Last December, while we were on site here in the village of Mbinudita, the Fair Future and Kawan Baik teams linked several infrastructures built for and around the Water Connections project by means of + /- 4000 meters of PVC HDPE pipes which we have now buried.

In doing so, we entered a significant number of houses, and for the first time in the history of these families, they had running water directly in the kitchens. You had to hear the cries of joy, the laughter too. And tears of joy for these families who suddenly have access to a source of clean water at home. Water connections create a clean and safe water network for families from rural areas in eastern Indonesia.

This image of the day shows you one of those very emotional moments, during which our teams entered one of the houses with a 1-inch pipe to connect it from the second deep borehole to the reservoir which is there and that we have built.

When there is no water on-site, and you have to fetch it, it is mainly women and young girls who take up their time and miss out on opportunities.

For women, the opportunity costs of water collection are high and have far-reaching implications. Having to fetch water drastically reduces the time they can spend with their families and care for their children, do household chores or even enjoy hobbies. For both boys and girls, collecting water can interfere with studies, sometimes even preventing them from going to school altogether.

Collecting water can harm the health of the whole family, especially children. If there is no access to water at home, even if the water comes from a safe source, the fact that it is transported and stored increases the risk that it will be contaminated with faeces before it is used. 

Water Connections: Our teams are changing that; for years, we have been designing, manufacturing and supplying water connections to villages in ultra-rural regions. Fair Future improves life for tens of thousands of people.

“The first step when there is no doctor” includes fourteen modules of theoretical training and practical exercises explaining how to act in the event of a medical emergency. It is intended for teachers in rural schools of East Indonesia.

This book was entirely produced by the Fair Future and Kawan Baik foundations. It is based on the book "Where There Is No Doctor" by David Wegner.

From now on, it serves as a reference work for the training of teachers in the rural areas of eastern Indonesia. This book includes all the information on prevention, patient care, first aid and how to treat a wound, burn or bite. He learns to give essential drugs, cardiac massage and all the gestures that save a life.

You can see the work done by the foundation's medical teams here in the .PDF version we make available. Everything has been translated, revised, corrected and adapted to specific local compartments.

The Regent is a good friend of the foundation; we have worked together for more than two years. Moreover, he is a personal friend of Alexandre Wettstein, the CEO of Fair Future. 

As their plane from Kupang had just landed, the Regent and his wife came directly to visit us in the classroom. It was a great joy for us, as for all the teachers who took part in this first training day. A real honour too.

We could hear Khristofel Praing and his wife speak about this program with eloquent and laudatory words. The Regent told us that this program is sensational and beneficial. Indeed, as we have already explained, access to primary medical care here is almost impossible in eastern Indonesia's most rural and isolated regions.

In this image and from left to right are present: Ayu, Laras, Alex, Khristofel Praing and his wife, secretary general of the PKK Sumba Timur.

Clean and healthy water is distributed almost everywhere now here in Mbinudita, East Sumba. This clean and healthy water supplies more than thirty reservoirs and twenty healthy sanitary facilities. All for the benefit of more than 2,500 people, nearly 65% of whom are children.

People are happy, and It's a significant change in their life. They also have to get used to living with clean water to change their habits. Imagine: Having lived a life without having access to toilets, without having access to clean water, and being constantly sick… You have to get used to feeling better now and having more time for yourself. Change your habits? This is where the most significant challenge lies.

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. 

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.