Kawan Sehat health workers in Lahiru share one day of care
A couple in East Sumba farming, teaching and treating neighbors
In their house in Lahiru, Sarlota and Yosef explain how to take the medicines to a father and his children.
One day in my life with Sarlot and Yosef, from Lahiru
In this film, we spend a day with Sarlota and her husband Yosef in the village of Lahiru, in the Mahu district. They are both Kawan Sehat health agents with the Primary Medical Care program. Yosef smiles, saying he’s the only man among all these women. They laugh about it, but they take their work very seriously.
Sarlota is also a teacher for the Charis Foundation, which builds small learning centres in areas where there are no schools or where the schools are too far away. Yosef is a farmer. He grows rice, corn, and a few watermelons to feed his family, and when he can, he sells his produce.
From dawn, the day is busy. Sarlota cooks and does laundry. Yosef cleans and repairs the house. Together, they walk down a steep and challenging path to the river to fetch water for cooking, drinking, and washing. The round trip is over a kilometre. They often slip on the path, and the jerrycans and wet clothes are heavy, but this is their daily life.
Back home, Sarlota bathes her baby in warm water, which has been boiled and infused with local herbs to protect its health. Yosef goes to the garden to tend the crops. Then, they prepare their home for the next stage of their lives.
Every day, dozens of people come to their homes for treatment. Thanks to the support of the Fair Future Foundation and Kawan Baik Indonesia, Sarlota and Yosef examine people with fevers, clean wounds, dispense medicine, and explain how to prevent illness.
For them, caring for their neighbours is like caring for their own family. This film gives them a voice. It shows what Primary Medical Care is really like in a remote village.
Today, the 18th of November 2025 – Alex Wettstein
In Short – A clinic inside a family home
In Lahiru, patients cross steep paths and arrive at a front door, not a hospital gate. The waiting room is a veranda, the pharmacy is a wooden shelf and the exam table is a simple mat on the floor. Yet wounds heal, fevers fall and families learn how to protect their children, all inside one small house.
Sarlota and Yosef - Lahiru’s Only Healthcare Agents
2,224 SolarBuddy lamps have been installed from Surabaya to Sumba to ensure power safety and education in 24 villages.
A humanitarian mission from Australia to Rumah Kambera transforms logistics into a sustainable health impact.
After months of preparation and coordination, 2,224 SolarBuddy lamps have reached their destination in East Sumba. From the port of Surabaya to the new storage space at Rumah Kambera, this operation marks a turning point in Fair Future’s logistics and outreach capabilities. These are not merely boxes of lights but instruments of prevention, education, and community resilience.
Cleared tax-free under a historic humanitarian exemption, the lamps arrived in Indonesia thanks to the unwavering support of SolarBuddy Australia and Rotary International. Once in Denpasar, our team meticulously documented, repacked, and staged each lamp for safe transfer across land and sea. Volunteers carefully loaded every box into the Truck n’Load and partner vehicles for the journey eastward.
In Rumah Kambera, a dedicated storage facility was prepared to receive the shipment. The bright yellow boxes, neatly stacked, now fill the foundation’s new warehouse, ready for deployment to 26 ultra-rural villages and dozens of off-grid schools. The SolarBuddy Tracker app, developed in-house, will ensure every lamp is registered, traceable, and linked to its recipient.
These lamps are more than solar-powered devices. They reduce the risks of burns and respiratory issues from kerosene, allow children to study safely at night, and allow families to cook and walk without fear in the dark. Light becomes a tool for injury prevention and educational equity in areas with minimal access to healthcare.
Each step—from customs clearance to local coordination—required precision, documentation, and tireless dedication. Behind every lamp are names, hands, and kilometres travelled. This distribution is part of a long-term commitment to improving living conditions through sustainable, community-driven solutions.
The lamps are here. The mission moves forward. What arrives today is light, dignity, protection, and future opportunity.
We cordially invite all captivated by this story to explore our photo gallery, witness this extraordinary effort, and further engage with our mission through our Instagram account.
Alex Wettstein – Fair Future Foundation medico-social camp in East Sumba – Rumah Kambera, Lambanapu – June 13th, 2025
Related Links
List of Related Organisations with Hyperlinks
- World Health Organisation (WHO): Serves as the global technical reference for primary healthcare, infectious disease control and community health strategies in low-resource settings.
- UNICEF: Concentrates on child health, nutrition, vaccination, and education, particularly where public systems are weak or absent.
- UNFPA: Focuses on maternal health, reproductive health services, and the protection of women and girls in vulnerable communities.
- Partners In Health: Provides long-term community-based medical care, training local health workers in remote and impoverished regions.
- Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF): Offers emergency medical care and supports hospitals and clinics in crisis and low-resource contexts.
- Women Deliver: Champions gender equality, women’s health, and rights, with a strong emphasis on access to quality care and local empowerment.
