Dongi Village Volunteering Project

Hi my names Aldi and I live with my family in Kampung Dongi, South Sulawesi, Indonesia which is situated 5 minutes from Sorowako town. Myself and my family are currently running a project that focuses on building traditional houses in the village. These traditional houses are very important to the local community as a way of preserving our culture and traditions. The houses are being built in the mountains close to our village in a beautiful area over looking Lake Matano. The surrounding area is of lush rain-forest with plenty of small streams and local wildlife. We are also preparing and cultivating a small farm\garden area where we will grow banana trees, cassava and many other local crops.

We also run an after-school programme for the local children and young people. This consists of English conversational classes and traditional dance. The English classes are something we really need volunteers for as we rarely come in contact English speakers apart from volunteers.

My mother runs the dance classes in the village. We were recently a part of a Traditional Culture Festival in Palopo where we performed for the King of the Luwu Region. We now have the opportunity to visit other areas and possibly other countries and share our traditional dance and culture with them. My mother alongside other members of the community made the traditional costumes for the dance, something that volunteers will also have the opportuniy to learn while staying with us.