ECONOMIC GULF - UVI REPORT

UVI Director Marshall Bailey and Kerry Schneider recently entered into a Cardboard Boat Regatta at Indiana University in Bloomington. The objective was to build and race a boat composed strictly of cardboard and duct tape. At 7 pm construction began and ended the next day at 3 pm, with the assistance of Engineer Ed Sherfield throughout the night, producing a rough replica model of and Indonesian Fishing Boat, named “Sampan” in Indonesian.

The cost of materials for this project was $50-70 USD which was all inclusive. The Council for Advancing Student Leadership sponsored event drew in a huge crowd with their donations going towards scholarship grants recognizing student leaders in the campus.

UVI’s purpose in entering the Regatta was to draw a correlation to the fishing situation in the Tsunami ravaged Indonesia. The same price of $50-$70 USD will buy an Indonesian man one 15-20ft fishing boat and allow him to feed his entire family and maybe 2-3 others for the rest of their lives. After the Tsunami literally all of the small fishing boats were destroyed and a handful of 50 foot floating fishing platforms were the only ones left in the Lho Kruet and Pulu Raya areas of Aceh where 90+ had been operational before. This is how the people managed to feed themselves and now, almost a year later; the situation is still the same…dire.