Dear Friends of Bali,

Welcome to the March 2003 edition of the YKIP newsletter. For those of you who may be reading our newsletter for the first time, the name of our organisation, Yayasan Kemanusiaan Ibu Pertiwi (YKIP) translates from the Indonesian language to mean the Humanitarian Foundation for Mother Earth. It is a non-profit organization created by a group of Indonesians and expatriates in Bali as an extension of their personal efforts to provide some relief and comfort to the victims and their families in the first traumatic days of the Kuta bombing tragedy of October 12th, 2002.

YKIP's purpose is to provide direct material and medical assistance to Bali's injured victims who are unable to support their families as well as assistance to the families of the deceased and in the longer term support for the whole Balinese community by developing projects to improve the island's existing medical infrastructure and services. This work is intended as a living tribute to those who were killed, injured or lost loved ones in a disaster that forever changed the lives of so many innocent people in Bali and aboard.

YKIP is proud to be a community based foundation that is so kindly supported by many good people from within and outside Bali be they Balinese, Indonesians, local expats or citizens of the world and funded by the generous donations of organizations and individual well-wishers everywhere.

Following is a progress report on some of the major initiatives and programs currently being undertaken by YKIP.

Distribution of Donated Medicines

To date, YKIP has received, labeled and distributed over 20 tons of donated medicines from 178 different groups and individual Indonesian and overseas donors. Medicines from these donations are currently being supplied directly to victims of the disaster and to the poor and needy of Bali through a program authorized by the Governor of Bali and the Health Department of Bali Province.

Database Record of Injured

YKIP is working with other members of the Bali Recovery Group, an alliance of like-minded community organizations, to establish and maintain a computer database record of all local victims of the Kuta tragedy and of their needs and the support provided to them and their families.

Children's Education Trust Fund

In another long term, collaborative effort, this project will provide education funding and support for the many children of victims who were killed, injured or who are still missing after the bombing. The three major international Schools in Bali together with Yayasan KIDS, YKIP, Rotary and Bali International Women's Association have joined forces to create the YKIP - KIDS educational trust fund. Given the very young age of some of the children concerned, this project will need to have a life span of at least 21 years, another sign of the long road ahead for YKIP.

Wayang Kulit Trauma Counseling Video

YKIP came up with the idea of using a traditional Balinese Wayang Kulit puppet performance as an effective means of reaching large local audiences for trauma counseling via a special story line relating to the Kuta bombing. The first unique performance was delivered to an enthusiastic audience of thousands of people last December. That performance was video recorded and is now being shown in villages all over the Bali. This project was originally funded by a grant to YKIP from US Aid with ongoing projects supported by UNICEF.

Upgrading the Community Medical Clinic in Legian

Funding is needed to help the Parum Samigita group for the Kuta, Legian and Seminyak communities develop and build a new medical clinic, not only to help the bomb victims but also to be able to offer better basic health care to all the families in the area.

Community Assistance & Development

YKIP has been working with other community organizations to provide direct assistance to victims of the Bali disaster include payment for medical operations.

Long Term Medical Training - Medical Library

YKIP is working closely with a number of doctors from the university medical faculty and hospitals in Bali to implement a program to improve training for Balinese doctors, medical students and paramedics, both here and overseas. The first project is to fund a complete update of the medical library at the Udayana University in Bali by the end of 2003. YKIP plans to sponsor courses, fund research grants and seek donations and tutorships from fellow medical faculties and institutions overseas.

Upgrading Sanglah Hospital, Denpasar

YKIP was originally founded to help build a burns and trauma unit at Bali's main Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar. However assistance for this and other projects has now been generously provided by the Australian Government and other organizations. Consequently, YKIP is now awaiting the outcome of an AusAid study to ascertain any further complimentary hospital upgrade projects in Bali that may be feasible for it to undertake.

Emergency Response Program

One of the most important lessons to come out of the Kuta tragedy was the lack of general emergency response preparedness in Bali to deal effectively with a crisis of this magnitude. Consequently, YKIP is now funding a program to train stand-by emergency response volunteers to deal with any future incident involving mass casualties. Special kits have already been put together so that teams of trained volunteers can assist 20 - 30 victims each in case of a future emergency.

So, as you can see, there is a lot of work already being done but still much work remaining to be done. The need as always is for more resources. Human resources to carry out the various projects as well as the financial resources to fund them.

If you can assist the people of Bali in some way, your generosity will be greatly appreciated.

Financial contributions to YKIP may be made at either of these banks in Bali.

YKIP is very mindful of the need for complete transparency and the highest ethical standards in handling the donated funds of our generous supporters. Therefore, the Foundation has established a completely independent Supervisory-Audit Board in order to ensure that all donated funds are used for their intended purpose in a completely transparent and accountable manner.

May we also ask you to forward email this newsletter to your family members, friends and business associates who may be interested in supporting the work of Yayasan Kemanusiaan Ibu Pertiwi, YKIP, in Bali.
Thank you for your continuing interest and support and please do not hesitate to contact us if you have queries or suggestions regarding the contents of this newsletter.

Until next month, our kindest regards,

The Management Board
Yayasan Kemanusiaan Ibu Pertiwi (YKIP)
Humanitarian Foundation for Mother Earth
Bali - Indonesia