SurfAid today released some key results of the past year’s work in isolated regions of Indonesia.

SurfAid’s Country Director Anne Wuijts said SurfAid has 60 field staff living and working in remote villages off the coast of Sumatra and in Sumbawa, eastern Indonesia.

“We have faced many challenging conditions together with the communities in the past year,” Wuijts said. “But a lack of roads, land tenure complications and severe flooding will not stand in our way to bring positive change to remote communities. We are proud and humbled by the many results we were able to achieve together.”

SURFAID’S KEY 2012-13 RESULTS

- Built 175 new and rehabilitated 12 clean water facilities in 62 remote communities, with 502 members of local water committees trained to play a lead role in the construction, use and maintenance of the facilities.
- Reached more than 75 communities with hygiene education.
- Re-established 35 community health posts (Posyandu). (In Indonesia, Posyandu are the key village-based initiative to lift the health of young children and mothers.)
- Trained 212 community health volunteers to drive Posyandu activities.
- Reached 116 communities with health and disaster risk reduction activities.   
- Built, with local communities, five evacuation roads, 10 shelters and four emergency food distribution points. (The communities have contributed 5,276 (wo)man hours to the construction of the mitigation projects, which doesn’t include the time spent for collection of 15.5 m3 of sand, 16.3 m3 of stones, 9.5 m3 of gravel and other materials.)
- Trained 416 schoolchildren in hygiene education.
- Trained 49 disaster management teams, with 588 people active as disaster team members.
- Facilitated two district level disaster management maps.
- Developed 49 village maps.
- Trained schoolchildren in disaster response at four schools.
- Trained 56 teachers in integrating disaster management into the school curriculum.

Wuijts said the support of donors worldwide has contributed tremendously to these key results. 

“On behalf of our communities and staff I would like to thank all our donors for their generous and continuous support. Together we will achieve more results for remote communities,” she said.

Examples of what your donation to SurfAid’s Mother and Child health programs can deliver are: 

$25 weighing scale, $50 water piping, $100 nutrition gardens, $300 midwife training, $800 water well, $3,000 mother and child health program (whole village).

You can support our work by donating here »

The remains of Calicoan Surf Camp. Besides sustained winds of 237 km/h (147 mph) Typhoon Haiyan also produced a 5m (15 foot) storm surge. Photo courtesy of Michelle So.

SurfAid has launched an appeal to assist the Filipino people in the wake of the devastating Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda.

Billabong and the Quiksilver Foundation have already pledged $5,000 each. Both were lead donors in the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, which was SurfAid’s first emergency response after being established in 2000.

The Philippines Government estimates that the super typhoon has affected more than 13 million people (including 5.4 million children), and 4.4 million people have been displaced from their homes by one of the strongest storms ever to make landfall.


Typhoon Haiyan first hit land in the coastal town of Guiuan, in Eastern Samar, devastating all in its path. Photo courtesy of Michelle So.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that over one million houses are damaged or destroyed, and an initial rapid assessment estimates that 80 to 90 per cent of schools in Aklan, Capiz and Iloilo provinces in the Western Visayas are damaged or destroyed.

With the scale of the disaster and the logistical challenges, SurfAid CEO Andrew Judge said the organisation has been establishing key local partnerships before appealing to donors.

“Local networks and on-the-ground capacity will ensure that we can be a channel for the surf community to make a valuable contribution to an effective response,” Judge said.

After the typhoon struck on Friday 8 November, Indonesian staff of Johanniter, a German organisation closely linked to the St John network, approached SurfAid Country Director Anne Wuijts about a possible collaboration in the Philippines. Johanniter works on health promotion in Sumatra in parallel with SurfAid's work in the Mentawai and Nias islands.


Typhoon Haiyan was one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever to hit land. The coastal town of Guiuan. Photo courtesy of Michelle So.

“Initially we are planning to support Filipino partners through Johanniter,” Wuijts said. “They have an excellent emergency response reputation, are on the ground, and are already providing medical assistance and supplies through established local networks.”

Jutta Meissner, Head of Desk Southeast Asia for Johanniter International Assistance, said: "We are already distributing food and shelter packages through our local partner on the islands Leyte and Panay. The need is huge. So we are very happy to get more support through SurfAid."

SurfAid has previously worked with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF Belgium) in a similar emergency response partnership.

Andrew Judge said that after SurfAid had supported the initial response the organisation plans to bring experienced staff from Indonesia to deliver assistance to surfing areas and will address key health issues at the community level, including disease prevention and hygiene and sanitation.

“The need on the ground will determine the exact locations.” Judge said. “Our experience indicates that in a disaster of this scale, smaller coastal communities will likely miss out on assistance that flows to the larger population centres.”

You can donate to the SurfAid Philippines Appeal at surfaid.org/philippines

In the US, you can also text SURFAID to 85944 to donate $10 to the SurfAid Philippines Appeal.

The Surfing Lawyers have won the OzForex SurfAid Cup in one-metre surf at South Curl Curl, on Sydney’s northern beaches, with sixteen corporate teams raising more than $180,000 for humanitarian organisation SurfAid.

OzForex not only sponsored the event but also won the fundraising trophy by raising $32,000.

OzForex CEO Neil Helm said it was a great day. “OzForex was proud to be the lead sponsor for this year’s event as well as being invited to enter a team. And we are proud that the funds raised will go towards SurfAid’s mother and child health program in Sumbawa, eastern Indonesia,” he said.

“What we lacked in quality surf was made up for in enthusiasm and enjoyment,” Helm added. “The SurfAid team did an awesome job and the final was a fitting end to a fantastic day.” 

In a closely fought final, the Surfing Lawyers defeated Allan Hall Business Advisors in the dying seconds, with Aquabumps Shredders third and the Shaw Brothers fourth, in a tag-team event which matched world champions and former professional surfers and celebrities with corporate fundraising teams.



The other placings were: CBA and oOh!media (equal 5th), AMP Capital 2 and BlackRock (equal 7th), Citi Frothers, The Heavyweights, ToyBell and OzForex (equal 9th), and Paradice Investment Management, Perpetual, Crown Clowns and AMP Capital 1 (equal 13th).

Business heavyweights who competed included:  Andrew Landman (Managing Director, BlackRock), Stephen Dunne (Managing Director, AMP Capital), Gregg Piercy (Executive Director, Thakral Capital), Madeleine MacMahon (HR Director, AMP Capital Investors), and Mark Burmeister (Managing Director Head of Global Capital Markets, Morgan Stanley).

Two former world champion surfers, Layne Beachley and Tom Carroll, pulled on the coloured jersey along with two Rugby League legends, Andrew Johns and Mark Gasnier.

Former top professional surfers who each joined the corporate teams were Simon Anderson, Luke Egan, Rob Bain, Matt Hoy, Richie Lovett, Toby Martin, Matt Bemrose and Jarrad Howse plus top junior Jordy Lawler, lifeguard Ryan “Whippet” Clark and local rippers Ben Hamilton and Dan Karren.

The Surfing Lawyers were Matt Warburton, Trent March, Guy Foster, James Walker-Powell and their selected celebrity surfer Ryan Clark.

Surfing Lawyers captain Matt Warburton, who is Hudson’s Chief Legal Officer, said his team felt good. “I love that we can come and support the great work that SurfAid does. We all travel to Indonesia on a regular basis so to be able to support SurfAid who put so much back into the communities that we visit is great.

“It’s always good to be a winner but I think SurfAid is the big winner which is the best part,” Warburton said.
SurfAid Australia board member, and captain of Team Perpetual, Charlie Lanchester, said it was a privilege to be part of the OzForex SurfAid Cup. 

“To compete against past champions, raise money for such a good cause and hang out with a great group of people makes for an incredible experience. I can't wait for next year. Thanks to everyone who helped organise the event,” Lanchester said.

You can support the teams here: give.everydayhero.com/au/surfaid-cup-queenscliff

Five former world champion surfers, and two Rugby League legends, are lining up to take on Sydney’s corporate world in the OzForex SurfAid Cup at Queenscliff Beach, Sydney, on Friday 1 November.

Mark ‘MR’ Richards, Layne Beachley, Tom Carroll, Damien Hardman, Martin Potter, Simon Anderson, Luke Egan, Rob Bain, Matt Hoy and Richie Lovett are among the pros who will be hitting the ocean to help raise money for humanitarian organization SurfAid.  Joining them will be former Rugby League greats Andrew Johns and Mark Gasnier, both proficient surfers.

Sixteen corporate teams, aiming to raise at least $5,000 each, have entered the OzForex SurfAid Cup and so far they have raised more than $101,120.  In order of their fundraising results the top fundraisers get to pick a pro surfer/legend to join their team of four surfers.  

In relay-style each surfer catches two or three waves, depending on surf conditions, and returns to the tag area. Every surfer’s second wave is worth double points (power wave). 

Neil Helm, the CEO of event sponsor OzForex, said they are honoured to be involved in this year’s SurfAid Cup.

“We are stoked to be able to support this incredibly important cause through sponsoring the SurfAid Cup at Queenscliff Beach, Sydney,” Helm said. 



“Each year we run a ‘Superhero Charity Day’ where we donate the profits from one day to five charities around the globe. The OzForex Board selected SurfAid as their chosen charity for this year and our team of ‘ordinary’ surfers are pumped to be able to get the opportunity to surf alongside world legends, and we look forward to some fierce but friendly competition against other corporate teams.”

SurfAid board member and captain of Team Perpetual, Charlie Lanchester, said they are in serious training for this year’s OzForex SurfAid Cup. 

“It is a privilege to again be involved in this wonderful event. It is so exciting to compete alongside so many legends of the surfing community. To have five former world champions all in the event is a clear demonstration of support for this excellent cause,” Lanchester said.

“SurfAid’s work on the remote shores of Indonesia continues to improve the lives of those much less fortunate than ourselves. A massive thank you to our new main sponsor OzForex for their support this year. “

Andrew Johns said he was looking forward to a great day. “I heard last year that there was some tackling going on. I can't do that - some of these guys are my heroes, especially MR. He is a god in Newy (Newcastle).”

The 16 competing teams are: OzForex Foreign Exchange, Perpetual, Shaw Brothers, Crown Clowns, The Heavyweights, Citi Frothers, AMP Capital-1, AMP Capital-2, oOh!media, Aquabumps Shredders, NAB, CBA-1, CBA-2, Paradice Investment Management, ToyBell and BlackRock.

You can support the teams here.

The OzForex SurfAid Cup will run from 9am - 5pm at Queenscliff Beach, Manly, on Friday 1 November (entry is free for spectators).

Must Winebar in Perth became home to five chefs who love to surf for the latest Surfing Chefs for SurfAid dinner on Thursday 5 September 2013.

Former ASP world surfing champion Martin “Pottz” Potter joined Surfing Chef’s pioneer Russell Blaikie (Must Winebar), Aaron Carr (Vasse Felix), Dany Angove (Leeuwin Estate) and Herb Faust (Herb Faust Food) in the kitchen to produce five courses matched with Madfish Wines. And the VIPs then adjourned to the Must Champagne Lounge.

Following on from the success of Surfing Chefs at Muster bar and grill Margaret River in 2011 and South Bank Surf Club Brisbane in 2012, the night raised $35,000 - a huge indication of the support from the 100 guests. 

“The feeling I took away from this special dinner at Must is that when a room full of people really connects with a cause it’s truly a moment to savour,” Russell Blaikie said. 

“The camaraderie of this crew of chefs was inspiring and the kitchen environment was just like being out in the lineup with ONLY your best mates. There was lots of laughing, digs flying, and it was all interspersed by serious moments of getting amazing food on the plate ... just like paddling into the next wave.”

Blaikie said that Pottz again proved he’s a sharp cook and a serious contributor to the event.  “Yes, I’m talking about the same Pottz, the amazing surfer and larrikin. He arrived early in the morning to throw on his jacket and plug away at the prep, and he stayed on task - with the aid of an Eagle Bay beer or two - until the last plate went out. Major props to a guy who doesn’t rest on his reputation and gives his time so generously.”
 
Blaikie said that SurfAid Country Director Anne Wuijts wowed the crowd out front. “From the moment Anne took to the microphone to explain the amazing work that SurfAid is doing, you could have heard a pin drop.  If the guests didn’t have the full picture of why the SurfAid’s work is so important before the dinner, they do now.

“And they were blown away by the sensational food, great booze and overwhelming sentiment of the night by donating large and auctioning high, netting $35K from 100 peeps. Amazing!”

Martin Potter once  again rose to the challenge with his dish - Balinese spiced toothfish in banana leaf, longan yellow curry and chicken skin salad. "This year's Surfing Chefs for SurfAid event was up there with the best,” Pottz said. “The surfing chefs who wowed the guests with five-star food were true pros. It was an honour to work with them in the kitchen and I look forward to the next event." 

Finishing up the night with the VIP ticket holders in the Champagne Lounge was the perfect opportunity for Russell, Dany, Aaron, Herb and Pottz to relax with a glass of Alfred Gratien Champagne or a Madfish wine and share the spirit of the event with the crew that helped make it such a success.
 
Many thanks to our event sponsors - Madfish Western Australia, Vasse Felix, Leeuwin Estate, Herb Faust Food, Alfred Gratien Champagne, Glacier 51 Toothfish, Manjimup Truffles, Butterfield Beef, Eustralis Food Co, Resort Latitude Zero, Lembongan Island Beach Villas, Eagle Bay Brewery, Havana Club, One Sea Scallops, Joondalup Audio Visual and Hire, Plantagenet, Santa Vittoria, Muster bar and grill, Cannings Purple and Scott Print. 

The Santa Cruz Syndicate, with three-time ASP world champion Tom Curren on board, has won the SurfAid Cup at Malibu.

The Santa Cruz team (Curren, CJ Nelson, Michel Junod, Reilly Stone and Cheyne Renner) defeated the Firewire team (Sebastian Williams, Daniel Thomson, Pascal Stansfield, Taylor Jensen and Chuy Reyna) by only 7/100ths of a point, 49.37 – 49.30.

Surfaiders placed third (47.20), East Coast Bias fourth (32.47), North County Surf fifth (26.03) and the Socal Soul Searchers sixth (21.10). Equal seventh were Legal Right and Frank-n-Riders, equal ninth Surfing For Lives and The Inertia, and 11th place went to Team Malaria Free Mentawai.

In one-foot conditions, Tom Curren surfed a 12-foot paddleboard and caught some long runners down First Point. “It's a great spirit and it's really great to be a part of this event. Thank you,” Tom said on the presentation stage.

Eleven teams raised $72,730 for SurfAid and the Surfing For Lives team, co-captained by Rick Peters and Karl Luber, and with Jen Smith, Gordy Dunfee, Tim Senneff and Ozstar De Jourday, won the fundraising cup with $9,780, just ahead of Santa Cruz Syndicate ($9,600) and East Coast Bias ($8,785).  Surfing For Lives cracked the $10k mark with later donations, for a total of $10,055.



With a big smile, Santa Cruz Syndicate captain Steve Beck said: “I’m proud the Santa Cruz boys came down to Malibu and showed the guys how it works.”

Then he got serious: “I go to Indonesia and surf.  You’re surfing paradise and a few hundred yards from the dream you are living a family is experiencing their greatest tragedy – the death of their child from malaria. I believe it’s the least we can do is to take a shaving from the tremendous resources we’ve been given and help save some lives. 

“And it’s really an honor. I don’t feel proud to be doing what we’re doing - I feel humbled.”

SurfAid USA Chairman, Karl Luber, said it was hard to believe that this was only the second SurfAid Cup at Malibu.  “It feels like it’s been going on forever,” Karl said. “Bottom line it’s hard to believe we can have this much fun and save lives at the same time. SurfAid is the humanitarian arm of the surfing community and we remain humbly grateful for its support.”

The tag-team SurfAid Cup is part of the MSA Classic Invitational, which was presented by the Malibu Surfing Association from September 6th - 8th. 

Competitors got the chance to surf the classic Malibu pointbreak, with a pro surfer/legend on their team, and only a few people in the water. 



Each team aimed to raise at least $5,000 for SurfAid and, in order of their fundraising total, they picked a pro/legend surfer to join them, for a total of five surfers per team. 

The pros who donated their skills and time were Tom Curren, two-time ASP world longboard champion Jen Smith, big wave rider Greg Long, ASP world tour surfer Travis Logie, Strider Wasilewski, Colin Giles, Allen and Colton Sarlo, Pascal Stansfield, Jo Jo Roper and Reef McIntosh.

Former pro surfer Chuy Reyna, on Team Firewire, won a special award for a series of lip hits followed by a faceplant.

For the first time in SurfAid Cup history (five events have also been run in Australia) a team was called for an interference. 

Team North County Surf captain Bruce Bekkar said in the final their team’s mouths “collectively cratered like the suckout in front of a Teahupoo macker as the judges flagged our own Tad Keyser with the dreaded Yellow Triangle. So much distance separated ‘Tomo’ Tompson and Tad at the time of the alleged ‘incident’ that the sun was actually setting in Tad's location, partially obscuring his view.  

“We of Team North County Surf stand solidly behind our mate, believing that the most grievous infraction he could be accused of was simply being in the same ocean as Tomo, and therefore guilty not of ‘interference’ but simply being a ‘hanging Tad’."

An Expression Session was held at Malibu on Friday 6th September as a warm-up for the competitors and a Benefit Night was held that evening at Duke’s Malibu.

You can still donate to the teams here.

Thanks very much to everyone who was involved in this year’s event.


Photos by Steven Lippman

Ibu Erlina with SurfAid staff member Sagrina. Photo: Nana Sohan/SurfAid

She’s one tough woman, though the word ‘tough’ doesn’t even begin to describe how much power, patience, endurance and strength this 43-year-old woman has. Erlina lives in Bajoja, one of the hamlets in Mailepet village, Siberut Island, Mentawai.

Her house is only 500 metres from the coastline, and the image of a tsunami wrecking her village won’t fade away. But Erlina doesn’t have the option to move; she just knows that when the earth rumbles she will have to flee to the steep hill and climb 30 metres above sea level.

After the Indian Ocean tsunami hit Aceh in December 2004, the area where she lives experienced an earth-shattering quake - the same earthquake that struck Nias in March 2005. At the time her late husband was ill and unable to move his leg, let alone run and then climb the hill.

Afraid of a tsunami, the community was in chaos, panicking to save their own lives and their loved ones, and they all took off. Living only with her husband and her daughter, they couldn’t carry him up the steep hill.


SurfAid Disaster Risk Reduction training at Bajoja. Photo: Nana Sohan/SurfAid

“Everyone had evacuated already, the hamlet was dark, and we were the only ones left behind,” Erlina recalls. “The only thing we could do was to move my husband to the front veranda so that if the house collapsed, it wouldn’t hit us. I held his body and my daughter held his legs. If a tsunami hit there was nothing we could do, so we just held on to each other and surrendered to our faith.”

At 3am, some people from the hamlet came back and realized Erlina and her family had been left behind and they carried her husband to the hill where the hamlet evacuated for a couple of days.

There’s no word to describe how painful it was for Erlina that she didn’t even have a chance to save herself and the lives of the people she loves. Tears welled up in her eyes but then she smiled and said: “Now with the training from SurfAid, I hope what happened to me won’t happen to anyone again.”

SurfAid field staff is working closely with the community in her hamlet to prepare the community for the worst scenario – an earthquake followed by a tsunami. Emergency preparedness training is needed for everyone, especially the most vulnerable members of the community, to be able to have a chance to get away from danger and evacuate to a safe place.
- Nana Sohan

Filmmakers Michael Lawrence and David Kruta recently went to the Mentawai Islands and Nias, off Sumatra, Indonesia, to cover our work in malaria, water and sanitation, and emergency preparedness.

Lawrence first worked with SurfAid in 2010, when he volunteered to photograph our emergency and recovery work after the devastation of the October 2010 Mentawai tsunami.

“While seeing some of the most heart-wrenching images of my life, I also experienced such a great camaraderie; a sense of perseverance emanated from the people there,” Lawrence says. “ I was in love with the islands, and knew I would have to come back. Over two years later, I was invited by SurfAid to film their ongoing work in the islands and their noble efforts to improve the quality of life for the Mentawai and Nias people.

“Some might resort to a shock-value sort of approach, but having spent a great deal of time in Indonesia in the past (I used to live there), I wanted to bring up the topic in a more human light. There is a great deal of beauty there, in both the people and in Mother Nature. This message is perhaps more important than the statistics … this beauty is rare, the place is magical, and we wanted to keep that in sight. It's about the human connection and the fact that these people need help. So we chose to show the people, rather than dwell on the negative statistics. We chose to show the potential for betterment.”

David Kruta says that as one of the most remote areas on the planet, the Mentawais are home to both tragedies and sheer beauty: “Our goal was to bring a cinematic quality, and by shooting low and wide, we were able to show the strength and resilience of the people of the Mentawais. Shooting for SurfAid was a privilege and a life changing experience.”

Thank you Michael and David for such beautiful work.

In the first term of 2013 the Year 9 students at Glenfield College had been learning about SurfAid and at the end of their study they decided they wanted to do something to help the Mentawai people out also. So they asked the principal if they could organise a mufti day for the whole school with the money raised going to SurfAid.

The students of Glenfield College raised $722.30 as a result and Erik Grundy(above) then presented the cheque to Adele Hatton, the National Coordinator of SurfAid Schools Program in New Zealand. The students made a huge effort and a big thank you to all of those who helped make a contribution to this great cause.

Singapore-based Australian Jackson English is set to cross the Molokai Channel for SurfAid in the Molokai2Oahu Paddleboard World Championships on Sunday 28 July.

It will be English’s seventh crossing of the 32-mile (51.5km) stretch of water known as the ‘Channel of Bones’.

English, 38, who is SurfAid’s biggest individual fundraiser, has finished runner-up in the grueling event on three occasions and third three times.

“Crossing the Molokai Channel is something I look forward to doing every year and I can’t wait to get over there,” English said. “This is despite being sick in May and then not being able to get on the water in Singapore in late June because of excessive haze from bushfires in the region.”

English works at the United World College of South East Asia, an international school in Singapore that caters for 5,000 students from the age of 4 to 18. Juggling family, training and work is never easy but each year he manages to not only get across the Molokai Channel to help raise funds and awareness for SurfAid but he also coordinates events such as Swim 4 Life at the college.

“My days are always busy although I get great enjoyment from seeing people being physically active and raising funds and awareness for people who are less fortunate than themselves,” English said. “Earlier this year we had more than 1,500 people from our college community swim laps of the school pool in our Swim 4 Life event for SurfAid. Fortunately we were able to raise close to $30,000 that SurfAid will use for their Malaria Free Mentawai program.”

English has three young healthy children of his own and says it breaks his heart to see people in the Mentawai suffering from diseases that are easily preventable. “The work SurfAid does to provide education and training through the money we raise makes me very happy. The Mentawai and Hawaii are two of my favourite places in the world to visit so to bring the two together is the least that I can do.”

Please support Jackson by making a donation to SurfAid and follow the race at www.molokai2oahu.com