Dreaming of climate change resilience

North Belau village in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, is a remote community. It’s far from any city or town. Even worse, it’s prone to landslides.

Frederik Kimbun has been the village leader for more than a decade. Over the years, the 47-year-old has seen his community become more vulnerable than ever to disasters and the impacts of climate change. He tells us, “I receive many complaints about landslides into the river, which cause flooding of farmland and destroys crops. But I was at a loss as to what we can do about this.”

Unfortunately, the village’s situation wasn’t a bad dream. But there was another DREAM there to help. DREAM – which stands for Disaster Resilience through Enhanced Adaptive Measures – is a program that CWS started in partnership with PUSBINLAT Motivator, a local organization started by the Toraja Church. Through the DREAM program, we’re helping families in this district, the Tana Toraja district, build up their capacity to adapt to these challenge and become more resilient in the face of climate change.

Frederick says, “after learning about the DREAM project and the work [of PUSBINLAT Motivator], I realize that there are ways to make North Belau more resilient to disasters.” He continued, “I fully support the DREAM project and appreciate the helping hand PUSBINLAT Motivator and CWS are lending our village. Our dream is to become a climate change resilient community so our lives will be better in the future!”

PUSBINLAT Motivator received the ACT Alliance Disaster Risk Reduction – Climate Change Adaptation Award in 2017. CWS is honored and inspired to partner with them alongside the people of North Belau and other villages across Tana Toraja district.