Road Safety Initiative in Kalimantan

08 Aug Road Safety Initiative in Kalimantan

Hamdan Bustillo reports on an initiative that grew out of activities organized by the Borneo Football International Academy at Basara and which was funded as part of the SESI Project Showcase.

Rungan Sari, and Kalimantan have always been a place of special interest to us, not only due to its ties with Subud and the constant reference Bapak and Ibu make to this place throughout their talks, but also as the reputation of this enchanting place spreads, stemming from those who visit this area.

Since our arrival to Jakarta we are met with the cultural shock provided by the dynamics of the traffic and the relationship that drivers of any type of vehicle have with safety rules. This initial shock, turns into some sort of fascination, and eventually into a tourist attraction of its own.

Once in Kalimantan, both before, during and after the Basara gathering, some of us had the opportunity to learn and participate in several activities promoted by YUM (Yayasan Usaha Mulia) and & BFIA (Borneo Football International Academy )and this gave us a better understanding about the benefit that Subud can bring to mankind in accordance with Bapak’s advice.

One of such activities was the Basara International Football Cup organized by BFIA. During this event we had the chance to interact with many young people from Kalimantan who were invited to join the tournament.  Unfortunately, one of these young players passed away in a tragic motorbike accident.

It became evident to us, that that initial fascination towards the “strange” and sometimes “funny” traffic habits of the country, was a serious problem, affecting many families, and in this occasion, affected the BFIA family directly. We witnessed firsthand, the sorrow felt by the team mates of this victim, as well as that of his family, to whom we went to pay our respects, merely a day after the accident. We spoke to some of his friends as well as other locals, and it was apparent that most people, either lost someone close in a traffic accident, or knew someone who had suffer a loss.

At this point, it felt wrong not use our capacities and resources to try and mitigate this problem affecting the region.

Our initiative to improve road safety in Kalimantan was presented during the “Basara Project Showcase”. The premises of our initiative is to save lives and protect kids and youngsters from potential road accidents. This will be done through education sessions, workshops and campaigns, amongst others.

Thanks to the Basara Project Showcase organizers we got USD1.000 award towards our project and so far we have been able to organize and implement several aspects of this initiative, such as:

• Facebook group in English / Spanish / Norwegian (For those interested to support us and learn about the project outside Indonesia)
• Facebook page in Indonesian (To educate and introduce campaigns relate with safety road aspects)
• Brochure in Indonesian (To educate and introduce campaigns related  with safety road aspects)
• Educational workshops to educate and introduce campaigns related to safety road aspects.

Initially we have been organizing workshops about the importance to have vest and helmet when driving a motorbike.

Our team consists of six people (Halim, Bakhtiar, Sarmun, Fariz Maksum and Hamdan, all part of the Bustillo family) and we work in cooperation with Borneo Football International Foundation and Yayasan Usaha Mulia to guarantee the continuity and success of the project . Also a number of volunteers from Indonesia and abroad have joined our efforts during the last months.

Currently we are preparing a fundraising strategy to increase the scope of our activities and reach a large number of beneficiaries. For futher information people can contact us via facebook … or via email borneo.road.safety.@gmail.com