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CURRENT LOCATION: Sumba, Indonesia

LOCAL TIME: 22h00

LOCAL TEMPERATURE: 22 degrees

CURRENTLY READING: Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner

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Hi there!

I'm back and super excited to write my first newsletter on Sumba, a year after I left the island. As I explained earlier, I decided to come back after volunteering with the Sumba Hospitality Foundation last year. But instead of a two-month commitment, I've now decided to stay for at least two years and work as the foundation’s sustainability manager. After a little more than a week: What have I been doing here on Sumba?

Settling in - Find my place in my new home

It was great to come back to SHF and see so many familiar faces. However since I was last here, many new people have arrived, the students have changed and quite some changes were made on the site (a yoga shala, a more extended garden, a sunset terrace, …). This year I'm also lucky enough to have my own bamboo cabins (I have two!). The first is my mini-house, which is small but very cosy (and has an outdoor bathroom, woohoooww). The second is my office where I can work, meet and work with people, sew and experiment on various other projects.

I'm surrounded by the garden, which is perfect as I'll be working a lot with Johanes, the garden manager. I already worked with him last year and I really think he's one of the smartest people I've ever met. He's a walking encyclopaedia with an incredible knowledge of plants and can literally make anything grow here on Sumba (which is a challenge in the heat and rocky soil). We'll work together on various projects such as growing medicinal herbs around the yoga shala, improving the coverage of the farm, building a greenhouse out of bottles and much more!

Where do I start? - My first day at work

I won't lie when I say I felt a little lost last Monday. I'm the first person to hold this position, and while on the one hand, it's great to have the freedom to do it “my way”, on the other hand, it's also a bit daunting. There are so many things I want to do, but the big question is: where should I actually start? So I decided to use the first week to talk to lots of people, walk around, take notes and write down all the ideas I've. Little by little I was able to create a roadmap and a list of priorities. I've already created the SHF plastic-free purchasing policy to hopefully ban plastic for good (sounds much easier than it's)!

I'll also be starting sewing workshops again soon, which the students are really looking forward to (and so am I). I've decided to focus on internal initiatives for the first year and slowly involve the community to increase outreach. The main focus is on education to ensure that the students are part of the generation that changes things for the better in Sumba, the rest of Indonesia and beyond.

I assured myself that I don’t have to fix everything in a single week and that I can also make a huge difference with small, meaningful initiatives. It’s important that I enjoy the journey of trial and error during my years here, so I will!

Sunny greetings from Sumba,
Hestie -x-

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