I don't ask for a lot of things on the North County Surf blog. Just the simple stuff like the waves gods to send us swell, your undivided attention, kooks to clear the line up, a free board here and there. Ok, I ask for a lot of things. But anyway, ran into a buddy of mine a few weeks ago and I though it was time to tell you about the company he works for.
My friend is Randal Schober and he's the US executive director of
SURFAID International. If you've been around the surf industry the past decade or so, you may have heard of the organization he works for or maybe didn't know the scope of work they do. In a nutshell, SURFAID is a non-profit humanitarian organization whose aim is to improve the health, well being and self reliance of people living in isolated regions connected to us through surfing.
Fantastic idea- connecting surfers to regions of the world in need. Considering all of the amazing waves discovered in the past few decades- and a majority in 3rd world countries- someone stepped up to the plate and decided to give back. One of those people was Dr. Dave Jenkins. Founded in New Zealand in 2000, Dr. Jenkins noticed all the surfers on plush boat trips surfing Indonesia that never set foot on land. Had they of course, they would have seen the children in need of nutrition and basic health care to ward of diseases like malaria, cholera, etc. So Dr. Jenkins set out on educating the local villages so they could help each other eliminate these awful conditions. But it hasn't been easy; with a population of 250 million and 17,500 islands to cover, getting the word out has been a challenge. One of the first things Dr. Jenkins noticed was that a greeting in Indonesia is to place your hand over your heart. The Indonesian culture unfortunately uses their rivers, streams, etc. to dump their human waste, trash, etc. in to. At the same time, they're drinking from the same streams, washing their clothes, and yes, welcoming you by putting their hands over their hearts. Another obstacle that needed to be overcome was the use of malaria nets. Dr. Jenkins and his team had been handing them out to villagers and when they came back to check on their progress, they noticed they had been using them as fishing nets. But they had no choice- it was either use the nets to catch fish so their family wouldn't starve or take the chance they wouldn't get malaria. The good news is that the education is working. SURFAID has now expanded to 4 offices around the world (Australia, the US, Indonesia, and New Zealand) and they've expanded their scope of work to include pre and post natal education, disaster preparedness as Indonesia is infamous to earthquakes and tsunamis, and they are looking to spread the word to other regions of the world.
So what can we do to help? Donations of course are key and you can visit their webpage
here. They also have multiple events around the world to help spread the word- like the recent Malibu Cup attended by my idol Tom Curren. You might even run into a few SURFAID amabassadors like Jack Johnson, Kelly Slater, Parko, Occy, Taj, Machado, etc. etc. etc. at one of the events. SURFAID will also be attending the upcoming Downtown Encinitas Mainstreet Association Fall Festival happening November 24th, so make sure to stop by their booth and learn more about SURFAID. Or if you happen to be in downtown Encinitas, stop by and see Randal and his staff at 530 Second Street and ask how you can help; they even have a few internships open during the year which is a great way to give back if you can't make it down to Indonesia to help!
When you have a few moments (which I know you do because the surf is flat right now), check out
SURFAID International for more information.
