SAVE LUTWALA DIVE
Donation protected
STORY SO FAR...
My name is Kate and I have lived on the Gili Islands for the last year and a half. I have been at Lutwala Dive, a beautiful dive resort which lies on the North Shore of Gili Trawanagan, for over a year now. It has been my home, my school and the place where my little island family gathers.
I am raising these funds for Tori Taylor, the general manager at Lutwala Dive, in the hopes that this beautiful dive shop will run as normal one day soon.
The funds will be transferred from my bank account directly to PayPal and then emailed to her, as unfortunately I have created this account under Canadian dollars and she would not be able to link her American bank details with the campaign directly. (We have run into this problem with a separate campaign for the islands animals specifically, set up by one of our recent customers from the UK)
We are Lutwala Dive Resort and Bungalows. A PADI 5 Star scuba diving school located on Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia with an impeccable reputation.
On August 5 Lombok and the Gili Islands were hit by a huge earthquake of a Magnitude 7.0 and caused massive damage, many injuries and deaths. Aftershocks and earthquakes ranging from 4.0M to 5.6M have been hitting the islands since August 5 and the Gili Islands have been evacuated, excluding the business owners and a few locals who refuse to leave their homes. Boats have been completely stop going to or from the Gili Islands for the time being due to the severity of the damage in Lombok being of more importance, and rightly so. This is leaving many people on the island for an undetermined amount of time before boats resume.
The underwater power cable has broken and there is absolutely no power going to the islands, the business owners are using their generators sparingly to conserve resources as there is no time frame in place to fix the underwater cable. Especially when the damage to Lombok takes priority being larger, more heavily populated and being hit directly.
As Indonesia is developing country there are limited funds available to go towards the Gili Islands which have been a huge contributor to the economy, locals jobs, and being the top destination, after Bali, for tourists from all around the world.
The Gili Islands were evacuated immediately, and now from around 3000-4000 people on the island (Gili Trawangan) it has dwindled to estimably 150.
WHY WE NEED FUNDS
The remaining people on the island not only to rebuild but to protect their businesses from looting and further damage. There are now military officers in place as security and also a curfew to prevent further looting/damage. The damage at Lutwala is manageable, and compared to some of the other resorts on the island it is apparent that our building was incredibly well built! Our team is hoping that within six months we can get the dive shop up and running to standards but to do this requires supplies, petrol for delivery of said supplies, construction workers, plumbers, labourers and of course, funds in which to do so.
1. REBUILDING LUTWALA/SUPPLIES
The roof and the plumbing are our biggest concerns at this time, as well as diesel for keeping the generator running for the time being while power is out. There are also surrounding walls that have collapsed completely, flooring smashed by falling debris, huge cracks in the walls and floors, and a main water line has been compromised. We expect to be spending somewhere around 10,000,000 Indonesian Rupiah (approximately $700 USD) a month on repairs and maintaining food and water supplies. With no income coming from tourism this is going to prove extremely difficult. This is when we call upon all of you to help us rebuild our dive centre, our lives, our careers and slowly the whole island can resume as it was before. If you have been to the Gili Islands you would agree that they are very special and deserve to be rebuilt, this is home to so many people and a beautiful vacation spot for so many more.
2. REBUILDING LOCAL STAFFS LIVES
Our local staff are more than just staff to us... They are our family. As over half of them live in Lombok with their families and make the trip over to Gili Trawangan every morning. So far seven of our staff members family homes have been completely destroyed leaving them to sleep outside with the wives and children on tarps. We so far have been able to give them some supplies and some will stay on the island for a few days to start sorting out some of the exterior damage.
We want to put as much money into these amazing peoples pockets as possible. They have built our excellent reputation up in too many ways to count and are family to us. Some working with Lutwala since it opened in 2009!
3. ANIMAL DESERSTION/CARE
Along with being manager of the dive resort, Tori Taylor also manages a Cat Hospital and tends to ALL injured, sick and dying animals. She also has a non-profit organization called Horses of Gili and seeing as how every single person, box of beer, mattress, rubbish, cement, and lumber is carted around the island by horses ONLY, due to there being no motorized vehicles on the island there is a lot of need for her services as a former veterinarian technician to keep the horses and cats healthy and happy.
When the earthquake hit nearly all of the locals fled the island, basically only expats and business owners remained with the exception of a few locals. The horse cart drivers in particular when fled were forced to leave their ponies behind. Now days after the earthquake over 250 horses are running around the island with little food, which is normally shipped in from Lombok. There is not much for grazing areas on the island. As well as no access to fresh drinking water. There are also hundreds of cats on the island who will need care and food, since everyone has left them behind.
There is no doubt that once deliveries of supplies are allowed to start from Lombok that Tori will be spearheading the animal care on the island as well as repairing her dive centre which she also calls home. This of course requires funds that we don't have at this time.
All donations are going directly and immediately to dive shop manager Tori, and anything extra will be donated to other locals effected. Any donation is better than no donation and we thank all of our friends, past customers and family members for the waves of support we have already been receiving. We are hoping if this campaign is shared we can access as many different demographics out there and get our fantastic dive centre back to what she was... So please, please share!
Thank you for reading our story, our spirits are high and we are hopeful that with time we can expect a bright future for the Lombok area.
My name is Kate and I have lived on the Gili Islands for the last year and a half. I have been at Lutwala Dive, a beautiful dive resort which lies on the North Shore of Gili Trawanagan, for over a year now. It has been my home, my school and the place where my little island family gathers.
I am raising these funds for Tori Taylor, the general manager at Lutwala Dive, in the hopes that this beautiful dive shop will run as normal one day soon.
The funds will be transferred from my bank account directly to PayPal and then emailed to her, as unfortunately I have created this account under Canadian dollars and she would not be able to link her American bank details with the campaign directly. (We have run into this problem with a separate campaign for the islands animals specifically, set up by one of our recent customers from the UK)
We are Lutwala Dive Resort and Bungalows. A PADI 5 Star scuba diving school located on Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia with an impeccable reputation.
On August 5 Lombok and the Gili Islands were hit by a huge earthquake of a Magnitude 7.0 and caused massive damage, many injuries and deaths. Aftershocks and earthquakes ranging from 4.0M to 5.6M have been hitting the islands since August 5 and the Gili Islands have been evacuated, excluding the business owners and a few locals who refuse to leave their homes. Boats have been completely stop going to or from the Gili Islands for the time being due to the severity of the damage in Lombok being of more importance, and rightly so. This is leaving many people on the island for an undetermined amount of time before boats resume.
The underwater power cable has broken and there is absolutely no power going to the islands, the business owners are using their generators sparingly to conserve resources as there is no time frame in place to fix the underwater cable. Especially when the damage to Lombok takes priority being larger, more heavily populated and being hit directly.
As Indonesia is developing country there are limited funds available to go towards the Gili Islands which have been a huge contributor to the economy, locals jobs, and being the top destination, after Bali, for tourists from all around the world.
The Gili Islands were evacuated immediately, and now from around 3000-4000 people on the island (Gili Trawangan) it has dwindled to estimably 150.
WHY WE NEED FUNDS
The remaining people on the island not only to rebuild but to protect their businesses from looting and further damage. There are now military officers in place as security and also a curfew to prevent further looting/damage. The damage at Lutwala is manageable, and compared to some of the other resorts on the island it is apparent that our building was incredibly well built! Our team is hoping that within six months we can get the dive shop up and running to standards but to do this requires supplies, petrol for delivery of said supplies, construction workers, plumbers, labourers and of course, funds in which to do so.
1. REBUILDING LUTWALA/SUPPLIES
The roof and the plumbing are our biggest concerns at this time, as well as diesel for keeping the generator running for the time being while power is out. There are also surrounding walls that have collapsed completely, flooring smashed by falling debris, huge cracks in the walls and floors, and a main water line has been compromised. We expect to be spending somewhere around 10,000,000 Indonesian Rupiah (approximately $700 USD) a month on repairs and maintaining food and water supplies. With no income coming from tourism this is going to prove extremely difficult. This is when we call upon all of you to help us rebuild our dive centre, our lives, our careers and slowly the whole island can resume as it was before. If you have been to the Gili Islands you would agree that they are very special and deserve to be rebuilt, this is home to so many people and a beautiful vacation spot for so many more.
2. REBUILDING LOCAL STAFFS LIVES
Our local staff are more than just staff to us... They are our family. As over half of them live in Lombok with their families and make the trip over to Gili Trawangan every morning. So far seven of our staff members family homes have been completely destroyed leaving them to sleep outside with the wives and children on tarps. We so far have been able to give them some supplies and some will stay on the island for a few days to start sorting out some of the exterior damage.
We want to put as much money into these amazing peoples pockets as possible. They have built our excellent reputation up in too many ways to count and are family to us. Some working with Lutwala since it opened in 2009!
3. ANIMAL DESERSTION/CARE
Along with being manager of the dive resort, Tori Taylor also manages a Cat Hospital and tends to ALL injured, sick and dying animals. She also has a non-profit organization called Horses of Gili and seeing as how every single person, box of beer, mattress, rubbish, cement, and lumber is carted around the island by horses ONLY, due to there being no motorized vehicles on the island there is a lot of need for her services as a former veterinarian technician to keep the horses and cats healthy and happy.
When the earthquake hit nearly all of the locals fled the island, basically only expats and business owners remained with the exception of a few locals. The horse cart drivers in particular when fled were forced to leave their ponies behind. Now days after the earthquake over 250 horses are running around the island with little food, which is normally shipped in from Lombok. There is not much for grazing areas on the island. As well as no access to fresh drinking water. There are also hundreds of cats on the island who will need care and food, since everyone has left them behind.
There is no doubt that once deliveries of supplies are allowed to start from Lombok that Tori will be spearheading the animal care on the island as well as repairing her dive centre which she also calls home. This of course requires funds that we don't have at this time.
All donations are going directly and immediately to dive shop manager Tori, and anything extra will be donated to other locals effected. Any donation is better than no donation and we thank all of our friends, past customers and family members for the waves of support we have already been receiving. We are hoping if this campaign is shared we can access as many different demographics out there and get our fantastic dive centre back to what she was... So please, please share!
Thank you for reading our story, our spirits are high and we are hopeful that with time we can expect a bright future for the Lombok area.
Organizer
Kate Aldynn
Organizer
Edmonton, AB