Humanitarian projects to ease the poor's agonies
Humanitarian projects to ease the poor's agonies
Rita A.Widiadana
The Jakarta Post
Sanur
Seven-year old Komang was burned in a house fire some years ago
in his hometown in one of the most impoverished villages in East
Bali. The right side of his body was burned so badly, that his
harm was fused to his torso.
It was really a miracle that he survived the fire. But, his
previous cheerful childhood vanished as he could do nothing but
cry miserably with no respite from the pain. His destitute
parents were unable to take him to a doctor.
Fortunately, they made their way to the Australian-based John
Fawcett Foundation, a humanitarian and non-profit organization
dealing with community-based health activities on the island of
Bali.
They were very lucky to have met a visiting plastic surgeon,
Dr. Tim Cooper from Perth, who then operated on Komang to return
his arm to its normal position.
The Foundation set up a set of Roman rings in the yard of
Komang's house for him to exercise his arm and keep the skin from
contracting. Komang now has full use of his arm again.
Komang also received donations so he could return to school,
from the foundation's Primary School Children Assistance.
Komang is only one of thousands of other poor children and
teenagers in Bali who have had to go through difficult periods
but regained new and fulfilling lives with the support of this
foundation.
Established in l991, the John Fawcett Foundation set up its
Indonesian affiliation as Yayasan Kemanusiaan Indonesia (The
Indonesian Humanitarian Foundation) located in the Sanur area.
In the eyes of millions of tourists, Bali seems like a
tropical paradise. But it is a paradise that some 1.7 percent of
its 3 million population cannot see because of half or full
blindness.
"The prosperous tourist island actually has a dark part in
which thousands of its people are extremely poor and unaffected
by the glitter of the tourist industry," explained Penny Lane, an
executive officer of the foundation.
The majority of poor Balinese families are faced with the
heart-breaking fact that they cannot afford to save their own
child's life.
There have been cases where a child in need of a simple
appendectomy, has died because the parents had no money to pay
for the operation or medical treatment.
"We are here to prevent such tragedies, our programs are
specifically intended to help these needy people by paying for
all treatment costs for children who would otherwise die or whose
quality of life would be severely diminished because their
families cannot afford medical treatment," she said.
Among the foundation's "giving hope" services are free surgery
for cataract, cleft lips and palates.
The cataract surgery is one of the longest-running of its many
services. It has been going on since 1991 when the foundation
started the Sight Restoration and Blindness Prevention Program.
It started with a mobile eye clinic to reach the most remote
villages, and in 1996, in cooperation with a local health office,
established the Community Eye Center in Denpasar, using a former
leprosy hospital.
"Surgically, a cataract operation is simple and costs only
(US$35). However, for a Balinese villager, it is financially
impossible. An operation would cost a year's income for a farming
family. If Balinese people begin to lose their sight, they
literally can't afford to do anything about it," she said.
For the cleft lips and palates surgery, the foundation, in
cooperation with the Rotary Club, make use of government
hospitals in Bali to give free services.
The foundation often invites volunteer consultants from
Australia and also from other countries to share their experience
and knowledge with local medical workers.
After the Oct. 12, 2002 Bali bombing, the Foundation
cooperated with Bali Hati to help the victims obtain treatment in
various hospitals in Australia.
Funding seems to be one of the challenging hurdles to the
foundation's mission in Bali. Therefore, no less than the founder
John Fawcett himself took the lead in fund-raising.
When visiting the foundation's office in Sanur last week,
Fawcett was seen busy making phone calls to seek assistance from
his global contacts for the poor Balinese.
"I have good news, one organization will donate 40 hospital
beds, each worth about ($2,800)," Fawcett smiled brightly. "My
staff and I here work like beggars asking for help from anyone in
the world. And I am very content to do that as long as the poor
here can get what they need," he commented.
"We often ask Australians in their country or those visiting
Bali to join the foundation's Primary School Assistance program
by donating A$100 to $200 per child per year to help these needy
children in school," he said.
"We ask individuals, organizations, companies to also take
part in our programs," he said.
Sidebar
More coming to Bali for good
While about 280,000 Australians visit Bali every year as
tourists, some Australians have come to the island and have been
residing here for many years to dedicate themselves to the well-
being of the impoverished Balinese.
There are a number of humanitarian organizations and
philanthropic individuals whose compassion runs beyond race,
culture and religion.
Brent Hall, Australian Consul General for Bali and West Nusa
Tenggara provinces, estimated that there were about 5,000
Australians now residing in the two provinces, the majority in
Bali, coming from diverse professional backgrounds such as
businesspeople, artists, designers, sportsmen and women,
teachers, exchange students and committed people involved in
various humanitarian activities.
"Bali has become a second home to many Australians. Once they
fell in love with the island and its people, they would likely
visit here frequently and even stay here for certain period of
time. A lot of Australians have visited Bali for more than 10
times and many of them have stayed here for 15 to 20 years," Hall
explained.
"The John Fawcett Foundation is one of the many humanitarian
organizations that have been reaching the poorest groups of the
Balinese population to enable them get access to medical
facilities, education and other basic needs," he said. -- JP/Rita
A.Widiadana