Sumbawa and HAS / please read!

       I hope that everyone is off to an excellent spring, and send warm greetings to friends, family and readers. This is a wonderful time of year, isn't it? Lots of re-birth and renewal, and making plans for summer fun... And for me, this was a very special March and April for a lot of reasons, but mostly because of my experiences traveling, and especially the time spent at the HAS clinic in Sumbawa, Indonesia. Sumbawa is an island two east of Bali; it is beautiful, poor and undeveloped.

       Some of you may know that Cheryl found my new friend Jack Kennedy for me, through an article about him in our local Maine newspaper. About two years ago Jack founded a project called Health Access Sumbawa (www.healthaccesssumbawa.org). The organization is a partnership among Jack and two friends, founded with the mission of wiping out malaria in three remote villages on the island of Sumbawa, Indonesia. HAS also planned to build and operate a sustainable health clinic to test and treat locals for malaria, while providing a community center for village use.

       What I saw in March during my visit to the clinic and those villages was remarkable and inspiring:
        ~ a finished clinic building outfitted with electricity, a good-sized front porch, and running water (the only running water in town!)
       ~ an organic irrigated garden already yielding veggies
       ~ cabinets stocked with medical supplies, gauze, etc.
       ~  extra treated bed nets beyond those that HAS already distributed and installed house by house for every occupant of all three villages. "Thanks to some friends and villagers providing transport, we have completed the bed net distribution part of our program, 569 in all, and ahead of schedule," Jack said with a smile. "We keep extras here as the need arises."
       ~ I met the nurse who will study microscopy this summer at the WHO-certified malaria facility belonging to The Sumba Foundation. A microscope has been ordered for his use, so malaria detection will be quick and accurate.

clinic main room, cabinet now stocked

       Beyond this, it has become clear that the clinic must be ready to treat villagers for medical issues beyond malaria, and Jack's organization is already responding in ways I witnessed. Older men came over to choose a pair of reading glasses from some department store pairs Jack brought along. One young man, injured while building a village well, has been given a wheel chair. Stool softener and catheters he needs have been added to the HAS budget. While I was there Jack arranged some sterilized "delivery kits" for local midwives through a surfing nurse from Australia we met in Lakey, across the bay.

On the front porch

       In the early evening, the front porch of the clinic becomes a community center with kids playing, young men practicing English and playing chess. A village lady comes by to get some of the pole beans from the clinic garden, and later returns with a gift of mountain honey. The children are quite adorable. Jack and I went over to schools in two villages to give an English lesson. They held our hands and gave us a warm send off.

Jack and the kids at English class

       Jack and his partners are doing incredible work to serve these 1000 people, and they are working on a "lean and mean" budget. There are very few administrative costs, and because the project is so focused in nature, its goals are do-able, and currently on schedule. I saw all of this with my own eyes. Imagine wiping out malaria in three villages within the next two years, and improving the health and quality of life for 1000 people going forward.

     PLEASE do me this favor: look at the website for www.healthaccesssumbawa.org and check out the work it is doing, photographs, etc. Some of you have already generously supported this work through purchase of my tune Fingersnap of Time by our studio group, the A Team Band, here: http://monterisimusic.com/listen-watch. I am very grateful to you! IF you haven't yet, please consider even a small contribution. These can be made either through the HAS website or purchase of my music (100% will be sent to HAS), or if you have some other idea or talent that may be useful, please e-mail Jack directly at jackinmaine@live.com.

     I am committed to helping Jack do this wonderful work, and I hope you might join me. Any assistance at all is meaningful at this level. The yearly budget is a modest $10,000, although there are a few more capital expenditures to be made. The dollar leverage is great --- without a lot of admin or overhead, the money gets to the bottom line.

     Many thanks for reading this! Many thanks for your time and support. Sending you blessings and my best wishes always.

     John