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These are a few of the numerous clients helped by these young men of YAKKUM
Case Story
I Ketut Sariya
Desa Sekardadi, Kecamatan Kintamani
Kabupaten Bangli
 YAKKUM built Ketut a disabled bathroom in early 2006. This is the history of YAKKUM's involvement with Ketut.
Until July 1997 (at age 17) Ketut Sariya led the life of a normal Balinese teenager studying at senior high school but a motor cycle ended his "normal" life. He regained consciousness in Bali's largest public hospital to discover his spine had been broken and and he was totally paralysed and without feeling from the waist down. After spending 27 days in hospital his family took him home because, being simple farmer, they were unable to continue to afford the hospital cost.
Since that day Ketut Sariya laid trapped in his lonely room and remained there for six years until YAKKUM Bali learnt of his plight and visited in February 2003. his condition was extremely bad. He had enormous pressure sores, he and the mattress were covered with flies and there was a vile smell. Ketut Sariya was left alone every day. His father had died when his mother was pregnant with him and his mother had later remarried and moved away. An aunt and uncle with whom he lives and an older brother worked in the fields and only returned at night. The days were long and lonely for Ketut with only a TV for company. He did not have anything to read and visitors were few.
YAKKUM Bali has since provided a good deal of assistance. First there was a wheelchair which, for the first time in six years, enable him to see the sunshine and the surroundings of the houses. Medical people treated the pressure sore, provided physiotherapy, helped to build up his wasted condition and gave guidance and counselling to the family. In December 2004 Ketut travelled to Yogyakarta, Central Java to attend a training course in electronic and radio repair. He cried after leaving his house because he was seeing things he did not ever expect to again. In Yogyakarta he spent extra time in the bathroom showering water over himself and using a western style toilet.
Now Ketut is home again. His general health his improved, he is earning a little money repairing radios, and he now feels he has future.
I Ketut Sariya's message
"I was born in a remote village. My father passed away before I was born and my mother married again soon after. Because I did not get any love or guidance from my parents, I grewup as a brutal and angry child.
I was a motorbike accident that led me to total paraplegia. I felt frustrated, hopeless and had no spirit for life, as I realised I would never be able to work. In the following 6 years I stayed in the same room like a caged animal. I was angry, disappointed and hated living alone. There were no friends or anyone to give me companionship. My life felt like hell, full of mistratment and suffering. Before the accident, I used to be careless and wasted my life. Now I havelearned that life is mainingfull and so very valueable.
Through the assistance of YAKKUM Bali, I received my first wheelchair in April 2003 and a special ramp, which gives me acces to the yard around my house. I regained part ofg my independence, since I learned to move in and aut of the house in my wheelchair by myself.
My friends, handicaped people, please don't lose hope, please take this as a challenge in our lives. Live your own life happily and always think positively. We may feel useless, embarrassed and lack confidence when meeting other people.because we are handicapped. But, we are not "unabled". With spirit and strength we can do what ever we want to do! The proof is that many of our disabled friends are able to go to school, travel, work and have a family.
All of this, I wrote after being "imprisoned" in my room for six years. My hands still feel stiff and it was so hard to start. But I will work on myself and my life since there is hope now."
Bangli, February 2004.
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I Komang Deddy of Karangasem. Deddy was born with a defective foot, but has not lost his determination to be mobile. After YAKKUM found him, he had an operation and received a prosthesis. He is a weaver of the traditional songket (overshot weaving technique) cloths worn by Balinese in rituals such a weddings and tooth filing ceremonies. He and his wife share this task as well as caring for their 4 year old son. They live in an extended family household, but due to family constraints are forced to live, cook , sleep and work in one small room. |
| Ketut Jaba of Karangasem. Ketut was about to be married. Two days before her wedding she was hit by a car and lost her leg as well as her fiancé (who left her). Now thirty years old, she lives with great-aunt in a tiny hut by the edge of a salak fruit forest. This photo shows her with a prostheses for the first time in her life---she was so excited to be able to walk around the yard unhindered by her crutch! Before the Bali bomb, Ketut made soft toys for the YAKKUM Nusa Dua Galleria shop (now closed). |
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Ketut Nesa was hit by a hit-and-run driver and his leg was shattered. It was put in a cast and three days later had already become gangrene. After many consultations with doctors and traditional healers, it was decided that they had to amputate. He was l7 years old. A year later he was able to get a prosthesis from Java. He graduated from high school and then went to Solo and Jogjakarta, Java to study how to make prostheses. Now he is the only prosthetician on Bali and will soon become a trainer of prosthetic makers. |
| Ni Nengah Widiasih and I Gede Swantaka of Karangasem. This brother and sister grew up in a small village in East Bali where poverty is the rule. Nengah never went to school and was completely illiterate. Her brother Gede went to school and was in 6th grade when found by YAKKUM. Latra met them in 2002, offered them an operation in Jogja but the head of the village forbade them from going, claiming that since they were hit by "santet" (black magic) that it wasn't worth doing anything for them. Latra went back to the family five times to convince them to allow their children to go to Jawa. Nengah, since she wasn't in school went to Java with her parents. She had an operation, physio therapy and got fitted with a brace. Then she went to school at YAKKUM and learned how to read and write. Six months later, Gede went to Jawa after he had finished primary school and had an operation. He also went to the YAKKUM school. In . April 2004 they both came back to Bali for a family cremation and the family refused to let them go back to Jawa. Now they are both in a special school in Jimbaran where Nengah is in the 4th grade and Gede is in 7th grade. She is 14; he's 16. |
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I Putu Karang of Singaraja spent nine years in a room until 2004 when Yakkum Bali found him. He is a paraplegic due to a traffic accident he had when he was eleven and his back broke. When he came out of his room in a wheelcair, an old friend of his from SD said "Hey Putu you still alive? I thought you were dead!". It was the first time he had seen the sun in nine years. |
Ni Nengah Wati. This woman, who was struck with polio as a child (she's now in her 30s) is a self-made woman. She couldn't read or write and she went to YAKKUM Jogja, where she was trained to make soft toys. She returned to Bali and was able to produce so many toys that she was able to buy a TV, buy land, build a house and carve out a nice life for herself. She taught herself how to read and to speak not only Indonesian, but Javanese as well. One of the best selling YAKKUM toys is the alphabet wall hanging. When Wati would make it, she would get the order of the letters mixed up because she couldn't read.
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