Meet Tania Lonker. A down-to-earth leader in natural building and sustainable living movement Bali.
I returned to Indonesia in 1998 and worked for a large company in Kuta. I speak six languages so I was brought here to their station for communicating with international visitors. I found myself in a small village and it did not take long for love and life unfold. I met Lempot and we hung out on his home ground at the beach. We started a group to clean the natural beauty ravaged by the humans to gain. Part of the land was communal shock! Lempot brother suggested that we do something to preserve the beauty we have been and we restore came up with the concept of natural huts of simple luxury. We cleaned a landfill and establish paradise! We've all seen the disappearance of the natural beauty of the world; it's time to revive what has been destroyed and I wanted to show it can be done. We built two small lumbungs in 1999 and had our first official guests in 2000. A year later, we built our current home, an oversized lumbung, and over five years and more, bungalows, all in the old style.
It is a home to many people from all over the world. Our guests usually come back because they are part of a community. We have music at night and asked to become a party, singing and playing instruments. Children and adults are very creative here and share their talents. We have big family dinners with guests and make pizza oven in our mud. All our bread is made here. Our goal is to think globally but locally support, so that we do not grow we buy locally in season.
Tell me about your marriage and family.
Well, in life things just happen ... You know, that magical, mystical sense of life when you are in the flow and be spontaneous. Lempot and I spent every moment together. We got married in the grounds of his parents and now we have three beautiful children and a large extended family as my family is here in Indonesia too.
So you're third generation Expat?
Yes, my grandfather was born in Padang. My father was born in Java. I was born in Hong Kong, but we moved to Jakarta when I was six months. I went to Jakarta International School and ten we moved to Singapore, where I went to Tanglin Prep and United World College. In the summers we fly to Europe and travel - those great moments. We camped in the Swiss mountains and played in the fields. In Indonesia, we spent the weekend in Puncak play in to clean flowing rivers and riding. Thank you to all those childhood experiences I have come to love nature and down to the things of earth.
My partner Tasha Zahara and I heard that a man had a dream in Candidasa to an aviary and wanted to build natural. So TnT Earthbuilders as usual, ready for action were ready to help him achieve his dream. The simple wall became a long history and many walls. All the village children helped to collect glass bottles and have integrated them into the wall. We had so much fun dancing in the mud with Balinese women and children, teaching an ancient technique of age. With the help of Elizabeth we decorated the walls with forests, rice fields, animals and flowers. There are places for birds to nest; small bird houses. We then designed a way to create a cover with fish nets that birds can fly high and free. It was a challenge since the dimensions are so sporadic. We used a lot of math and hand sewing. Net coating is a perfect demonstration of where there is a will there is a way. After a year, the vegetation grew and the birds are safe in their home. This small sanctuary worth a visit and needs public support.
How did you make the oven for Bumi Sehat Ibu Robin?
Oh Robin! You know when you meet an angel ... After my son with a "midwife" local, I knew there had to be a softer gentler experience childbirth with my second child, Lily. Through friends, I heard about Robin. The day I was swinging in the kitchen of Robin I was pregnant. Her husband had said it would be good to know that someone with accommodations on the beach which needed a midwife so they can have a little party. She helped Homebirth two daughters, Lily and Kaya. We were the family since. Now, years later, I became a builder and land is the furnace of Mama Earth representing the strength and the fire and heat of all mothers.
What inspired you to be a builder of earth?
I had always wanted to build a clay oven and it took many years of yearning and learning all aspects of earth building, homesteading and other alternative, lifestyles environmentally until I met my great friend, Tasha. She came to stay at Lumbung Damuh with her daughter, Zahara. When I shared my ideas and knowledge with her, she said: "Let's do it" Our crazy energy began TnT Earthbuilders and has not stopped since we made eight furnaces together and on our own in. remote locations around the world. This is just the beginning of the adventures of the earth mom mud!