Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra, Indonesia

The Mentawai islands are considered to be one of the most remote areas on planet earth. They have been at the edge of civilization since history began, largely ignored by the rest of the world for thousands of years. Amazingly, there was very limited contact between the Mentawais and the world until the mid twentieth century, apparently because there was just nothing out there anyone was particularly interested in. Since the independence of Indonesia around 1950, the government took some interest in the Mentawais and its people, which some say had its negatives and positives, but at least it was a start to education and modern medicine. Then came the focus of western eyes and worldwide attention to the Mentawais after the discovery of world class surf sometime early in the 1990's. Like discovering gold, the stories of perfect waves breaking along pristine, idilic, tropical islands sent surfers from all over the globe buying plane tickets and piling onto charter boats by the thousands to experience the Mentawais. But it wasn't until the 2000's, with the building of resorts on land, did the Mentawaiians have much contact with western people. Kandui Resort was one of the first to build a resort in the Mentawais, starting the building in 2004 and opening our doors in 2006.  So we have been kind of at ground zero, seeing first hand the evolution of a people, a people who were basically hunter/gatherers just a couple of generations ago, getting pulled into the modern world. And we see the trouble they are having to access the good that modern medicine and education can bring to their lives. In the past, a college education was not even a thought for most Mentawaiians, and they depended on their Medicine Men to deal with health problems.  The Indonesian government has done a good job providing medical care and scholarships free of charge, but to take advantage of that the Mentawaiians need to get to the mainland of Sumatra. The barrier of just transportation to Sumatra, plus the room and board, is enough to keep people from health and education. It's heartbreaking, mostly because it takes such a small amount of money by western standards to perhaps save a life or give a young person the tool of education which will give them a better life. So we are trying to do something about it. What we mainly to do here at the Kandui Foundation is help Mentawais financially so they can take advantage of western medicine, and to help with college educations which will help them navigate the western world which they will certainly have to deal with.  our hope is that you can help us to help them.