INTRODUCTION

Operasi Soedarsono Batam (OSB) 2000 is a joint project with the Indonesian Red Cross in Batam. Named in memory of Mr. Soedarsono, the Indonesian philanthropist responsible for the huge success of Operasi Raleigh Batam in 1996 and 1998, this year’s effort will continue with his vision of youth development through community service.

The aims of OSB 2000 are two-fold: firstly to perform meaningful and useful work for a rural community in the Riau Archipelago, and secondly to encourage Singaporean youths to develop a spirit of adventure and community service through exposure to volunteer work under arduous conditions.

Developed with the support of the Singapore International Foundation- Youth Expedition Project (SIF- YEP), this year’s expedition will focus on building and furnishing a school and clinic on Pulau Teluk Nipah, a small island some 60 km south of Batam recently devastated by a typhoon.

THE CONCEPT

OSB 2000 aims to bring Singaporean and Indonesian youths together in a joint project to better the lives of the simple community living on Pulau Teluk Nipah. To this end, meetings with the villagers and on-site visits were conducted to identify projects that were useful to the community and also sustainable.

THE ISLAND

Pulau Teluk Nipah is the smallest island of a 3-island community (Pulau Sembur and Pulau Nanga bring the other two). It is approximately 60 km south of Batam and is a 15-minute boat ride from Pulau Galang Bahru, the southernmost of the series of islands connected to Batam by land bridges.

The island was recently struck by a typhoon, leaving in its wake a trail of great damage that the villagers are still struggling to repair. There is no school on Pulau Teluk Nipah, and though the children are encouraged to attend on a nearby island, most do not because of logistical restraint and competing economic needs.

THE PROJECT

Consultation with the village headman revealed that the children were not attending school mainly because their fishermen parents could not afford to utilize their fishing boats to ferry them to and fro school. With the assistance of Ibu Soedarsono, the widow of the late Mr. Soedarsono, the services of a teacher have been secured and the pressing need now is for premises for lessons to be conducted.

Hence, the mission of OSB 2000 is to build and furnish a school for the children. This will be a single-storey structure housing not only a school, but also a small clinic for the provision of medical services to the islanders.

The school will be constructed from scratch. With the kind assistance of Sembawang Cooperation in the form of technical advice and building materials, the school will, from the foundation to the roof to the finishing touches of paint, be built jointly with likeminded Indonesian volunteers.

As an added service to the community, 2 doctors have volunteered their time to render medical care and provide training for the local health care provider throughout the duration of the project.