INDONESIA, Manado Tua Satu Village, North Sulawesi - January 2006
School reconstruction in exchange for the village endorsement of 118 acres of rainforest and 160 acres of coral reef as a no-take reserve
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Manado Tua Satu Village consists of approximately 2,000 residents who live on the fringe of an extinct volcano along the shores of Manado Tua Island. The Manado Tua Satu Village elementary school, attended by 300 students, is in extreme disrepair to the point that classes must be conducted in the partially completed church during rains. Seacology is providing funds for school reconstruction in exchange for the village’s endorsement of a 118-acre rainforest reserve, and a 160 acres no-take marine reserve for a minimum of 10 years.
UPDATE June 2006 - All agreements, budgets and timelines were returned to Seacology in February 2006. Seacology is waiting to begin the project until the project leader has finished work at Poopoh Village. That way he will not have to travel between two distant villages during the same time. The project is expected to begin in early June.
UPDATE January 2007 - The project start date was postponed so that the project leader could finish another project site first. In the meantime two of the classrooms at the school were rebuilt by the local government. The project leader sent in a revised budget to renovate the remaining unfinished classrooms and to build fencing for the school yard in late 2006. The project is scheduled to begin in early 2007.
UPDATE March 2007 - Two of the new classrooms are 90% complete. All remaining construction to renovate the school is scheduled to take place in the next several months. Completion is planned for the end of July 2007.
UPDATE December 2007 - As of August 2007 the project was complete with one new building housing two classrooms, another new building for the head of the school and for school resources, and one new extension of the existing building housing two classrooms and sanitary facilities. The official opening ceremony was held on October 9, 2007 with members of the Seacology expedition to Raja Ampat in attendance.
