Site levelling begins: 21 of 100 sirtu truckloads delivered

Today, 20 October 2026, we began a major new phase of work on the future Rumah Kambera socio-medical community centre in Kawangu, East Sumba: raising and preparing the lower parts of the land with sirtu, a locally used mixture of sand, gravel and soil.

Work started early this morning at 7:00 am. By the end of the day, at around 8:30 pm, 21 truckloads had already been delivered to the site. Our objective is to bring in 100 truckloads in total, which means that 79 remain. If everything goes according to plan, this phase should be completed next week.

This work is based on the topographic survey we carried out several weeks ago. With the help of measuring equipment, markers and a full technical report, we identified the lower sections of the land that needed to be filled. This allows us to raise and rebalance the terrain in a rational and documented way.

The purpose is essential: to reduce the risk of future flooding and better protect the site from the natural hazards that affect this region. For a future socio-medical and community centre, where medical care, training and social activities will take place every day, preparing safe and stable ground is not a detail. It is part of the foundation of the whole project.

Once all the sirtu has been delivered, the material will need to be spread, pulled and levelled with an excavator so that the newly raised areas can be properly flattened and integrated with the rest of the site.

This is demanding work, physically and logistically. Today, I was on site myself from morning to evening, because no one else was available to coordinate this stage of the operation. It is a reality that deserves to be said: despite having a team, there is still too little practical support at certain key moments. Projects like Rumah Kambera move forward thanks to persistence, but they also need more hands, more presence and more solidarity.

Step by step, however, the land is being prepared. And before buildings rise, the ground itself must first be made safe, level and ready.

Help us build Rumah Kambera: support the project through Fair Future Foundation ↗