Blue Ocean School
Sawinggrai, Raja Ampat, Indonesia
Designed through Journeyman and opened in 2025, Child Aid Papua’s Blue Ocean School gives young people from remote Raja Ampat communities a place to learn, live, and prepare for work in conservation and sustainable tourism.
A place to learn
Project 23-164 · Sawinggrai, Raja Ampat, Indonesia
A school reached by water. A future without borders.
Across the islands of Raja Ampat, many young people live too far from a secondary school to travel there each day. Child Aid Papua built a different kind of campus: a place to live and learn, grounded in the culture and extraordinary marine environment students already call home.
The design challenge
Everything arrives by boat.
Materials had to travel over water. Construction had to respond to earthquakes, tropical weather, limited freshwater, and a remote island supply chain. Journeyman volunteer architect Garrett Lord stayed with the project from its first drawings through hundreds of hours of coordination across multiple time zones.
Why this school
Education that belongs to the islands.
Child Aid Papua began with a hard truth: a school uniform did not always mean a child was receiving a consistent education. Remote villages, uneven teacher access, and the cost of better schools left many young people without a reliable path through secondary education.
The campus brief combined classrooms with a library, teacher workspace, medical suite, dormitories, bathrooms, and environmental learning space. Jonas Müller and Maya Puspa Dewi of Child Aid Papua worked with Journeyman, architect Garrett Lord, local contractors, and Indonesian engineer Krismarwan Darius to turn that program into a buildable school.
Open since 2025
Sixty students. Six classrooms. One living laboratory.
The completed Blue Ocean School now serves 60 learners, with 40 living on campus. Classes combine Indonesian and English with digital skills, hospitality, environmental education, and practical training in marine and ecotourism. Solar power keeps the campus running around the clock; new water systems respond to an island without a freshwater supply.
Here, the reef is not scenery outside the classroom. It is part of the curriculum—and students are becoming the guides, conservation advocates, and local leaders who will shape Raja Ampat’s future.