Columbia SIPA workshop Team
Rains gathering
Through an ongoing partnership with Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), Kopernik has had the privilege of receiving talented teams of graduate students to conduct impact assessments of our projects. The most recent team arrived in January and will follow-up with another visit in early March. The team members from the January visit have graciously written some notes during and after their trip, and it is our pleasure to share them with you. Here’s the first of two posts:
In January 2012, three of us traveled to Lombok, Indonesia, to conduct field-work for our capstone project. We worked with Kopernik and Pekka to assess the impact of the biomass cookstove and Nazava water filter, as well as the “Agents of Change” distribution model Kopernik is using in West Nusa Tenggara Barat province.
OVER THE COURSE OF TEN DAYS, WE HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF MEETING MANY MEN AND WOMEN: WOMEN WHO WERE SELLERS OF THE TWO TECHNOLOGIES, WOMEN WHO USED THE TECHNOLOGIES, MEN WHO PURCHASED THE COOKSTOVE FOR THEIR WIVES, AND LOCAL OFFICIALS WHO WORKED ON IMPORTANT PROJECTS RELATED TO HEALTH AND SANITATION.
With our translator Boma Harahap in tow, we set out cheerily every morning to conduct focus groups and interviews, our little party gaining people along the way as more curious women offered to help us along in our journey.
Our original goal was to talk to as many willing participants as possible, but we would have needed a lot more time to achieve this: we were overwhelmed by the openness and eagerness of the people we encountered.
The trip tested our resourcefulness and composure (and the patience of our translator!). We pored over community data in a dusty library while the power was out, we tried not to laugh when children, chickens and turkeys joined the women during our focus groups, and we had to navigate an unfamiliar cultural environment, often with amusing results. Frustrated from not being able to communicate without Boma, we picked up some key Bahasa words by pointing to objects and having the women tell us the Bahasa words for them.
The rainy season in Lombok frustrated us at times: it was pouring rain on our visit to the picturesque town of Senggigi and our towels never dried. But every village, every conversation with a widow selling local fruits like rambutan, durian, and mangosteen in the market served as a reminder that the rain provided a source of income for our new friends, and contributed to the remarkable character of this charming island.
We had some leisure time during and at the end of our Indonesian journey. We took the ferry to the Gili Islands and enjoyed one day of luxurious sunshine, and we ended our stay in Indonesia with a trip to Bali to meet the gracious management and staff of Kopernik, and to enjoy some Balinese cuisine and culture. We went on a rainy bike ride, enjoying the breathtaking views of Mt. Batur volcano, the rice paddies, and the Hindu temples dotting the landscape along the way. We also shopped and enjoyed some of the traditional Balinese food and hospitality. We all left Indonesia with a heavy heart, wishing we could have spent more time there, but we know that we will return to Bali and Lombok sometime soon and continue to discover more about this fascinating place.
