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Building Health, Long Before the Hospital
 👋 Hello, it’s Alex. How are you today?
Here, between Denpasar, Surabaya and Sumba, the days are long, often dusty, sometimes chaotic… but always meaningful. Over the past few weeks, we have published several articles that all tell the same simple reality: health does not begin in a hospital. It begins long before that. It begins with clean water, with villages that understand the dangers of waste, with children who can drink without becoming sick. In some rural regions of Indonesia, diarrheal diseases, dengue or rubella are not fatal. They are almost always linked to the environment, poverty and the lack of infrastructure. That is why our work often consists of building, explaining, repairing and transporting… even before treating patients.
 On the ground, the Primary Medical Care program continues to grow. The Kawan Sehat community health workers now see between 700 and 1,000 patients every month in villages where there is sometimes neither a road nor a doctor. They treat simple infections before they become serious emergencies. They also explain why water must be protected, why wounds must be disinfected, and why mosquitoes transmit malaria. In the months ahead, we will strengthen this program and gradually increase the number of health workers from 20 to nearly 30, extending medical care to areas where the public health system often stops before reaching the last village.
 Water remains another priority. Last year, we built several ferro-cement reservoirs and a large reservoir of more than 100,000 litres in the village of Laindatang. Today, families can drink, cook and get through the dry season without depending on contaminated sources or costly water deliveries. But the need remains immense. This year, we are preparing to build at least 12 new reservoirs, each with a capacity of 5,300 litres, a simple yet decisive solution for the health of children and families. In these regions, every litre of clean water reduces infections and hospitalisations, and sometimes even preventable deaths.
 As we mentioned in our previous newsletter, we are also working on another important project: the construction of a new medical and logistics centre to replace our current Rumah Kambera base, which is now too small and too fragile for the foundation’s activities. This future base will allow us to store medicines, train health workers, repair equipment and organise our missions across the region. It will be a simple place, but an essential one if we want this work to continue in the long term.
The world is going through a strange and sometimes worrying period. Humanitarian funding is declining everywhere, crises are multiplying, and needs are increasing. Yet on the ground, we continue to do what we have been doing for nearly twenty years: treat, prevent, build, explain and transport. Step by step, project after project. If all this is possible, it is thanks to the people who follow our work, read these lines and choose, in one way or another, to remain by our side.
Thank you for your trust, and above all, thank you for continuing to care about what is happening here, in these forgotten villages where every concrete action can change a life.
Alex, for Fair Future — Today, Monday, March 16, 2026 |
