First Indonesian Supporter

Giving money to charities and volunteering are not common practice in the eastern societies. If people do them, these acts are usually related to their formal religious practice. Many rich Indonesians–some of them on the the Forbes billionaire list–seem confused what to do with their abundant money. The most likely their churches are the receivers of this overflowed money.

On the contrary, in the western societies, the rich is less likely to give their money to religious institutions. They prefer giving it to humanitarian, development, or environmental organizations. And, volunteering to these organizations is also a common practice in the western societies.

Calculating the chance of receiving local support is low, I decided not to have a bilingual website, at least this stage. However, I might have to start doing it because we have just got our first local supporter: Habsari Budhi Utami.

Ari, her nickname, a professional woman–confirming my analysis on gender issue in conservation movement–who works at one bank in Jakarta. She is not only interested in giving donation–she has transferred 2.5 million rupiah to my bank account yesterday–but in the field works as well. I hope Ari and I can start to work on forming a local foundation.

Welcome aboard, Ari!