Happy Tuesday, Reader,

This newsletter arrives two days late because I didn’t want to rush the writing on Sunday. A slower pace and unplugging myself from the internet sometimes is needed :). I visited historical sites in Bali, Indonesia, and I attended a natural dye workshop.

The places I visited are mentioned in Anne-Lot Hoek’s book The Struggle for Bali, about the island’s independence war against the Dutch between 1945 and 1949. Most people know Bali only as a fancy holiday destination. Hoek’s book mentions 50 detention camps, random executions, and the torture of freedom fighters during the violent war. The shadow side not many foreigners know about. The Struggle for Bali will be published in Indonesian this month, during the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival. I’ll be there, and I’ll attend the festival for more coverage and interviews. Francesca Albanese is one of the speakers.

A thread through last week’s conversations is the importance of small steps. The state of the world can be overwhelming, especially if you regularly read the news. Many journalists and media professionals feel depressed or useless.

Inclusive Journalism teams up with NIMJN in Nepal to organize The Human Beat sessions (register for the next one on 16 Oct), where we discuss mental health challenges. I’m going to share more about it at the Mental Health in Journalism Summit (online) this Friday (10 pm SGT | 4 pm CET). If you’re keen to attend, send me an email because I can give you a 50% discount.

Sanne

INTERVIEW

Bali's disappearing springs

It’s a Tuesday afternoon; the road to Pedawa in North Bali is small, with steep slopes and no guardrails. Smoke is coming from the hills. It’s dry season, and it hasn’t been raining for a long time. I’m on my way to visit I Wayan Sadyana, who is a lecturer in the Japanese Language Education Study Program at Undiksha (Ganesha University of Education) in Singaraja. We met a few months ago when I visited his village with my Balinese friend Sonia Piscayanti.

Wayan founded an Indigenous school in 2024 when he realized that certain aspects of Pedawa culture are almost lost. The “old men” of the village, whom he will mention often in our conversation, are sources of knowledge that is slowly being forgotten. Wayan visits them regularly and has used their insights to build a curriculum for his school. It’s not just about educating a younger generation and encouraging them to adopt a way of living that might even be an answer to some of today’s challenges (water shortages, climate change), but also about writing down what has been orally transmitted so far.

A concrete example is the type of traditional houses in Pedawa, all made out of natural materials. Of the three different models, the Mesegali, Bandung Rangki, and Sri Dandan, only two still exist. The Mesegali had been lost until Wayan made it his new project. After many conversations with Pedawa community members, the first sketches were drawn. The sketches helped the older generation to recognize more easily what the houses looked like. Additional research from lontar (palm-leaf) manuscripts eventually led to the building of this lost structure. It now serves as an example of what sustainable housing can look like.

Foundations from outside of Indonesia support Wayan’s work. Pedawa is one of the villages with a distinct culture from the mainstream Balinese Hinduism tradition, although it has become a blend over the years. The Bali Aga, as the Indigenous people are called, center water in their ceremonies and rituals. Multiple springs around the area, though, have been claimed or occupied by real estate projects. On top of that, of the 85 big and small springs, only 10% still exist in the dry season. This is also because of the massive cutting of trees and changing plantations around the springs.

Removing trees around springs might increase water at first because trees are big water users; they can move hundreds of liters a day from the soil to their leaves and into the air. Springs and streams downhill can benefit from cutting a tree because more water stays in the ground and flows out. But, in the long term, springs often dry up, especially when the cleared soil becomes compacted or eroded. This is because forest soils act like a sponge: they soak up rain and slowly release it through the dry season.
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Interestingly, trees next to a spring are often less important than the ones in the “recharge” area: the land uphill where rain soaks into the ground and feeds the spring. Still, the trees close by do influence the water quality by offering shade and filtering out sediment and pollutants.

In Bali, long-term consequences of the enormous pressure from tourism and real estate investors are becoming clearer and clearer. I’ll write more about it in the coming weeks.

To be continued.

Last chance for launch price of well-being program

I created a well-being program for journalists and communication professionals - or anyone working in storytelling - to keep themselves sane in an increasingly crazy world. 7 modules with all the knowledge I collected throughout yoga and holistic health studies, with practical breathing and relaxation exercises. The launch price of 197 USD ends on 9 October.

See you on Sunday!

Sanne