For this year’s Global Citizenship Week, I went to Sumatra, Indonesia. Sumatra is the sixth-largest island in the world and Indonesia’s second-largest island (after Borneo). Sumatra is unique for several reasons: it is the location of one of the world’s oldest and most naturally diverse rainforests. However, on the trip, I learned that this incredible place has possibly the world’s highest deforestation rate, due to oil palm plantations that have cropped up in the country in the past twenty years. One species especially threatened by this is the Sumatran Orangutan, an animal that we had the privilege to see in the wild. The plantations have eaten up this creature’s habitat, as well as fragmented the colonies of wild orangutans, leaving a dangerously high probability of inbreeding within those colonies. We spoke of many different aspects and hypothetical solutions, but the more we talked, the more complex the problem became.
Thinking back on our discussions about the situation, I realize that I have been left with far more questions than answers. Questions like: “What can be done?”, “How can I make other people aware of this problem?” and “Will the orangutans still be around in another fifteen years?”
On a lighter note, I suppose I must say that the trip was even more spectacular than I had hoped it would be. There was more swimming and more hiking than I had expected and it felt like each day was packed until we didn’t have a moment to rest, but it was amazing to have seen and done all these different
I faced two big challenges during the trip and I was amazed at myself for conquering my fears during these times. Firstly, I jumped (twice!) into Lake Toba from the highest railing of the boat, something that does not sound very complicated, but I found to be rather terrifying because of my inability to swim well.
The second challenge of the trip was hiking the hard way down the volcano. The trip was not only exhausting, but dirty, slippery, contained more than a couple heart-stopping moments, and I somehow still enjoyed every moment of it. It was rather tough in some areas, where the light was somewhat dimmed by the canopy above and the stairs had washed away, leaving only thin concrete strips to test our balance on. My friends and I really worked as a team to keep each other from falling by calling out the muddy patches and were always ready to lend a firm hand to the people by us. The big reward was at the end, turning around to look at the volcano we had just climbed up and down! I felt both accomplished and in awe of the magnificence of the caldera.
I feel compelled to briefly add that the culture of the many different tribes that we encountered during our trip made me feel as though I was going back in time to experience and properly appreciate how strong people must be without the assistance of the technology that so rules our lives today.
There are many more aspects of the trip that I am not mentioning, but this was a short description of some of the highlights of the trip. I would definitely recommend this GCW course to others.
The wild mother Orangutan that came amazingly close to us! Her baby is higher up in the trees