Check out the Pongo Hogo Hogo blog: http://savepongo.blogspot.com

From the keyboard of Mick Tan

Hi everyone,

I am not one for sending group mails at all, so I am sorry to send this to all of you at once. If you get this and are keen to help, I promise all others from now will be personal ones

As maybe some of you are aware, Miki and I have left our jobs, and are about to begin a crazy challenge all in the aim of helping protect orangutans and their forest homes in Borneo. From the 1st July this year, we head off on a 3000 kilometer walk down the entire length of Japan – on stilts. And to make it even crazier – it’s just going to be the two of us – no support vehicles, no sponsorship. All costs we are covering by ourselves so that every penny raised goes straight to purchasing and reforesting land tracts in Borneo.

It all started from a homework diary by a student at the school I was teaching at. The unit was about global warming and the lesson looked specifically at Indonesia’s situation – forests being cleared at unbelievable rates for palm oil – and the way it has driven orangutans to the brink of extinction and Indonesia to the number 3 position in the world for greenhouse gas emissions. All the students new about the issues but most had already resigned themselves to the fact that they couldn’t help do anything because they were ‘only’ students as they said. So we decided to do something and came up with this challenge – the Pongo Hogo Hogo Challenge (Pongo = Orangutan, Hogo – Japanese for ‘to protect’). We will be stopping at schools along our route to try and get support, but it is all slow going here because, as we are learning, nobody really does this fundraising kind of thing here, let alone for a cause like this.

But is is starting and hopefully it will gain some momentum the more the word spreads. Because at the heart of this, it isn’t about us at all – its going to be about people working together.

So we need your help. Donations of course will go a long way here. Where we are looking for land, the price is currently about US$10/ hectare. A little will really go a long way! And unlike Greenpeace or WWF where most goes to admin, the charity we are working with is small (BOS Japan basically has 2 people with a network of locals and official in Kalimantan who see the benefit of forests returning.) However, they have been involved in reforestation projects and orangutan rehabilitaion and rescue for more than 25years now with links to an international network called BOS International as well as some important decidion makers in Indonesia. 100% of the money is going to this land protection project. We will know because we have been involved in how it has been set up.

But more than this, we need your help to spread the word. This issue is related to all of us in the way that palm oil has become part of nearly all the things we buy and use each day. Soap, Shampoo, bread, chocolate. Our aim is to raise awareness amongst the kids and if they are interested, to show them how they can get involved through individual fundraising or school based efforts here in Japan. We’d love to borrow your influence as well!

So I have rambled on enough!! When we start, I will not be using this email anymore, which is actually the main reason for this message. You can contact us on savepongo@gmail.com over the next year. It will be great to hear from you all because we are starting to poo our pants a bit! If you get the chance have a look at our crazy challenge site which has taken years off my life to build! http://savepongo.blogspot.com

Sorry for the length of this and also for taking so long to send it. I have been wanting to tell you much sooner to be honest!

OK! Shut Up Mick!

Thanks everyone! Wish us Luck! Hope you are well!