$100 and all the funds from the sale, minus the printing costs, will be donated to Tasikoki Rescue Centre and the Sintang Orangutan Centre.
Postage and packing will be HK$50 for overseas and $10 for Hong Kong.

To purchase your calendar now, please email us at masarang.hk@gmail.com
Please provide us with your full name, and the postal address along with proof of payment.
For payment details please click here

Please find images below from some of the wonderful support and sales from around HK.

Thank you for all those who are supporting us!

Posted by: Admin | December 15, 2016

Renaissance College School and Masarang HK

Renaissance College Year 3 Students were excited to welcome Adrienne Watson Smits to the school on the 29th November. They were enthralled by her very interesting talk and had lots of questions about the work that the Masarang Foundation do. Here are some of their reflections from this talk.

Leigh Thomas
Year Three PYP Teacher

A team of Discovery College (DC) staff and students visited Tasikoki again this year as part of the school
‘No Boundaries’ CAS programme. Teachers, Ms. Cheryl Osborne and Mr. Danny Freer, led the student group to Tasikoki and helped encourage the group to do their very best for themselves, for Discovery College and for the Masarang Foundation projects.

The team worked hard before they went to Tasikoki to prepare for the trip, including a ‘question and answer’ bake sale to help raise funds for wish list items for the Centre. One of the students, Hanna, a highly accomplished cake baker and designer, made the wonderful rainforest cake shown below.
This bake sale raised over HK$5,000, enabling the group to buy a mini projector for the Tasikoki education projects, as well as a cash donation, which will be used to help the rescued endangered animals much needed rehabilitation.

Hanna’s wonderful rainforest cake

The group worked hard during the trip. Hanna explains more about the experience below.

Between the 11th-18th of November, a group of sixteen Year 11 students from Discovery College visited Tasikoki to learn about the environment and help out with various tasks, such as a permaculture project, making enrichments for the animals, catching bugs, etc. During the course of this week, we learned a lot about sustainability, over-fishing, and deforestation. It was really interesting going to the palm sugar factory and seeing how this eco-friendly type of sugar was made. We also visited a local secondary school and got to share and interact with the students there, which was fun. By the end of this trip we had all become much more conscious about palm oil and our consumption of it as well as the horrors of wildlife trafficking. Overall, we had a great time and learned a lot. Our guides were awesome and their dedication to the cause inspiring.

Hanna Swedenklef

They worked hard after the trip by selling the Masarang HK calendars and Masarang palm sugar at the school fair on Saturday December 3rd to raise additional funds for Tasikoki and the Sintang Orangutan Centre.

Two of the dedicated Tasikoki Team helping to sell calendars and sugar at the school fair.

Discovery Bay residents Dr. Heidi Petrick, Dr. Dagmar Hartley as well as Masarang HK’s Adrienne Watson Smits also attended the event to support the team’s great effort.

Tasikoki Team leaders, teachers Ms. Osborne and Mr Freer and some Masarang ambassadors with Dr. Hartley lending her support.

Thank you very much to D C Tasikoki Team and the D C School Community for your help and support.

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