Onowaembo village, Gunungsitoli Idanoi, in Nias island, is one of the villages benefited from clean water facility projects by CDRM&CDS. One of the villagers, Melisa Gea (60), stated that after the building of clean water facility, she no longer have to walk far to fetch the water.

“Now I only need to walk 20 meters, and I get the clean water for daily needs easier. The water is pure and clean, and good for our health. The clean water is easily obtained, because the facility was built in 3 different locations in my village,” she said.

Otilina Mendrofa (42), head of Sahabat women group, Nazalou Lolowua village, Nias, tells her story about her harvest progress after assisted by CDRM&CDS:

 “My rice yields at the end of 2013 has really increased. In the past, my 10 acres rice fields only produced 240 jumba (384 kg) rice, but now it produce 300 jumba (480 kg) rice.

I used to plant local variety rice with 2 times of growing season. Now, I plant rice from yielding seed varieties (provided by Agriculture Department), and I could plant rice 3 times a year. My rice harvest is increased, my land is more productive and efficient. Moreover, the rice is softer and taste better. 

In Indonesia, the rights of citizens is guaranteed by constitution. In fact, many citizens do not understand their right and tend to be ignored by local governments. Limited knowledge of communities, is one of the factors that may affect this condition. There is unbalanced power relations between the community and the government.

In Indonesia, a gate is often built as a sign of a village or public places. In Mentawai Island, there are lots of welcoming cate which is usually used to inform the name of the village to the visitors. Never have they built information gate which gives information about disaster alertness. This has motivated Community Resilience Unit (Satlinmas) and CDRM&CDS to build disaster alertness gate in Polaga sub-village.

The villagers in Polaga, Matobe village, strongly supported this idea and participated in gate construction. In that gate, they wrote, “Tarek Tubu Itata’ Ake Pulutokat”, which means alertness eliminates fear.