Surfing for sustainability

Riding the wild and undiscovered waves of the down under is the dream of most surfers, but for Dr. Dave Jenkins a chartered trip to the Mentawai Islands changed his life forever.

In 1999, Jenkins trekked out to the Mentawai islands - a chain of about seventy islands of the coast of Sumatra in Indonesia - in search of pristine waves and untouched beaches.  Of course he found those things, but along the way he also discovered that the inhabitants of on the island, the Mentawai, where living in unimaginable poverty.

The Mentawai people are a semi-nomadic people known for their well-preserved indigenous culture – an increasing rarity due to expanding modernization by neighboring Indonesia.

Due to the lack of modern medical care, and exemplified by the tropical climate, many people were dying from preventable disease, the most common of which was malaria.

That’s why Jenkins established SurfAid International, a non-profit organization dedicated to the alleviation of human suffering through community-based health programs.

Working with 53 villages and over 37,000 beneficiaries, SurfAid is improving the health of the Mentawai people, particularly reducing the mortality rate of children under five, by improving the hygiene, sanitation, nutrition and health services on the islands, as well as coordinating widespread campaigns to reduce the rate of malaria infections.

In addition, creating sustainable programs that can be maintained by the Mentawai people is particularly important to SurfAid, as well as supporting emergency training so that citizens are better prepared for the frequent earthquakes that hit the area.

Supported by big name brands like Billabong and Quiksilver and MTV, SurfAid is receiving tons of press, recently releasing a fundraising CD featuring John Butler, Bob Marley and Eddie Vedder.

For more information, check out: http://www.surfaidinternational.org/