Sulphur – The Brutal side of Sugar and Beauty
The journey starts with a comfortable 3.8 km hike up the slop of a volcano to the rim of the crater. Next follows an almost 175 meters vertical drop down into the steaming, smoking gut of the volcano. The porters then need to protect their faces with mostly a wet rug and step right into the poisonous fumes and chip out blocks of the hardened sulfur with which they fill two baskets weighting each about 35 kg. A bamboo stick then connects the basket and the porter carries the load back up to the rim of the volcano and more then three kilometer down to the collection point. The entire journey for one load takes approximately 5 hours for which the porter receives 625 Rupiahs per kilogram.
The mathematics
One porter makes two trips daily, and this six days in a row, and then has to rest for one week.
625 Rupiahs per kg x 70 = Rp.43’750
2 loads a day = Rp.87’500
All this hard work for less then = US$ 10 a day
Average life expectation 45 years
Please Help
During our journeys to East Java we have met, and become friends with many of these porters. We now have committed ourselves to help these brutally hard working porters and their families as often as possible with clothes and some financial assistance. Three or four times a year we load up a small truck full of essentials and drive for four hours across Bali. In Gilimanuk we board a ferry for an hour and continue our journey in East Java where it will take a further three hours to reach the remote but exceptionally picturesque caldera of Kawah Ijen.
Clothes
Obviously we always have plenty of empty space on our pick up truck and as a result we work hard to fill up all the empty space with your old clothes. We are certain that in your wardrobe you have plenty of linen that you have not worn for the past 12 months, making it an absolute nuisance to keep them any longer. They get dusty moldy and for certain they are badly out of fashion. As you very well know , we always run out of storage areas and periodic clearing is always most welcome. Please keep in mind that the mining area for the sulfur is at an elevation of 1500 meters over sea level and as such nights can be bitterly cold. This again means that even winter or baby clothes are most welcome. Unfortunately ball room dresses are not of much use……
Donate generously
Perhaps you wish to join us in our efforts to bring just a little sunshine into the dull lives of these incredible hard working people. To do so, simply bring your aged cloth to Bali, give us a call and we will pick them up from your hotel. We will wash each piece and make 100% certain that each and every piece of cloth or shoes will reach the right person.
Giving and helping has to be one of the greatest joys in life
