Project director’s memo:

My long cultural journey began with the intention to create connections between the arts and the development business sectors. This journey is linked to the newly-formed Buah Hati Bumi foundation. Foundation co-founder Eko Prawoto observed a strong will to “give a heart” to the community and support better livelihoods. I gathered from Eko’s observation that he had been making plans for the community for a long time. However, it was not easy to clearly understand the abstraction and ambiguity of his words, “to give a heart.”

I have a good understanding of the chronic problems in arts and development business, so to minimise the problems from the beginning, I prioritised clarity, financial transparency, trust, and honesty among my team members. It took a year to look at and observe the people who participated in the establishment of the foundation.

I visited the site last September because I needed to understand the relationship between the region where the first pilot program of the foundation was carried out, and the team that was formed. It was a great pleasure for the villagers to recover ‘Sendang’ through this pilot program.

However, I found differences between the villager’s own aims and those of the foundation itself. These differences are the starting points for several common problems for development businesses worldwide.

According to statistical analyses from the Indonesian government, Gunung Kidul district, part of the Yogyakarta Special Regency, was considered underdeveloped due to the area’s high poverty rate. On my first visit to Gunung Kidul district however, I had no choice but to question government data on whether it was indeed a poor area. The natural environment of this village was incredibly rich. People in any city could not easily access such bounty. The main problem in that area was water availability, which was essential to agriculture.

Today, Gunung Kidul is now in much better condition; the infrastructure has improved, and public facilities like the water pipeline are available. However, there are still some villages that have problems with water.

Tungkluk sub-village part of Beji village, in Ngawen sub-district, Gunung Kidul district. It is famous for the Watu Gendong. Ngawen sub-district’s name changed after it became part of the Yogyakarta Special Regency.

Prior to this, Ngawen was part of the Mangkunegaran territory from 1830-1952. Its architecture was influenced by Surakarta, and this influence was also apparent in the Tungkluk sub-village.

Tungkluk was selected as an entry point for the pilot project so that I and the foundation could learn more about the village’s dynamic during modernization.

It is a quiet place to hear the voices of ordinary people living as part of nature. Through the LWT project, I want to deliver the story of ‘Sendang’ in Tungkluk.