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VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES REPORT - January, 2001
Tanjung Puting National Park
by Drh. I Gede Suarsadana
Dear Friends
Greeting from Friends of National Parks Foundation.
We are very please to inform you that FNPF have 3 volunteers who work with us at this time. Two of them are foreign volunteers who came from Canada and America. Both of them are not only doing this volunteer job with their own budget but also bring some medical supplies for our operation.
Special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Blum who are very kind to give us their time and support and also to everybody who keeps supporting FNPF by time and donations which allow us to continue our work even better. For your information Mrs. Blum had brought some supplies with her when she came to Indonesia as in the following list:
1 Short Range Projector with syringes
1 PDR Book used
50 Minicath needles
1000 Syringes and Needles
50 Veterinary Topical Tissue Adhesive
100 Transparent Dressings
1000 Cotton tip Applicators
10 Posey Restraints
30 Surgical Scrub Brushes
6 Stethoscopes
2 Blood Pressure Cuffs
1 Tympanic Thermometer
204 Sutures
25 Tape rolls
50 Bandages
100 Gauze Pads
1000 Latex Gloves
1 Box Used surgical instruments disposable
3 Boxes Topical Ointments
15 Veterinary Hydrocortisone lotion
36 Veterinary Ophthalmic Ointment
10 Surgical Drapes and Gowns
25 Test tubes
10 Local anesthetic
2 Baby Bottles
1 Medicine Dropper
50 Disinfectant packets
4 Antimicrobial Hand Wash
3 Boxes of Alcohol and Iodine Prep Pads
0 Miscellaneous
Even though we had a bit difficulties with the custom procedure and other paper work finally Mrs. Blum could bring all of those donation to Tanjung Puting.
If there is anybody want to donate anything beside money to FNPF please make sure we get the information about the donation in advance so we still have time to prepare the paper work. As the custom will not give us any special tax rate even you want to donate something for FNPF or any other foundation it would be much easier for you and us to receive to take care of the cash as a donation.
Please find our volunteers report attahed.
Once again thank you very much for your kind support and we hope we can give a better contribution to the park.
Sincerely yours,
Drh I Gede Nyoman Bayu Wirayudha
Director of FNPF
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Volunteer Report
Phyllis Blum
February 11, 2001
This is to report my activities as a volunteer at Tanjung Puting National Park since arriving on January 23. After an orientation to the park I began to work. I am a registered nurse, so I have been working very closely with Drh. Herlin the veterinarian. I have been here approximately 2 weeks out of my 2 months stay.
I brought many medical supply so the first thing I did was clean and disinfect the clinic and put away all of the supplies. On my second nigh Dr. Herlin and I re sutured a laceration on Bonzen 's head and applied antibiotic ointment. It has healed nicely. I am also responsible for caring for Lady and Adong. I feed them 4 bottles each per day of baby formula mixed with sugar. They are then put in the trees to practice climbing and put in their room for the night by 4 PM. in baby blankets and laundry basket. I disinfect their room every day with dettol.
I also care for Urol who has multiple wounds over his body, hands and feet from a fight with Kosasih. At first he was tentative with me but now I can feed him milk and vitamins and antibiotics. He also gets leaves, pineapples, oranges and bananas. His wounds have healed considerably since I have been here. We also apply antibiotics to the wounds daily. He appears to be doing very well and is a lot more responsive now. His cage is also disinfected with dettol.
When not attending the orangutans I have discussed setting up a clinic in the village. I have already visited several patients in their homes and treated their problems. I spoke with the midwife regarding the medicines and needs of the village people. I also attended the swearing in ceremony for the new chief of the village. I also checked the ducks, the fish farm and the vegetables they are growing. All seem to be doing very well. I went into town one day to purchase many supplies for the kitchen. We covered all the counters and kitchen table with vinge, built a stand for the water purifier and built a sink under the water faucet to purchased dishes, utensils, trays, pots, garbage cans, food covers, towels, lacking plastic containers for dry goods, spice rack, plastic tubs for doing dishes and other kitchen supplies where there went to the pharmacy to buy the medicines Dr. Herlin requested.
I have also assisted Ashleigh, the other volunteer in re-structuring the information center so it would be more inviting to tourist to visit. In the clinic I bought a halogen lamp to be installed so the Dr. will have very bright light for examining and treating the orangutans. I cleaned and disinfected the guest house and washed the baby blankets for all the orangutans. Everyone gets along very well and pitches in to help each other when necessary. Mid afternoon Congo and her baby also Davida and her son David visit. They are provided lots of milk and bananas. All of the orangutans appear to be healthy and active.
Reported by Phyllis Blum.
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Volunteer Report
Ashleigh Miller
February 11, 2001
Hello fellow orangutan lovers, and supporters of Friends of the National Parks Foundation. My name is Ashleigh Miller and I am a volunteer from Canada. I have been a volunteer in Tanjung Puting National Park for the past month and I will continue volunteering for one more month. I wanted to give you all a personal update on the orangutans and what I have done as a volunteer.
During my first week here, the staff and I fixed up one of the old cabins and turned it into the FNPF office (FO) at the park. My next major project was improving upon, and updating the information room. This project was not an easy task because most of the information about the park got destroyed when the loggers set fire to the PHPA office in Kumai. On top of this two tasks I also teach English three times a week to the students in Tanjung Harapan village.
FNPF and PHPA have been working a lot with Tanjung Harapan village, educating about logging and setting up new resources such as experimental fish, ducks farm, and vegetable farms. The new head of the village has agreed to work with FNPF and try to stop the villagers from logging. If any of you have any experience in third world agriculture, your knowledge would be much appreciated!!
FNPF is doing all they can to help the village with its limited resources. FNPF's hope is that the village will be self sufficient within the next two years.
The orangutans here at Tanjung Puting National Park are doing great!! When I first arrived, six orangutans had been injured one by one. Dr. Herlin, the volunteer veterinarian was extremely busy traveling from camp to camp treating all these orangutan. Five of the six orangutans are now fully recovered and have been released back to the wild. Urol, a ten year old male is still recovering. He got into a territorial fight with Kosasih and lost. His wounds are healing well with out infection. He is getting better by the day and should be released in the near future.
Bonzen, Nyoman and Aluy went through some major trauma a few weeks ago. Bonzen returned to camp with a gash on his head and one on his chest. Nyoman returned untouched, but Aluy sadly has not been seen since. All the staff, including myself, has gone into the forest on numerous occasions to look for her and returned without any luck. The veterinarian and rangers have concluded that this incident was caused by an attack by a gibbon.
Bonzen was treated and has fully physically recovered. The loss of Aluy to their trio affected both Nyoman and Bonzen greatly. Right after the attack, they were extremely protective of each other, and would never physically lose contact. They also seemed to be afraid of the forest and always stayed close to the camp. Now, they are less attached and doing much better. They have not only spent the days in the forest, but some night as well. The rangers have been extremely caring with Bonzen and Nyoman, giving them the time and space needed to mentally recover. The rangers keep a watchful eye on Bonzen and Nyoman when they go into the forest. Lady and Adong are doing excellent! Both are getting stronger and more experienced with their climbing abilities. Adong can often be found playing with the old orangutans in the trees next to the camp. Lady still keeps her distance, but she seems to be less afraid of the older orangutans. Davida, Congo and their babies are healthy. Davida comes to the feedings more often than Congo. In the past month I have only seen Congo and her baby three times. Right now is the fruits season in Tanjung Puting National Park and it's great to know Congo is for rising and providing for herself and her baby.
Wish all the orangutans health and happiness.
Sincerely,
Ashleigh Miller
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