Meeting Chimene in Seminyak Bali

Chimene Hickey is an old friend from the Bay Area (San Francisco), who I first met in 1987. Chimene is a regular visitor to Indonesia, having spent a total of 5 years living in Bukit Luwang, Sumatra, before the village was destroyed by a flood, a few years ago. Today I met up with Chimene at Warung Mimpi, in Seminyak. For people not familiar with the Bukit Luwang story, it was the main jungle village, favoured by jungle trekkers, located in central northern Sumatra. Back in 2003, villagers reported that a massive landslide in the highlands, had created a dam and a new lake had formed. On November 1st, 2003 the dam burst, sending tons of water and debris down the valley to Bukit Luwang.

It was their own mini-tsunami and the effects are still being felt, with many people killed, infrastructure damaged and families affected. Chimene has previously collected money and distributed it Bukit Luwang, mostly to single mothers, who’s husband was killed by the flood. She told me she is inspired by Muhammad Yunus, who created the micro-credit banking in Bangladesh. So far Chimene has given out $11,000 and on this trip, has another $20,000. According to her, there was not the rush to take advantage of her, that she had anticipated. She attributes this to keeping things quiet, using local people she trusts to help with the task and checking up later. By buying a farmer a cow, a fisherman a boat, or a family stock for their grocery shop, Chimene hopes to get the local economy rolling with seed money. Seems like the plan is helping out and she now wants to visit Aceh.

In the mean time, Chimene is buying sarongs to take back with her.