HELP SUMBA ISLAND
Health, Education and Poverty Project

Rotary Club Bali Kuta

The Rotary Club Bali Kuta is a small club mostly with local business people as members. This club was founded in the year 1989. All this time the goal of this club has been to help health, education and poverty wherever help is needed. During the last years the Rotary Club Bali Kuta has planned, funded and implemented successful humanitarian projects.

In the year 1998 this Club started the construction of the Bali Blood Bank building on premises of the General Hospital Sanglah in Bali and this project has been proven to be one very outstanding project. Later on this project was funded in cooperation of all Bali Rotary Clubs, the International Rotary and generous big and small sponsors from all around the world. When the construction of the Blood Bank building was finalized, it was then fully equipped with modern technical blood screening equipment and it has been providing help for more than 8 million people of Indonesia, especially from Bali, East Java and surrounding islands like Lombok, Sumba, Sumbawa etc. with fresh, clean, safe blood. This project was audited by an independent public accountant and then the project was formally handed over by the chairman of the Blood Bank Project, Rotarian Reinhold Jantzen, who is also a Consul in Bali, from the Rotary Club Bali Kuta in cooperation with Rotary International to the International Red Cross at no cost at all. This blood bank was a great help for the victims of the Bali Bombings and any occasions whenever blood is needed.

The Rotary Club Bali Kuta made an immediate response to the tsunami disaster at the end of year 2004. The Rotary Club Bali Kuta sent a delegation consisted of members, doctors, nurses and medicines, first aid amenities, food supplies, kitchen equipments, shelters and many things which are needed initially such as water, clothing and blankets. And now the club is busy to be involved in building schools, clinics and hospital for long term period of usage.

The Rotary Club Bali Kuta also has helped many school children in Bali, especially in poor villages such as in Tista Karangasem as well as in Suradadi in Tabanan, paying their tuition fees, uniforms, books, tools, food and vitamins. The club also has helped the bomb victims so that their children can still go to school in and for their future.

The Rotary Club Bali Kuta decided now to start this very challenging and important health and education project. The aim is to give this "forgotten people" in the eastern region of Indonesia a chance to escape from Stone Age and improve their life and their living conditions by themselves - after receiving assistance in health- and in the education sector.

This new project is designed as a small local "compact" unit, easy to overlook and to control. The club wants to start this project in the island of SUMBA. After the successful building and implementation / supervision of the project activities this actual "small project" could be copied to other areas in the near surrounding.

Through that - we believe to have a long lasting better influence in the local circumstances rather than to start a "big" project with larger risk in wasting sponsor´s and own money and unproductive time-consuming activities.

Sumba Island - Eastern part of Indonesia

It is well known that the very poor living circumstances in the Eastern Region of Indonesia, especially on the Island Sumba which is called the "forgotten island by insiders ".

In West Sumba that is inhabited by 150.000 people living in the village, 94 % of whom are farmers. They are very poor and live in bamboo and thatch huts without any fresh water supply and toilets. For most of the people there is during the dry season no other income possibility. There is also no electricity available at all. The 2003 official statistics show that from people ten years of age or older, 60% either never went to school or did not finish primary school. About 40% of the adults are illiterate.

This is an area where lack of education and almost totally neglected by the government has resulted in an extraordinarily simple way of life, almost stone age in some villages. Malnutrition and disease, especially malaria, are usual. The official percentage of malnourished children is 40% and infant mortality is 73 per 1000 (2004 statistics). Both of these statistics are much worse than the overall levels in NTT. Malaria, dengue fever, upper respiratory illnesses and TB are all major killers, as well as dehydration among babies.

The Project Help Sumba

On this site we are giving you transparant report of who has donated funds to our Help Project for the Sumba Island. Also you will find how we use the funds already gathered.

To see our Help Sumba Island plans click here

To see our list of donators click here

To see our fund usage report click here

To see how to donate to Help Sumba Island click here