We arrived on the US West coast to be met by blustery San Francisco winds and a major drop in temperature. We were also joined by Leonard, our principal cinematographer. We located with the entire Acehnese delegation in a hotel in the financial district, and finally caught up with Dorjee. He had been in Sydney at the APEC meetings and was still recovering from the Australian government announcement that $100 million had been allocated to protect forests in Kalimantan. Good news for forest habitat (and the orangutans) in that province, but the Governor and Dorjee were puzzled as to why Aceh had been overlooked, given their intense lobbying and the Governor’s declaration of a logging moratorium. With his usual relentless optimism, Dorjee resolved to make an even stronger push for Australian government support for the Aceh project in Bali in December. Governor Irwandi is scheduled to give a speech there, and Dorjee hopes to announce some voluntary partners in carbon trading at this event. He was feeling the pressure even more intensely now to get the first deal locked off and signed.
In San Francisco, there were meetings and discussions with various business groups, and Dorjee gave a presentation on carbon trading. We also went sight seeing with the Governor’s wife, Darwati A. Gani, (known to us as Ibu), and did an interview with her under the Golden Gate Bridge. She told us of her experience of the tsunami and the aftermath and how her life has changed since Irwandi became Governor. She also spoke very openly about his passion for the forests, how he is coping with the stresses of being Governor and this US trip.
Dorjee made a trip to San Jose to meet with EBay, the world’s largest online trading and shopping service with over 500 million users. The executives of EBay are keen to be at the forefront of carbon trading possibilities and expressed great interest in working with Dorjee to set up online opportunities and direct customers to the Indonesian forest project. This response gave Dorjee a much needed burst of encouragement and the energy to keep going.
The next major meeting was in Seattle at Starbucks. This was a tough meeting, but Dorjee managed to speak personally with Chairman Howard Schultz, who was very interested and keen to hear more. The Governor and his delegation gave a strong and compelling presentation and then sampled all the various brands of Starbucks coffee in a jovial and entertaining tasting atmosphere. The US tour was almost at an end, and there was relief, exhaustion and a sense of achievement affecting both the delegation and our crew.
While on the West Coast, the delegation also visited a biofuel plant outside of Seattle and the Governor visited his alma mater, Oregon State University. On campus, he gave us an extended interview about his past, the war, the tsunami and life since he became Governor.
In Seattle, our crew stayed with a school friend of mine and her husband from Johannesburg that I had only seen once in the past 30 years. We had much to catch up on, and they took me to a magnificent forest and a snow cave north of Seattle.
We said goodbye to the Governor and his wife, LeRoy the Governor’s advisor and other members of the delegation in Seattle. They flew directly back to Aceh from there. Leonard also left us in Seattle, and headed for a film festival in New Zealand. Dorjee will be heading back east so we planned to meet up with him again in New York. Flying back into the Big Apple, I was filled with the sweet feeling of success and achievement, bathed in total exhaustion. We have captured some amazing footage, achieved what we came for, formed some strong friendships and had a good dose of fun along the way. The last four days in New York would be more relaxed without the delegation to chase after. We filmed some missing scenes, such as the UN building is session, adorned with flags and an angry protest against George Bush outside, Central Park, Times Square at night, and the life of this indefatigable and alluring city.
Handi, Felicity and I had a celebration dinner and some cheesecake in Times Square. Tomorrow I say goodbye to them. Handi heads back to Indonesia and Felicity will stay in New York for a week or two, filming Dorjee in Washington and catching up with friends.
I fly back to Australia on Thursday. And then the editing begins...
