We are delighted to receive $2,400HKD from the Year 2 students at Bradbury School.  As part of their Earth Day Event, which took place on the 22nd April 2013, the students placed donated coins onto a large outline of an orangutan on the playground.  This activity supports the School’s Unit of Inquiry on Habitats, where students learn about orangutans, their habitat, and how humans are affecting them.  The donation will go toward reforestation and orangutan conservation.

The Tasikoki compound comprises some 150 acres (55 hectares), so the animals have relatively a lot of space (although we hope to build better and larger enclosures still) but is also means that the distances between the facilities are quite large. As a result, not having any car yet, they had to hand carry loads of food and enrichment all over the compound. Part of that work will now be much easier thanks to this donation! They will also use the trike to transport seedlings for planting, to compile compost, and to bring woody material to the wood gas generator which is expected to arrive any day now to make their own local electricity in a completely environmentally friendly way.

They are also allowed to use the new bike on the main streets, so they can use it for buying local fruits and vegetables from nearby markets, and at the same time they will have a possibility to rescue nearby animals with the bike being able to transport cages and people and in cases of emergency to transport sick people to the nearest hospital. So a hugely important donation for which those at Masarang, and especially the Tasikoki animal rescue center feel very grateful. A very big thank you to all our loyal supporters that enabled this!

Windi was born shortly after midnight, when I brought in three orangutan babies from Bontang to the Wanariset orangutan station. She grew up at the orangutan center, where her father worked for me, with the orangutans and eventually she studied forestry herself to help the orangutans. Then she joined me in BOS and worked to help in the Samboja Lestari project. Now Windi, together with her father Eddie is growing fruit trees in a tree nursery next to Samboja Lestari and organizing a group of local women to make these little orangutan dolls called Pongo, in this way spreading awareness through the community of Samboja and its surroundings about orangutans and the importance of nature conservation.

The sale of these little orangutan dolls help the local people, who get an income, the orangutans that receive better welfare, as well as the establishment of new forests that benefit people and the environment. The extra income through the sales abroad goes directly to the projects of Masarang HK in Indonesia.

Windi’s portrait hangs around Pongo’s neck. I hope you like Pongo! In this way everyone can do their part for a better future.

Willie Smits

Pongo’s are available in HK but are sold out at this time – we will let you know when we have stock though if you want to pre-order one at HK$60 each please send us an email.