In Bali the high season for tourism has arrived, which is up and running. Of course volcano Mount Agung is still active, but the real Bali lovers won’t let it stop them from enjoying Bali.
After a quiet period without many visitors, we again received good friends of Kolewa in March and April, from Holland and Australia. These people have a great heart for Kolewa and are highly involved. We met Koos van Alphen, Xander Klerenkoper, Bram & Rinnie de Groot and Piet and Ellie Hutzezon at the shelter home in Denpasar. They also travelled with us to various projects on several locations
Scouting patients on Timor, Alor rand Rote
A Dutch doctor went along to two NTT-islands, which was a beautiful learning experience for our team. In many cases families do not only ask help for children with cleft-lip, but also for other types of medical necessities. With a professional like Koos besides us, it becomes more easy to figure out what is the right treatment or advice to give. On Rote we visited the local hospital with Koos and Xander (a laboratory technician). For them it was shocking and impressive to see the logistic choices that were made. For instance, it was impossible to bring the patient to the X-ray department by stretcher. On request of the local authorities, Koos, Xander and Syta Plantinga (CEO of Kolewa) will put their findings on paper and will offer their advice.
Bram and Rinnie de Groot, ambassadors of Kolewa for already five years (working from their own brand ‘Project Namaste’), travelled along to the island Alor. Together with Uttari and Holldyn they visited a few children who received an operation in Bali earlier this year. Moreover, they guided three new cleft-lip patients during their medical journey. Three boys with cleft-lip and/or an open palate underwent a metamorphosis! With a beautiful smile, colourful clothing a lot of new impressions they are currently back home with their family. However the focus of Project Namaste is on children with cleft-lip, Bram an Rinnie also helped in providing water filters, visited maternity care of Nusranu Putu and helped out many times in our shelter home Ruma Bicara.
Liza Hewston from Adelaide (Australia) travels to Bali on a yearly base for a well-deserved vacation. Also this year she again invested a big part of her free days in the Kolewa Foundation. A suitcase full of supplies like colostomy bags, breast pumps, toys and a generous financial donation were given to the foundation. Liza went along on outreach, joined a picknick with the patients and baked Dutch ‘poffertjes’ (little pancakes) with Heldi in the kitchen. Her birthday was celebrated with the whole Kolewa team on Bali.
Piet and Ellie Hutzezon have their own permanent place on Bali and stay there a few months per year. They campaigned for Kolewa among friends which resulted in a beautiful donation which helped our causes a lot. Two cleft-lip children were able to receive an operation thanks to the generosity of their fantastic group of friends & family. Also the shelter home received a car full of groceries thanks to the donations. During the outreach in April they visited a few poor families in Karangasem which were also given groceries. Ten water filters were put together and donated, which gives access to clean water for many families. In May, Piet and Ellie will join our journey to Singarja to attend speech therapy lessons for children with hearing impairments. Afterwards they will visit the baby which will soon get an operation, donated by them.
The team of the Kolewa Foundation is always very happy with visitors. With much enthusiasm our team will tell you about their work and the children that they guide. You are very welcome to visit us in Denpasar, Jalan Pulai Sebatik 14.
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