COVID changed the world in various ways. Governments around the world focused on gathering and travel restrictions. Workers who could work remotely went home, while other businesses shut down. In some regions of the world the economy collapsed, reversing years of gain and left people in poverty and hunger.

The number of people living in poverty and experiencing food insecurities increased significantly by an estimated 118-161 million in 2020 according to The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021 report. The World Bank reporting that the majority of the increase happened in South Asia.

Partners with PRINT around the world experienced these numbers first hand. Many projects adjusted to distributing food including Borneo Community Development in Indonesia. In a region where only 1% of the population had access to clean drinking water or sanitation systems before the pandemic, the situation remained difficult.

2020

With COVID came the decision by the country’s government to end much of their infrastructure support. This caused Borneo to also switch focus. They partnered with a local NGO and city officials to distribute COVID relief supplies, clothes, sleeping mats, and food to neighboring villages.

“Our standing as professionals and excellence in how we operate in our city meant that we were invited to be on the city team for COVID response. This meant we could lend our experience and expertise to helping our city respond to COVID. Our city has hundreds of thousands living hand to mouth each day so our responses had to be in light of this. Over 3 months, we met almost daily with our city officials and helped were we could with creation and distribution of COVID educational materials and also hundreds of food packages throughout the poorest neighborhoods in our city. It has been a difficult year in terms of income generation and profit due to the nature of our large contribution of volunteer time but the impact of our team in our communities across our city has been a highlight over the last 5 years of business.”

This shows the importance and the time it take to invest in a region and to know an area so that partnerships and impact is maximized.

2021

Along with COVID came a major local flood dealing damage to roadways and infrastructure. Yet, staying true to their vision for clean drinking water, they helped design and construct rainwater harvesting systems and hydroponic/ aquaponic agricultural solutions. Each harvesting tank provides year round water for a family or up to 5 families can be served from one harvesting tank during rainy seasons. They were able to construct 10 by the end of 2021.

2022

They continued helping villages access clean drinking water through these rainwater harvesting systems. These turn out to be highly important and desired solutions for many local villages:

“We are about to work with a village that has waited through the pandemic and a major flood to receive access to clean water through rainwater harvesting. The village chief spoke about the necessity of having access to clean water because their village is near the sea. Depending on the season, the village will experience saltwater infiltration to their primary water sources, making it undrinkable. During the regional flood in 2021, the government had trouble delivering water into this area because the roads were inaccessible and when the water truck was finally able to get through, it wasn't enough for the entire village. They are excited to begin this partnership and see their community thrive.”

Currently, 800 individuals have access to clean water because of the rainwater harvesting systems.

Learn more about Borneo Community Development and donate to their cause here.