A Kiwi far from home

By Dylan Quinnell
Auckland University of Technology

Every morning he navigates his way through the thin, twisting, maze of paths that run between the kampung’s (local village) many and varied houses, accompanied by the gentle, lingering sound of the adzan (Muslim call to prayer). Then it’s onto the forest road shadowed by a lofty canopy of lush green. Dylan Quinnell is a young Kiwi far from home, immersed in a very different culture.

After completing a Bachelor of Communications at AUT - majoring in Journalism - in 2007, Quinnell, 21, was awarded a scholarship by the Asia:NZ Foundation and AUT’s Pacific Media Centre to attend the Australian Consortium for In-Country Indonesian Studies  (ACICIS) journalism programme in Jakarta; the capital of Indonesia.

While there he did a basic language course in Bahasa Indonesia, Indonesian language, and then worked for four weeks at the state broadcaster, TVRI, as a reporter on the English News Service; also working with an Australian colleague to make a documentary on Australian – Indonesian relations.

“I was really blessed to get this opportunity,” says a still excited Quinnell, “Indonesia is an amazing place, a really beautiful country full of some of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet; and full of diverse experiences, I mean where else would you be able to stand on the beach of a live volcano and get covered in the ash it’s belching out.”

“And did I mention mad? Just crossing the road rocks!” he explains of living in Jakarta.

 “Greater Jakarta has a bigger population than New Zealand and Australia put together, and more than the entire population of New Zealand commute into Jakarta daily!”

This is not too surprising as the main island of Java is the most populous island on earth.

“I’ve promised never to complain about Auckland traffic again,” he admits.

After Jakarta it was up to Aceh - devastated by the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami - with World Vision to see how the rebuilding is going.

“On the face of it you could be forgiven for forgetting the tsunami happened; houses, schools and clinics have been rebuilt, often to a better standard than before, and people seem happy.

But, when you mention the tsunami their whole demeanor changes, it’s going to take many years yet for the scars to heal.”

The happy traveler enjoyed his time in Indonesia so much that when the time came to return to New Zealand home he gave up his ticket to Singapore and accepted a short-term communications job at the Centre for International Forestry Research, CIFOR; an international organisation that deals with deforestation, climate change and the effect they both have on people.

A choice he doesn’t regret.

“Working at CIFOR has given me an amazing opportunity to learn all I can about climate change, the science behind it, and what humankind can do to combat it; while at the same time being able to give something back.”

“My work has made me realize that climate change truly is the biggest challenge facing our modern world,” stresses Quinnell.

“The UN has stated that there is ‘unequivocal’ evidence that human influenced climate change is very real and we need to do something about it now.”

“It really should be an election issue all over the world.”

A reasonable amount of Quinnell’s work consists of choosing and uploading stories on climate change and deforestation to CIFOR’s intranet, as well as editing a variety of articles written from Indonesian.

He says he enjoys this as it gives him a chance to read about deforestation and climate change on a daily basis.

“Few people realize that deforestation is the second greatest source of CO2 – after burning fossil fuels - and that Indonesia loses the equivalent of 3.6 million soccer fields of forest (1.8 million hectares) every year which makes it the third worst carbon emitter after the US and China.”

This should be concerning to kiwi’s as a lot of the outdoor furniture sold in New Zealand is made from kwila wood, harvested on the Indonesian island of Papua.

The young kiwi is also involved in working on proposals and seminars, as well as helping to organize the filming of a project documentary for CIFOR; due to his experience in New Zealand and abroad working as a television reporter and documentary filmmaker.

“I have been amazingly lucky to have this experience,” says Quinnell, “and just hope now that I will be able to explain the positive reality of Indonesia to New Zealanders, and, be able to increase peoples understanding of climate change’s frightening reality, and what we can do to stop it.”

“If we all do our bit – say installing energy saving bulbs - and let our leaders know we want sustainable change, we can make a difference before it’s too late.”

Quinnell’s plan now is to return to New Zealand for May where he will be speaking to schools about his trip to Aceh and climate change in order to encourage students to do the 40 Hour Famine.

However, his plans have been known to change.