We are Bukit Lawang Trust.

We're a grassroots Conservation & Education charity dedicated to facilitating environmental conservation and sustainable Human Development in Rural North Sumatra, Indonesia.

The Bukit Lawang Trust was founded in response to a flash flood in 2003. The flood, which was most likely caused by illegal logging in the Jungle, destroyed much of Bukit Lawang and killed more than 240 people, leaving approximately 1400 people without a home.

The Trust provided blankets, clean drinking water, food and shelter to those people whose homes were destroyed by the flood, and established a free health clinic to provide healthcare to the victims of the flood.

As time went on the needs of the community changed and so too did the Trust! In 2007 the Trust shifted from Humanitarian Aid to Education, providing free education to over 200 students from the local area every week.

- Janine Peranginangin

In 2019 the Trust shifted again to meet the needs of the local community introducing a range of environmental conservation programs and initiatives in an effort to help protect and preserve one of the most severely endangered ecosystems on the planet. The Leuser Ecosystem.

Now the Trust works in partnership with the United Nations Decade on Climate Action, with all of its programs built around the 17 sustainable development goals. Our programs range from Reforestation and habitat preservation to English as a Second Language classes and female empowerment groups.

We want to facilitate an economically and environmentally sustainable and conservative balance between Human activity and the severely endangered Leuser Ecosystem.

- Rosemary Plummer

In Early 2020, the Trust had to send its volunteers home and go into hibernation in response to the outbreak of the global Corona Virus pandemic. And as times became tougher and tougher our donations dried up and with no volunteers to make our programs happen the Trust all but closed.

But it's not all doom and gloom!

Whilst the Trust was in Hibernation our international team of dedicated conservationists were working hard in the background, to redesign our programs, build and develop our partnerships, grow our Trust family and prepare ourselves for a time when the world would reopen.

At the same time our amazing ground team in Sumatra (pictured above) were working hard providing free food and supplies to those families worst hit by the pandemic and the lack of employment and income that followed. With monthly food parcels delivered to the needy and in one particular action 1500 food parcels delivered to 6 rural communities in a single day!

- Nuria Goltner

Now as we approach the long awaited light at the end of the Tunnel, the reopening of the world and the new beginning for many we are ready to come back stronger and better than ever before!

From January 2022 the Bukit Lawang Trust will tackle deforestation through partnerships with ranger groups and NGOs and reforestation initiatives. We will tackle financial poverty and kickstart the local economy by injecting new sustainable micro enterprises into the community through our Youth Led Sustainable Enterprise Program! We will provide students with the tools they need to access higher education and broaden their horizons in our ESL program. We will grow and nurture the next generation of Jungle guardians in our Youth Ranger Program and provide a range of community projects to facilitate the social and economic growth of the local communities.

We are the Bukit Lawang Trust, and we believe in a world without poverty, a world where financial stability does not equal environmental instability, and where every child everywhere has equal access to education.

Help us to protect and preserve one of the last wildernesses on Earth whilst supporting many local communities in rural North Sumatra. Donate today and be the change you want to see in the world!

From all of us here at the Bukit Lawang Trust, Thank you! Terima Kasih!