BORNEO FUNDRAISER SEPTEMBER 2019
Thank you to Mana Earthly Paradise, Ubud, for hosting the BORNEO fundraiser September 26, 2019. The money raised on the night has gone to the haze shelter, mask supply and medicine. The support of our Dayak brothers and sisters and the team on the ground at @RanuWelum is really appreciated.
From Emmanuela Shinta – Founder of Ranu Welum Foundation, Palankaraya, Central Kalimantan
Sept 28 2019
“Everyday we receive 25 -50 people at the shelter. These kids are so vulnerable as they have been exposed to the toxic air without any health protection. Babies 2 weeks old – 9 months old and toddlers were taken by the mothers to the shelter so they might get clean air.
At the shelter, we provide them not only with clean air but also medicine (by doctor), mask, vitamin, milk, snacks. There are toys and dolls so kids would not be bored while their parents get treatment. We have a medical doctor stand by from 8am-9pm at the shelter and volunteers to help, and also engage and play with them.
We will continue this haze relief effort till the end of October. This shelter is invented and funded by Big Red Button. Thank you to everyone who has donated for the logistics. Support to cover the next relief effort is still urgently needed”.
Special thanks to Tomohiro and Aska Hamakawa of Mana Earthly Paradise.
David Metcalf, is an indigenous preservation activist, international travel photographer and tour operator and is a native New Zealander who has lived in Indonesia for 11 years. Within which time he has travelled extensively and intimately across many of its islands whilst operating and tutoring on travel photography and cultural tours. He has traversed the globe to many remote destinations with international travel groups with a particular focus on Asia and the US. Living in Ubud, David originally owned Taksu Photo Gallery in central Ubud until mid 2018, a space that celebrated indigenous preservation through creative photography inviting in the outside world to his inner world of Bali on-elling day photography and travel cultural tours.
A passionate man, with a philanthropic sense of purpose, David has strong connections with indigenous cultures and their environments around the world, particularly Borneo in Indonesia. An activist for most of his adult life, in 2018 he organised an Indigenous celebration in Ubud involving 180 Indigenous people from 8 different countries launching Bali’s first Indigenous Film Festival with tickets now live for the 2019 event available here. These events are a testament to his mission to endorse the importance of cultural preservation.
He has extensive geographical knowledge of Indonesia in particular and its varying and diverse traditional arts and cultures, his 35 years of being a travel photographer exposing and involving him in many significant traditional indigenous cultural ceremonies. The basis of which has cultivated many unique and intimate relationships with indigenous leaders, tribes and communities. As a speaker, it is the spirit of what links him to these peoples and communities that makes him genuinely engaging and personal. His love of travel and the preservation of cultures, coupled with the adventures shared alongside his travel writer wife Stephanie Brooks offer rich and deep insights. Visually stunning, his photography captures the hearts, lifestyles and landscapes of his subjects.
His talks traverse environmental activism, and his devotion and energy towards creating communication platforms for human empowerment. Having supported Indigenous cultural projects in Borneo he has leveraged everything within his capabilities to educate and promote the heritage of his beloved Kalimantan and the island he calls home, Bali. Learn more about the organisations David promotes and supports here.
David’s portfolio of speaking includes ‘Lunchtime Talks’ at Paradiso, Ubud where the world that is Bali is featured as a destination for travellers who never leave. It is an opportunity for sharing in community with highlight speakers recalling many vivid memories in the creation of personal histories. As a contributor at The World, Canggu Club, as a Green School presenter, and mediator at Ubud Writers Festival his spirit glides alongside those of which he speaks, his key messages of preservation and the importance for everyone to act and contribute for change at any and every level leaves a humble yet solid impression on the consciousness of any listener. His angle is about celebrating the beauty and wisdom of what has come before us to uplift and motivate the change the world and indigenous societies are so desperately crying out for.
If you would like to have David’s candid and heartfelt presence at your event, fundraiser, conference or event please contact us here.
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