Earthquake Relief Gypsea Sanctuary

EARTHQUAKE
My name is Elizabeth Long, I am 56 years old originally from Australia. I am the owner of Gypsea Yoga Retreat, a quiet oasis in Lombok, Indonesia. The August 5 earthquake has been devastating to our quiet community. We are thankful to be alive but our home is in ruin.

It is our goal to bring the locals who helped construct Gypsea and who remained on as permanent staff, back together to restore this special sanctuary. The reconstruction effort provides them much needed employment, so they in turn can rebuild their own demolished homes. Working together like this, we create a symbiosis which will restore our little piece of paradise. 


CONSTRUCTION
We do not want to rebuild using the same materials of brick, cement and iron which buckled like toothpicks under the seismic pressure. Instead we are going use teak wood which will flex during any future earthquake tremors, not to mention it is the only wood resistant to termite harvest. We will replace the useless Indonesian genteng clay tiles with tar-based spandex tiles. We will rewire our power grid, repair water tanks and provide meals for anyone lending a hand. The list is long, the hardier materials are expensive, and it all feels a bit insurmountable. But drop by drop we will fill the bucket.

If you would like to be one of the drops in our bucket, please consider donating.  Our goal is to complete renovation before October 2018 when monsoon season begins.


BACKGROUND
My dream was to create a sanctuary for people to rest their soul, restore their energy, and bathe in nature. I used my entire retirement savings to buy this land and build this dream in 2014. 

During the initial construction, I realized I was actually educating the local villagers on how to create basic infrastructure which the Indonesian government does not provide. This included building septic tanks, channeling rainwater runoff, and disposing of household refuse. It didn't end there. Gypsea inspired a sense of pride in the natural beauty of the village, and people began to use these systems in their own homes. We didn’t just build a villa, we built a philosophy. By donating you are directly providing employment for the local people suffering from the earthquake.


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BEFORE