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With no access to water or electricity, the Kodi tribe from Mandorak is struggling to survive with subsistence agriculture and fishing, its main income relying on a yearly cashew harvest.
Sensitive to this endemic situation, Ticket To The Moon has teamed up with local partners to help the Kodi people improve their life conditions, meanwhile preserving their ancestral culture.
FOUNDATION
TICKET TO THE MOON FOUNDATION
The Lestari Mandorak Foundation, now the Ticket To The Moon foundation, was born after three years of field experience: since 2006, a relief project had been initiated by European and Indonesian travelers in Mandorak County, on the Western part of the remote island of Sumba, in Indonesia.
In eight years, many concrete actions have been implemented – new roads were built to facilitate trade and fill in the gap between the Kodis and the rest of Sumba, water well was dug for accessing clean water, a primary school was opened to teach the Indonesian language to the children…
The Kodi tribe has also been subjected to malaria screenings on a regular basis and they were given mosquito nets to fight the plague.
In the meantime, these enhancements have come with education to preserve their culture, along with their original land in West Sumba.
The relief teams have provided nets to avoid bomb fishing, responsible for destroying the ocean bottom.
They have built a traditional Kodi house as a Headquarters, giving the youngest workers an occasion to be trained following their ancestral traditions (which are threatened by modernity, like their unique crafts, horses game, etc.); likewise, teaching waste management is a part of ticket to the moon continuous effort to avoid pollution in West Sumba.
On the other hand, they have been supporting the existing schools in th Mandorak area.
KODI AND SUMBA CULTURE
According to anthropologists, the Kodi culture is the closest observed living culture to the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Burial in megaliths is a practice that has survived to this day in Sumba. The tribe’s techniques to transport and carving stones also goes back to the origins of prehistory.
A living testimony of their ancestral culture, the Kodi traditional houses with alang-alang thatched roof stand proudly in the wild landscape of Mandorak County. From the ceiling to the rooftop - not to mention the pillars - every single wood element in a Kodi house has a spiritual meaning reflecting their original animist beliefs.
The Kodis’ craft and art forms are unique in the world. The Ticket To The Moon Foundation aims at encouraging and promoting them.
The weaving of their traditional IKAT, a wide-spread hand-fashioned famous in India and South-East Asia, is much sought after by museums and collectors all over the world.
Likewise, horses are central in the Kodi way of living.
Besides being the first transportation mean, horses are key players in the traditional Kodi war games where they challenge each other with spears (the Pasola).
EDUCATION FOR THE POPULATION
While the Kodi people speak their own dialect, the future of their children is depends on their chance to communicate in Bahasa Indonesia, spoken by 200 million people in Southern Asia (4th spoken language worldwide).
The Ticket To The Moon team has been working on two levels; on the one hand, they opened a primary school in 2007 to allow children from the Mandorak County to be taught both in their language and in Bahasa Indonesia. On the other hand, they have been supporting the existing schools in Mandorak area.
Indeed, the few schools in West Sumba are poorly staffed and furnished, whereas they represent a unique opportunity for the Kodi children to know a better life than their parents.
A financial and material support is much needed to improve their facilities and provide the pupils with tuition material (pencils, books, sports equipments, etc.).
In 2014 the school burned down in 2015, the support of Ticket To The Moon Foundation is vital for the kids to go back to school.
TICKET TO THE MOON FOUNDATION MILESTONE
2006
START OF THE SUMBA, KODI, and MANDORAK ADVENTURE
2007
FIRST PRIMARY SCHOOL IN MANDORAK
2008
DUG THE FIRST WELL TO HAVE SOME CLEAR WATER IN THE COUNTY
2009
CREATION OF THE LESTARI MANDORAK YAYASAAN
2010
CONTRUCTION OF THE HOUSE IN MANDORAK FOR THE LESTARI MANDORAK TO SETTLE DOWN AND FIRST HELP CARE AND MEDICINE GIVEN
2011
BIGGER AWARENESS ON MALARIA DISEASE BY DISTRIBUTING MOSQUITO NET, SOLAR PANEL FOR ENERGY, CREATION OF A TEAM OF LOCAL KODI FOR THE FOUNDATION BASED IN SUMBA, BIGGER DUG TO HAVE MORE WATER FOR THE COUNTY
2012
MEDICINE IN BIGGER QUANTITIES, MORE AND MORE MOSQUITO NET. START OF THE INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPATION, MORE AND MORE DONATION, FOUNDATION IS NOW PART OF THE NATURAL PARK
2013
LESTARI MANDORAK FOUNDATION BECOMES THE TICKET TO THE MOON FOUNDATION, HUGE PARTICIPATION FROM THE INTERNATIONAL DONOR, GROWTH OF THE VILLAGE CONTRIBUTION, MORE MEDECINE, BETTER INFRASTRUCTURE AND TEACHER FOR SCHOOL
2014
FULL TIME PERSON TAKING CARE OF THE TICKET TO THE MOON FOUNDATION, BUILDING A BETTER LIVING FOR THE PEOPLE, RECEIVING ALL DONATIONS AND COORDINATING HELP FROM ABROAD.
2015
SOLAR PUMP REPAIR AND FURTHER DEVELOPMENT FOR THE LOCAL VILLAGE
2016
START OF PERMACULTURE PROJECT TO TEACH LOCALS HOW TO GROW AND MAINTAIN CROPS, LIVE A HEALTHY DIET AND TO OVERCOME DROUGHTS IN THE SUMMER PERIOD
2017
RENOVATION OF THE KITCHEN AND STAFF ROOMS, DONATION TO THE LOCAL SCHOOL TO HELP THE DRAWBACKS WITH SCHOOL´S WATER SUPPLY
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TICKET TO THE MOON FOUNDATION
The Ticket to the Moon Foundation’s ambition is to help the Kodi people find economic balance. Mandorak County is likely to welcome a promising type of industry, eco-tourism.
The idea is to open the Kodi villages to visitors who would agree to share their daily life, respect their rhythm and natural environment, while enjoying a large choice of activities (snorkeling, hiking, horse-riding, etc).
While discovering Mandorak County’s shores, lagoon and landscapes, these eco-friendly tourists will get introduced to the Kodi culture thanks to an organic farm offering local food and traditional Sumbanese meals, let alone organized horse games, tribal music or a visit to the handicraft shop.
With new infrastructures such as solar panels, energy would no longer be an issue. Bringing such modern technologies would be a huge step toward helping the Kodi improve their economic situation, while preserving their culture and promoting an eco-friendly development.
The financial resources collected by the Foundation benefit directly to the Kodi tribe
With the blessing of the Sumbanese officials, The Foundation has bought some land to protect the wild life against possible speculation.
The Indonesian authorities have conceded the status of Natural Park to a part of the Foundation’s territory.
SOCIAL & ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTS
Over the past years, we have been very fortunate. Together with our friends and partners in Sumba, we could drastically improve the local livelihood
situation. In fact, things have improved by such a
degree that the TTTM Foundation is now coming to
an end.
We all are tremendously proud of the devel-
opments of the project and are now eagerly following
our Sumbanese friends' steps and standing by their
side with advice upon request. With much excitement,
we are now shifting our focus and energies to other
selected social and environmental projects that we
believe in and who are working towards similar goals to
make the world a better place.
We are an organisation
with a strong commitment to sustainability and social
responsibility. Therefore we feel a strong calling to give
back to society and to support those in need. Amongst
other activities, we have therefore launched a couple
of collaborations that involve donating for example.
As we are in the reorientation process of our social
endeavors, let us know about any interesting projects
that could be interesting partners!
SOLEMEN
One of them is the humanitarian project "Sole-men". Solemen is a non-profit organization based in
Bali, Indonesia, that provides various forms of support
to people with disabilities, chronic illnesses, and other
life-threatening conditions. They assist individuals
who are unable to afford medical treatment, rehabil-
itation, or other basic necessities. They also organize campaigns and events to raise awareness about
various issues affecting the community.
Ticket To The
Moon recognizes the great work that Solemen is doing
and wants to help them with their cause. Our company has provided printed eco-bags that are made from
eco-friendly materials and are reusable. These eco-bags feature Solemen’s and our company logo and
are designed to help raise awareness about Solemen's
mission and promote sustainable practices. Through
this project, Ticket To The Moon hopes to encourage
people to use eco-bags instead of single-use plastic
bags.
Plastic pollution is a significant environmental
issue, and it is crucial that we take steps to reduce our
plastic usage. By donating eco-bags to Solemen, we
aim to help reduce plastic waste while also supporting a great cause. We are proud to support Solemen's
mission, creates sources of income and to help make a
positive impact in the community. Our team believes
that it is important to give back to society and we will
continue to find ways to support worthy causes. Another way we support Solemen is by providing Moon-chairs to disadvantaged families amongst many others
with disabled children.
These families were previously hidden away
in a poor area of Denpasar without support or care
from the outside. Through Solemen working closely
with the government of Bali they all now enjoy new
lives in Denpasar area of Renon in clean solid housing
together with wheelchair access.
The children benefit
greatly from regular therapy, provision of nutritionally
balanced food and ongoing emotional support by the
charity. Previously none of the children had the opportunity to experience play. They are now even getting
into all sorts of mischief by their newly discovered
(and wild) swinging possibilities. What a joy!
PROJECT WINGS
Project Wings is a growing German NGO
that is currently building the world's largest recycling village in Indonesia from 250 tons of plastic waste. They aim to tackle three major global
issues: species extinction, tropical deforestation,
and plastic pollution. The organization is implementing a self-sustaining system run by locals
that combines environmental protection, nature
conservation, and animal welfare. They use an innovative approach to turn plastic waste into Eco-bricks, which are then used to construct affordable
buildings.
The NGO is also involved in protecting
the rainforest, animal welfare, promoting alternatives to plastic and education. Their future plans
include building a sustainable marketplace, sports
ground and organic restaurant.
Project Wings collaborates with various partners and supporters to
realize their vision. We support them with custom
printed bags as a start to give to participants of
round table meetings with NGOs and politicians
as well as for funding activities in Germany to raise
mindfulness for this important mission. We will
support their crew with hammocks for the community patrol and for sleeping cabins for the team
and supporters. We are planning to do some pro-
jects with them in the near future to raise aware-
ness in Sumatra (more projects and collaborations
are likely to come in the future).
One man`s trash is another man`s treasure!
