the inauguration post - Week 1

Hi everybody, let me start by thanking you for visiting my blog. I hope it is interesting and entertaining for you. Now, down to business.

I am in Bogor, Indonesia now. In fact I am at work in the LATIN office, but since I don't really have any work to do right now I am just writing this post and doing some other stuff on the Net. The office is in an amazing open-air building with a red tiled roof. It definitely lives up to the idea of a tropical paradise with bamboo trees surrounding the building, workers going barefoot inside and cats and chickens strolling around the office. I'll try to post some pics of the office in a future update.

I had my first meeting with my new bosses this morning and now have an idea of what sort of work I will be doing for LATIN. Essentially I will be copy editing the English translation of their website and a promotional pamphlet/booklet, as well as offerring design tips for both. Both the website and the pamphlet/booklet are meant to promote LATIN internationally and locally. They hope that their message will reach other NGOs interested in similar issues, as well as funding agencies that can offer help. LATIN began as a general environmental group, but has since settled into sustainable community forestry which they feel is an important issue here in Indonesia. They want to share their knowledge and experience with other groups and get a feeling of how their work fits into the global context of natural resource management. One area in which they have done a lot of work is in mediating between the governement and forestry companies and the communities that rely on the forests for their livelihood. In the past there has been little to no communication between the various stakeholders involved and LATIN has opened up dialogues and presented strategies to help manage Indonesia's natural resources.

I am not the only Canadian intern working for LATIN at the moment. Their is a dude from Ottawa named Patrick doing research on rural development and how the community uses natural resources to gain their livelihood. He will be here for a few more weeks and he spends most of his time in a village gathering data and doing interviews and forums. There is also a girl from Quebec named Melissa who I haven't spoken to yet, but I understand that she is a CUSO volunteer and will be here for two years.

Although I now have an idea about the work I will be doing my main focus right now is settling into life in Indonesia. I will be looking for more permanent accomodations tomorrow and hope to start getting an idea of the layout of the town. Bogor is a smaller city compared to Jakarta, but is high-density in terms of population. There is a lot of traffic, but the LATIN office is on the outskirts of town in a wooded area and the only disturbance besides the chirping birds is the military airstrip nearby which accounts for the occasional roaring jet overhead. It seems like a relatively flat landscape and I am considering getting a bicycle to get around on.

Technically I guess Indonesia is the Third World, but they still have malls with KFC and Macdonalds alongside the street food vendors and rickshaws. As well there are a lot of really nice cars on the streets. The heat is noticeable and the humidity doesn't help, but it helps keep the bills for hot water down I suppose.

That's all for now. I'll try to update regularly, or at least once a week while I'm here.