What Happened to Sumatra?

If you've been following this slightly ridiculous journey of mine for a while, you might have noticed something. I'm not in Sumatra.

In fact, I'm not even particularly close to Sumatra. I'm currently in Magelang, Central Java, spending my days caring for rescued monkeys and somehow finding myself increasingly responsible for a small primate rescue centre. That definitely wasn't the plan.

So... what happened to Sumatra?

The short answer is: nothing. Sumatra is still there. The rainforest is still incredibly important to me. I still want to work there, and I still want Each One Wild to eventually be involved in protecting habitat and wildlife in Sumatra. I just have absolutely no idea when that will be anymore.

And strangely, I'm completely OK with that.

This wasn't supposed to happen

I've always stayed connected with Bali Monkey Rescue. I worked with BMR when I previously lived in Indonesia, I've continued supporting their work since returning to the UK, and a minimum of 15% of the profits from Each One Wild goes directly to them.

But coming back to Indonesia and working full-time at their Java centre? Nope. That wasn't part of the plan at all.

I was asked to come to Magelang to help find a suitable new site for the monkeys. That was it. Come to Java. Help look at some land. Help work out where the monkeys could be moved to. Then presumably continue with my beautifully organised life plan.

Which, if you've read literally any other part of this blog, you'll know was probably my first mistake.

Because somewhere between looking for land, helping with the monkeys, getting involved with the team and eventually finding the place we're now turning into their new home, things just... changed.

There wasn't really one big decision. Nobody sat me down and said, “Right Laura, you're abandoning the Sumatra plan and you're going to run around after macaques in Magelang instead.” It happened naturally.

I started helping more. Then I was here every day. Then we moved the monkeys. Then I moved onto the site too. And at some point I looked around and realised... Oh. Apparently this is my life now.

The funny thing is, this was always the dream

For all the talk about Sumatra, rainforest protection and everything else I want Each One Wild to eventually achieve, I've always said that my actual dream is to have a little rescue shelter of my own.

Nothing enormous. I've never dreamed about running some massive organisation from an office somewhere. I want to be there. I want muddy feet, animals that need feeding, enclosures that need checking. Injuries that need treating. With things going wrong at inconvenient times and animals slowly learning to trust you. I always wanted the exhausting, frustrating, occasionally heartbreaking reality of actually caring for them.

And somehow, without planning it, I've ended up remarkably close to exactly that.

These monkeys aren't mine, obviously. This is Bali Monkey Rescue and I am incredibly lucky to have been trusted with them. But I get to care for them every day. I know their personalities. I know who is going to make something difficult before I've even approach an enclosure. I know who will happily take food from me and who would quite happily remove one of my fingers given half a chance.

I worry about them when they're hurt. I get ridiculously excited about tiny bits of progress that probably wouldn't mean anything to anyone else. And when I wake up in the morning, they're right outside.

There are 15 monkeys here and somehow helping care for them has become my normal life. Even writing that feels completely fucking ridiculous.

So, have I given up on Sumatra?

Absolutely not. I still want to go. I still want to help protect rainforest. I still care enormously about the future of Sumatra's orangutans and the other wildlife disappearing alongside them. And I still have bigger dreams for Each One Wild.

But I've realised something about myself over the last couple of years. I'm not particularly good at following a plan simply because that was the plan. I tend to go where I feel I'm supposed to be.

Sometimes that's probably a terrible personality trait. But right now, the need is here.

There are monkeys here who need better enclosures. There is a rescue centre that is still being built around us. There is a small team trying to make it work without government funding or huge resources. And there is something incredibly special about being able to contribute to that from the ground up.

Leaving because I'd previously announced that Sumatra was the plan would feel far stranger to me than admitting that the plan changed. So I'm staying. For now, anyway.

Because if there's one thing I've learned about my life recently, it's probably best not to make any confident statements about where I'll be six months from now.

Sometimes I still can't quite believe this happened

This is the bit that gets me. Not very long ago, I was a single mum living in the UK, working for minimum wage and desperately trying to work out how the hell I was going to create a life that felt like mine again.

And now, somehow, I’m living in Indonesia, where my mornings involve macaques and I’m trusted to care for rescued primates on a daily basis while helping to build a rescue centre around them. The thing I used to imagine doing — actually working hands-on with animals rather than sitting thousands of miles away wishing I could — has somehow become my real life.

When does this actually happen in the real world?

Even I still can't quite believe it sometimes.

There are days when it’s exhausting and everything seems to go wrong at once. One monkey injures another, something breaks, somebody escapes, money is running out, I’m covered in dirt and wondering what the actual fuck I’m doing with my life. But then there are moments when I stop, look around at where I am and what I’m actually doing, and think, I get to do this.

I’m unbelievably grateful for that, and not just on the exciting days or when there’s a lovely photo to put on Facebook. I’m grateful even on the days that suck — actually, maybe especially on those days — because this isn’t something I’m sitting somewhere dreaming about doing anymore. I’m actually doing it.

I just found somewhere I needed to be first.

And is this the end of the story?

I very much doubt it.

Laura x

Each One Wild