This blog doesn’t contain any photos, and I’m sorry for that. Unfortunately I had some of my camera equipment stolen.

And that’s really what this blog is about.

The house we live in here in Borneo was broken into and I lost one of my cameras and the charger and batteries for my other camera. I got off more lightly than some of my friends who lost laptops, wallets and months’ worth of data.

I also spent most of the day at the police station giving a statement. Beyond the material loss, everyone was a bit shaken up that the space we live and sleep in had been broken into and that malicious strangers had come in.

However, a few days later, we were treated to the best that Indonesian society has to offer. Idul Fitri is the festival which marks the end of the Islamic Ramadan fasting period. The Indonesian staff who work for OuTrop welcomed a troupe of 15 or so Westerners into their homes. Over the course of seven or eight pit-stops we were treated time and again to cooked plated meals, snacks, crisps, cake and fruit punch.

The generosity laid on for us at each of these houses was overwhelming.

It was enlightening and reassuring to see that while greed and malice are universal values, so are compassion and generosity. It is these latter values that I work to foster in the world, in the hope that they will lead to a better place for people and nature.