Illness often begins long before someone arrives at the hospital. Our campaigns on smoking, waste management, alcohol, and sexual health display straightforward messages across schools and village walls in local languages. Through simple posters, talks, and games, we help protect thousands of children.
Donate
Support Care
Programs
All projects
Quick News
Field updates
Stories
Field stories
Alex
About this author: Alex Wettstein is a health professional with 30 years of field experience in emergency medicine and social medicine. He is the founder of the Fair Future Foundation. Alex is the son of Axel Kahn, whose humanist values profoundly shaped his work.
Aimere, the Truck of Life is ready to board for Waingapu
Port d'Aimere, Flores Nusa Tenggara Timur. After more than five days on the road, the Truck of Life, loaded like a real truck, is ready to embark for Waingapu. The last ferry out of five that we have already taken throughout this journey will take us to the foundation's medico-social base camp, Rumah Kambera, in East Sumba. The crossing between Forès and Sumba will take over eight hours in extreme conditions. From tomorrow, we will be working with the poorest families in Indonesia in the framework of the project of primary medical care for children in rural areas and medical care for malaria victims, which is raging here.
A 9-year-old child needs surgery quickly
This little boy’s name is Assaria, he’s nine years old. He has severe 3rd-degree burns to over 24% of his body and requires surgical attention. He is not well, and we have to find a solution together. He can barely walk because of terrible burns to his legs and back. The consequences while growing up are significant circulatory and neurological problems. If nothing is done, he risks a double amputation. Let’s help him get surgery for severe burns on both legs before his health deteriorates.
First aid kits are being prepared here in Sumba
What the foundation is setting up is innovative and ingenious and cannot be done without the help of nearly a hundred teachers from the poorest and rural areas of East Sumba. And yes, teachers, like everywhere in the world, are the most influential people in the villages.
During these three or four training days, they will learn how to treat a wound and give first aid to an injured or sick child so that his situation does not worsen and becomes much more severe. But also, above all, determining when to call a doctor or go to the nearest medical centre.
Kawan Sehat book is finished and printed
A simple picture is that of the book "Kawan Sehat", which means "the healthy friend", on which Kawan Baik and Fair Future have been working for a few months. We are happy because the book is now finished, printed and ready to be loaded into the Truck of Life, which will leave tomorrow evening (08.12.22) for a five-day journey towards our Rumah Kambera Base Camp.
As a reminder, this book features three characters around the themes of a healthier life, how not to get sick, avoid injuries, and everyday sores. It is aimed at children from the ultra-rural regions of eastern Indonesia, where we work. It is one of the tools set up as part of the program for access to primary medical care intended for children in ultra-peripheral regions.
We invite you to get to know "Kawan Sehat" in .PDF format, in its latest version, by clicking on this link. Happy reading, Kawan.
Primary medical care for rural kids
Residents of rural villages do not have access to primary care, and most medical centres are often several hours' walk away. The harshness of life here means that we are often injured, but nothing is available to treat us – no doctor, knowledge, medical equipment and, of course, no antiseptic or medicine.
These injuries can lead to the death of a child or an adult if they get worse. We must therefore act quickly. Fair Future has for years empowered schools and families in ultra-rural communities to take action in the event of an accident.
Today, we are taking a new step in this program.
We need anti-malaria drugs!
Fair Future issues an intense red alert linked to the case of malaria, which is reaching a critical level here in East Sumba, Indonesia. For weeks, thousands of malaria cases have been recorded here in East Sumba. This figure is nevertheless to be taken conditionally because, in many villages, people do not have an identity card or a family book or do not have access to medical care, so they are sick in silence.
A child looks at the water flowing from a pipe
This photograph was taken by Kawan Elthon, at the end of November 2022, at one of the Water Connections project sites. It features a child from Mbinudita, a small village in eastern Sumba that does not have water access (or not yet, but soon). When he wants water, he has to walk for hours and bring one or two five-litre jerry cans, which he often fills with dirty water. He is, therefore, often ill and hires so many people here.
But there, while Fair Future and Kawan Baik are building new toilets, the clean and present water is flowing from one of the thirty tanks of more than 6,000 litres that we have built.
It's magical to see this kid staring at water flowing from a pipe for the first time in his life. I find it brilliant. It gives me the strength to continue in what we are doing.
Do you have medical equipment or clothes?
Extract and Description of this short News | As part of the departure of the Truck of Life – week #2 of December 2022 – for Sumba East and our Medical-Social Base Camp, we still have a little space available to load equipment such as Medical equipment, medicines and clothes for children and newborns that you no longer use. You can bring all of this to us at the foundation headquarters (see the link here to find us in Denpasar). Here is a list of medicines and other materials you need to bring to Rumah Baik, Denpasar Selatan. Thank you very much for your support Kawan,
Fair Future Picture of the Day
Each Picture of the Day reveals a reality lived by millions. Shot by Fair Futureâs teams in extreme conditions, these images bring voice to the unseen stories of resilience and action in Indonesia.
The construction of this 6700 liter water tank is complete
Thanks to the water we fetch deep in the ground via one of the deep boreholes already drilled, we can supply one of the thirty reservoirs built, including this one, for the Water Connections Project here in Mbinudita,
This facility will enable approximately 25 families to live healthier and more hygienic lives. This improvement decreases exposure to diseases caused by unclean water or lack of toilets.
Everyone is at work here in East Sumba
Since August 2021, our teams have been at work. We have built over thirty Clean Water Tanks and now nearly twenty sanitary facilities for the Water Connections Project here in Mbinudita, East Sumba.
This work could not be done with our hands because the staff of Fair Future and Kawan Baik are on site; it comes down to eight people employed on the sites. These women and men from this poor and ultra-rural region are the real heroes of the projects we are carrying out.
They are the ones who, for years (previously with the Mbinudita school), have been working with us. They are part of our family now.