Saturday, May 11, 2013

14. Gonna Take a Sustainable Journey


Today I wandered down to the Weverstraat in my town where Wibo Teerlink has his shop, called Cambium. Wibo is an idealist with great understanding and knowledge of modern products that contribute to a more sustainable lifestyle. I purchased the new WAKAWAKA gadget from him. It is a solar-powered lamp that can also charge the mobile telephone and tablet.

We talked about strategies for making solar energy available to all participants on the Pulang Kampung III journey. Wibo showed me the American-made LUCI lamps that produce as much light as kerosene lamps to light up cozy gatherings in the night. These would be ideal in the Batak villages at night when we show our film.

And of course, there is the indispensable WAKAWAKA power to charge the mobile telephones. I would like everybody on the voyage to have one of these chargers. These will allow everyone to keep their telephones charged during the journey, even when we are traveling in boat and bus. The youth will be able to keep theirs and afterwards show everyone in the villages how they charge their telephone using the light from the sun. 

The total bill for this solar requirement for the Pulang Kampung III journey will come to 1000 euro, a reasonable price due to Wibo’s goodwill and desire to make this project work. I told him that we would be documenting the journey in film and that useful images will come out of the project that he and the manufacturers of the solar products will be able to use for promotional purposes.

Wibo and I are going to pool our efforts to realize this “solar goal” of Pulang Kampung III. He was very pleased with MJA Nashir’s design of the Pulang Kampung III proposal and will use it when we look for support for the project. When he shook my hand at the end of our meeting, he said confidently, “It is going to work.”

In the meantime, I have my mobile telephone charging at the rate of 1%/minute as my solar charger transforms sunlight into electricity on this cloudy day.


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