HIGHLIGHT 2019

Dear Ranu Welum allies - our friends, donors, supporters, volunteers, partners, readers, all fellows who stand for justice and humanity around the world. Greetings from the heart of Borneo island - Happy New Year 2020! 

2019 has been a very challenging year, which we have overcome and now we got achievements to cherish on. We present to you this year’s successful indigenous initiatives, here are the seven highlights of 2019!

1. INDIGENOUS FILM FESTIVAL

This year we successfully held 3 Indigenous Film Festivals with the theme: “Stories that Matter”. The stories were brought from the ground of Indigenous tribes all over the globe, from the Dayaks of Kalimantan to Sapara people of the Ecuadorian Amazon. 

Over 50 films about Indigenous communities made by Indigenous filmmakers from 14 countries (India, Malaysia, Canada, South Africa, etc.) were showcased to a wider global audience. 60 indigenous filmmakers artists were present and 1000+ attendees in total.

2019 International Indigenous Film Festivals that we held:

  1. 2nd Bali International Indigenous Film Festival (BIIFF) | 10 - 12 May 2019, at Njana Tilem Museum & Paradiso Ubud.

  2. International Indigenous Film Festival Kuching | 7 - 12 July 2019, part of Rainforest Fringe Festival 2019 in Sarawak, Malaysia. 

  3. 2nd Kalimantan Indigenous Film Festival (KIFF) | 9 - 11 August 2019, at XXI Cinema Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan. In commemoration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

From documentation on traditional rituals to films bringing the story of real issues that need awareness - big or small, every story matters.

2. RANU WELUM FILM ACADEMY

Ranu Welum has been empowering Indigenous youth to use media as a tool for social impact and voice-out social and environmental problems that their communities face. This year, three media training workshops were held in Kalimantan by Ranu Welum Media:

  1. Landak Regency (West Kalimantan) | theme: ‘Video and Art Design for Social Impact’, on 24 April 2019. 12 youth leaders from different districts in Landak Regency joined.

  2. East Barito Regency (Central Kalimantan) | theme: ‘Media & Digital Literacy’, on 29 & 30 April 2019. 10 students and activists attended.

  3. Palangkaraya (Capital of Central Kalimantan) | topics: ‘Videos for Social Change’, ‘Aesthetics of Audio-Visual Work’, ‘Film Production’, ‘Making Documentary with Low Budget’, and ‘Elevation: How to bring your audiovisual work to global audience’, on 11 August 2019. As a part of the Kalimantan Indigenous Film Festival 2019, 9 indigenous filmmakers from different provinces of Kalimantan gave filmmaking lessons to 18 Palangkaraya youths.

3. THE HEARTLAND PROJECT

Launched by YOUTH ACT, The Heartland Project is a youth movement to restore the last standing forest In Indonesia. Successfully held twice this year, 2,535 trees were planted on 21 - 23 June 2019 by 1,188 people all over Indonesia for The Heartland Project Pt 1 and 5,317 trees by  2,535 young people on 20 - 22 November 2019 for The Heartland Project Pt 2. 

With youth as the driving force to organize this movement, this year we had 3,500+ people planting 7,500+ trees. Since we did the reforestation effort on our own, we learned that tree-planting is not as simple as it seems to be. However, it doesn’t mean that it’s impossible. Just like the name, it’s more of a heart-to-heart effort. Taking care of the earth is a responsibility everyone needs to do, more than a job for environmentalists or projects for government organizations & NGOs. 

4. KALIMANTAN RELIEF EFFORT

2019 dry season was catastrophic as forest fires rage all over the world, including the forests of Kalimantan. We refused to stand still and do nothing in this emergency. Like-minded youths of Palangkaraya became volunteers in Kalimantan Relief Effort by YOUTH ACT, divided into three main divisions:

  1. HAZE SHELTER | Our headquarters functioned as both office and a 24/7 Haze Shelter where N95 masks and medical treatments were available for free. More than 500 people were protected from haze by evacuating to our shelter during the emergency. As per December 2019, we now have 2 more shelters set up, at PKBM Candra Kirana school and SHM Mahanaim (both in Palangkaraya).

  2. HEALTH PROTECTION FOR VILLAGERS | 478 people in 5 villages received free medical treatments. A total of 24,930 N95 masks has been distributed to areas in 3 provinces of Kalimantan. 

  3. FIREFIGHTERS TEAM | Battling in the front line means facing the fires. KATUYUNG (Our Youth Firefighter Squad’s codename)  consists of 7 young locals, with ages ranging from 18 to 25 years old. KATUYUNG went on duty 5 times a week, worked with other firefighters from TAGANA of Palangkaraya & TimCegahApi of Greenpeace Indonesia.

5. KALIMANTAN CLIMATE STRIKE

20 - 27 September 2019. EIGHT days of strike for the climate to voice the emergency crisis of smoke haze and forest fires in Kalimantan. 319 young people in Palangkaraya, Ketapang, and Pontianak united to voice and demand Climate Justice for Kalimantan: End the 22 years of Borneo Forest Fire now! 

From doing long-marches every morning in thick hazardous haze and free N95 mask distributions after the strike to hearing with Central Kalimantan Parliament (DPRD) and "#ClimateJustice4Kalimantan" petition signed by the Governor of Central Kalimantan, Mr. Sugianto Sabran.

We hope that the victory achieved by the Kalimantan Climate Strike [Palangkaraya] will motivate Kalimantan youth in other provinces, so that the other governors, as well as the President and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, agree to work together in the realization of climate justice for the whole Kalimantan, 22 years forest fires must be stopped!

6. DAYAK DOCUMENTARIES

Released in 2019: “Jumpun Lewu Kami” & “Dayak: Facing The Giants”. Coming soon in 2020: “When Women Fight 3: Breaking The Game”

1. “JUMPUN LEWU KAMI” by DAAI TV | Numerous media flew to Kalimantan to get reports on forest fires and haze. DAAI TV, a national television channel came to us wanting to get stories untold by the mainstream media. The title is in Dayak Maanyan language, it means “Forest, Our Home” - telling the value of forest viewed by Dayak wisdom and the core reason of Kalimantan mega-fires.

2. “Dayak: Facing The Giants” by RANU WELUM MEDIA | Although legal, extractive-industry-companies exploit natural resources too much. Environmental impacts are left unfixed and restoration policies are neglected. Companies that promised to give job opportunities to Indigenous people ended only hiring less than 5 Indigenous workers and the rest were outsiders. The story where Indigenous communities all over the world can relate - facing environmental destruction and social conflicts in our homelands.

3. “When Women Fight 3: Breaking The Game” produced by Denise Dragiewicz & Emmanuela Shinta | (Coming soon in March 2020) "You may have to fight the battle more than once to win it." Despite her determination to bring the world's attention to Kalimantan issue which aims for a change, Emmanuela Shinta and her team have to face the real biggest challenge as Dayak indigenous activists. As the last action from the trilogy, “WHEN WOMEN FIGHT 3: Breaking The Game” will be released in four episodes.

7. YOUTH ACT LAUNCH

YOUTH ACT first started in 2016 by Emmanuela and her team as a Youth Act Campaign that launched after big environmental disaster in Indonesia that affected neighboring countries and became the world's attention as the biggest carbon contributor to climate change. 

This year we launched Youth Act campaigns in 5 cities around the world: 

  • Kyoto, Japan

  • Bonn, Germany

  • Stanford, California

  • Iquitos, Peru

  • New York City, New York

Youth Act is not merely an organization, it’s a youth movement. Our slogan is “Ordinary people who reject to do nothing“. YOU too can be part of the solution. Let’s ACT now, together!

 

2019 has been full of challenges and blessings. 2020 is a year we look forward to! 

We hope to upgrade the Indigenous Film Festival at an International scale to be held in our homeland Kalimantan, along with more workshops and community empowerment for our Dayak brothers and sisters in rural areas. 

Although we don’t want the forest fires to happen again, climate predictions say 2020 drought is going to be worse. We will continuously advocate for sustainable policies, take action on reforestation, and prepare for the worst by setting more haze shelters.

We sincerely thank you - for the endless support and being part of our journey to voice justice for the Indigenous people. Let’s aim for the Indigenous Peoples Rights to be finally acknowledged in 2020!

Let’s set our HEART for TRIBE

Palangkaraya, December 31st 2019

RANU WELUM TEAM