After years of walking to find dirty water, villages like Laindatang, Hambarita or Mbinudita can now access clean water from community reservoirs they built themselves. Clean water reduces diarrhea, skin infections, and fear. This is a true reflection of dignity in daily life.
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Matawai, The Shades of Water documents the reality of water access in East Sumba.
This 15-minute field documentary follows daily life in remote communities where access to clean drinking water remains uncertain and fragile.
The original score, “Sang Air” (meaning “The Water”), composed by Dialog Dini Hari, accompanies the film throughout. Its restrained and evocative tone reflects the rhythm of daily life shaped by water scarcity, reinforcing the connection between environment, health, and survival.
“Matawai” shows what water scarcity means in concrete terms: children walking long distances across rugged terrain, families rationing every container for cooking and washing, and the constant exposure to preventable diseases such as malaria, dysentery, and cholera linked to unsafe water and poor sanitation.
The film also presents the work carried out on the ground by Kawan Baik Indonesia and the Fair Future Foundation through the #WaterConnections programme. Together, they develop durable, community-built water systems designed to reduce disease and protect health over time.
Through Matawai, The Shades of Water, viewers are invited to observe the strength and resilience of East Sumba’s communities, and to understand how access to clean water directly affects health, education, and daily life. The film points toward practical solutions that support a more sustainable future built with communities, not imposed from outside.
Watch Matawai, The Shades of Water on the Fair Future Foundation YouTube channel.
Alex Wettstein – Fair Future Foundation medico-social camp in East Sumba – Rumah Kambera, Lambanapu – The 8th of May 2024.
This film shows the reality. The section below shows what action makes possible.
Support here is not symbolic. It sustains real work on the ground: medical consultations, early diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and the systems that protect health over time.
Across all our programmes, this support keeps care continuous where conditions are hardest. It allows teams to stay present and act early, alongside communities facing distance, isolation, and limited infrastructure.
Just steady, field-driven work that protects health and saves lives.
Secure. Transparent. Field-based.
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Every contribution supports direct care in remote villages. Medicines, wound treatment, basic diagnostics, clean water systems, and solar-powered cold chains that protect vaccines and allow care to continue after dark.