There are more than a decade, Ewa Wojkowska remembers driving at night in darkness through a isolated city in East Timor. Located in one of the poorest neighborhoods in this new country, the city had no electricity and there was a absence of any nightlife. "When night fell, the population of 60,000 had little to do," she said during a recent visit to his office near Ubud. "This was the situation until there are about two years. It would not be black. Over the past two years, we have distributed over 6,000 solar lights in this community. "Now, after dark, you will see lights everywhere with people socializing, women weaving, people reading and children do their homework.
The same drama was played in a many remote communities throughout Indonesia - Kalimantan Papua. - where Kopernik, an NGO Ewa co-founded in 2010, provides international life-changing technologies for poor You can not think or solar lights water purifiers mean that much for a poor community, but these simple devices can really make a very tangible improvement in people's lives. Kopernik has already implemented more than 60 projects in 13 countries, reaching more than 100,000 people. the NGO succeeds in producing the hardware utility with local organizations working in the field of connecting companies.
in 2012, Copernicus moved in a green complex in Sayan, Ubud west, where they set up a showroom - the first Tech Kiosk in Indonesia - which sells solar lights and lanterns, stoves wood fuel biomass, self-adjusting glasses, affordable water filters and many economy more practical energy, land-saving, household appliances. A catalog of about 60 technologies listed on the site Kopernik, these off-the-shelf devices have been carefully selected for their ability to Indonesian cultural and economic environment.
Co-founder Ewa Wojkowska led an adventurous life working to improve the lives of poor families in developing countries across Asia. It was during these formative years with the local base of NGOs Ewa realized that the aid groups, even with the best intentions often fail to connect effectively on the ground with communities who need their help. She quickly learned that all the work must be rooted in the local culture, local knowledge and strong relationships and trust that needs to be fed with members of the community. "If you do not, you get nothing."
Green Technology in the classroom
In 2012 Kopernik has launched an education program in partnership with the great Japanese education firm Benesse introduce fun educational toys for schools. For example, last year the joint teams visited an elementary school in Ubud to lead an interactive class on energy and biology. During the presentation, students had the opportunity to test a range of educational toys such as generators to crank and the measuring tape, designed to generate interest in science and technology. Although it was a holiday from school, about 50 enthusiastic children presented.
In April of this year, the educational team visited another school in Tabanan microscope to introduce technology to a seventh grade science class. The classes were actually carried out by older students visiting Surabaya, which has worked very well, with students and teachers wishing to learn about technology.
In addition to working with Benessee, Kopernik has introduced water filters in schools Nazava Bali. This remarkable water filter saves money, makes water sweeter and is effective even if water contains solids in suspension visible. Kopernik in partnership with the East Bali Poverty Project (EBPP), a nonprofit organization that works to empower communities living in remote mountain hamlets in Desa Ban, Karangasem, by providing access not only to drinking water, but also roads, health facilities, electricity and education. With EBPP and T-Point, Kopernik distributed 25 water filters Nazava six schools in the area, which is only accessible by a narrow rocky roller coaster dirt road, a two hour drive north of Goa Gajah. Before installing the drinking water system, children in the small Desa around Desa Ban were only able to drink two or three glasses of unboiled water each day. Dehydration is a major problem for these children. After the short class the introduction of new technology, the children lined up to test water filters, elated that their classrooms had their own water filters.
As staff Rara Sekar Larasati, Monica Christy and Christal Setyobudi asked simple questions like "When do you need to clean the filter candles" and "How many glasses of water Have ? you need to drink daily "the children shouted:" me me! "waving enthusiastically their hands in the air highlighters and pencils were awarded to the students who answered correctly
Based on.. Indonesian Statistic Bureau study in 2012, 49% of the active population of Indonesia has only graduated from elementary school Kopernik member Christal Setyobudi staff explained. "children in Indonesia prefer to work straight out of the school with very low. Therefore arousing the passion of a child learn to pay school is extremely important. based on my experience, to improve access to technology in the classroom is a great way to start. "