Socio Travelling, On 5 August 2018 Lombok was shaken by a 6,5 M earthquake which destro yed 10,062 houses leaving many residents homeless . Even though aid has been coming from all across Indonesia , fair distribution of this assistance has been difficult as most of the aid has only been available from a few Help Centres .
As a result, a newly created socially based community named Moklet Bali was inspired to send aid directly to a few selected locations in most urgent need. Moklet Bali held a number of fundraising events such as; selling second-hand items, t-shirts, refilled water bottles and so on. “SocioTravelling” is the organisation’s newest program in which people can carry out social activities to assist the most needy locations while travelling, this promotes new tourism places and increases local income.
A team of 7 volunteers set off to Lombok by car and headed to our first location in Lokok Reban village, Bayan, in the island’s North. Here we delivered aid along and arranged a few fun activities for the children. It was then on to Sembalun, our second location, located right below Mount Rinjani. Here we held trauma healing activities for the children, drawing, playing and singing together. Then we built a “pop-up” cinema in the centre of the refugee camp. A huge white screen was created by sewing together unused bed-sheets that had been donated. To complete the experience we popped some corn and grilled sweet potatoes as snacks for the children as they watched children’s movies on the big screen.
finishing surrounded by smiling faces and laughter and retired to our camping site where we built our own tents and spent the night. We woke up early at 4 am for a short trek up Pergasingan hill to see the sunrise and then on to Senggigi Beach and Seger Beach for the sunset. It was an unforgettable experience visiting some interesting places that not many people know, making new friends and seeing the way people live. Finally, we left Mataram and headed back to Lembar Port to end our first SocioTravelling expedition to Lombok.
As our tagline says: People, Place, Pictures; the primary purpose of SocioTravelling is to prioritise interaction with local people while helping them at the same time. Through travelling, we can introduce new tourism places, cuisines and cultures to people by taking and sharing pictures in our social media.
Article by Sofian Hadi
Sofian works in the Hospitality Industry as a Graphic Designer and Photographer in one of Bali’s 5-star resorts. Travelling, photography and blog writing are his main hobbies. He was born in Malang, East Java and has lived for more than ten years in Bali. He used to be a radio announcer and Art Director at a local magazine company. Together with his alumni, he built the Moklet Bali community and is actively involved in
#SayaPeduliIndonesia and
#SOCIOtravelling initiatives.