The BUKIT LAWANG TRUST was founded after a devastating flood wiped out the village of Bukit Lawang in November 2003.

The flood tragically killed hundreds of people and was described by witnesses as a tidal wave, the water was over 10 metres high, as it came crashing down from the hills it wiped out everything in its path.  

Founder and Trustee Rebecca Coley had been visiting the village a couple of months before and was contacted and asked to help. Rebecca set about raising funds in the UK and returned to Bukit Lawang to help provide simple things like rice and other basic staple foods, water carriers, purifying tablets, sleeping mats and educational materials. 

The charity was officially set up and registered in 2004, and a small temporary health clinic was started from a rented house, employing a local doctor, nurse, and a midwife. The clinic was run from this small house for two years, seeing more than thirty patients a day, for free. At that time the health clinic offered free health care to any families affected by the flood.

The Trust then partnered with Jersey Overseas Aid and they agreed to match fund the building of a community centre. Sixteen volunteers worked hard raising funds and came from Jersey to Indonesia to build the new community building with the locals in March 2007. The new community centre is still the permanent home for the Trust.

The clinic moved into the downstairs of the new building in December 2007 and continued to serve the community until December 2011. By now the area had been positively rehabilitated, and the need for the clinic diminished. Other clinics had opened in the area and the decision was made for the Trust to focus on Education instead, opening its doors as a dedicated Education Centre in January 2012. 

Since that time the Education Centre has seen countless numbers of children and adults come through its doors for free English lessons and extra lessons such as arts and crafts, maths, computer lessons and traditional dance. In recent years we have also launched our Youth Ranger Programme (conservation for kids), the Sustainable Business Programme and the Eco Farming Programme.

There is also a free kindergarten at the Trust (Monday to Friday) which has helped hundreds of children to learn to read and write. 

The main ethos of the Trust is that education is the best route out of poverty and the best route to sustainable development. We offer the opportunity for all people to come and learn at the Trust and increase their knowledge of the world and their environment through our lessons.

The Trust is also very focused on conservation and wishes to empower and enable the local community to protect and look after their local environment. The Gunung Leuser National Park is right on our doorstep and the rare endangered Sumatran orangutans are under serious threat from plans for further deforestation, new roads and more palm oil plantations. We hope through providing education, locals will find alternative sources of income to palm oil and work together to protect the National Park.

The ethos of the Trust is to empower people, so that the community is involved in every aspect of our projects. We don’t want to inform the community what is best, but rather work collaboratively with local people and offer support.

Currently in 2024 the Trust has a team of 14 permanent staff and six volunteers at a time supporting the team. We have five main educational programmes, Kindergarten, English Language, Youth Ranger, Eco Farming and Sustainable business. Plus several other supporting projects such as exercise classes, a women's group, kids play sessions and a playgroup for mums and babies.

We are looking for people to join us who share our passion for social projects, who wish to give back and help communities, who care about education as a means for sustainable development, people who'd love to work in and support our team and people who are looking for a challenge and a once in a lifetime adventure! You’ve also got to love children, we work with adults too, but the kids are always around. You should love and care about the environment, love to have new experiences and want to build relationships with the local community!