TOILETS FOR LOMBOK EARTHQUAKE’S SURVIVORS
Indonesia
After distributing food supplies and daily needs as a response to the deadly earthquake in the island of Lombok, Indonesia, The Good Exchange has been following up with the things/facilities the people affected by the earthquake need. Through the help of our local friends, we found out that common toilets were urgently needed.
Severe earthquake followed by major aftershocks hitting Lombok, Indonesia in August 2018 destroyed houses and public facilities. One of the real challenges the survivors have to face is going to the toilet in the evening. They had no choice but practicing open defecation in the garden—prompting diseases and contamination, even though doing this is equal to endangering themselves to stepping into sharp nails of ruins of collapsed building.
The generosity of Singaporeans who donated through The Good Exchange allows us to build 20 toilets in less than three weeks. Depending on the population of the village, we build two to four toilets in each village. This project is a collaboration between The Good Exchange and a local porter who lost his job due to the earthquake. As Mount Rinjani is confirmed to be closed for one year after the earthquake, he will not have any income from his business. Making him our ground executive supervisor is our way of supporting him too.
The 20 toilets we have built have positively impacted the lives of more than 3,000 people. People feel more safe anytime they feel the need to use the toilet. Knowing how significant the impact of building these toilets, we are now building more in Lombok. We are open to anyone who would like to donate to us in any amount. Please drop us an email on how you prefer to donate.
Thank you for being with us in reaching out to those in Lombok who are needful.
RELIEF SUPPLIES FOR LOMBOK EARTHQUAKE’S SURVIVORS
On August 5, 2018, a deadly magnitude-6.9 earthquake shook the Indonesian Island of Lombok—causing 563 deaths, injuring thousands of people, and leaving the survivors in trauma. This earthquake is the deadliest in Indonesia since the Sumatra earthquake in 2019. Sadly, hundreds of massive aftershocks continued to strike the island after the major earthquake—causing more widespread damage and a humanitarian crisis where survivors are in desperate need of food, clean water, shelters, and medicine.
The Good Exchange’s founder, Lee Siew Yian, appealed to the people of Singapore on August 7, 2018 to raise funds to help Lombok. We went to the island from 8 to 12 August 2018, to distribute the donation directly. Working with our local friends to interview the survivors, we managed to assess what the people in Lombok urgently need. In addition to locally purchasing water and food supplies such as rice, cooking oil, canned food and noodles; we also buy tarpaulins for temporary shelters. One of the challenges we faced was that the price of a lot of things increased up to 30% during that period of time. Some things, however, were out of stock. Responding to this, we decided to go to different shops to find one with a better price—and buy the needs in bigger size to save our costs and be able to provide for more people.
Our way of distributing the food depends on how the beneficiaries use it. Some villages built a common kitchen where women would cook for the whole village every day. We buy what they need in bulk. For families who can still cook individually, we give them the needs in smaller packs.
As North Lombok is the most affected area, help mostly goes there—resulting in less of it given to West Lombok where we went to. On our way visiting villages to distribute the donation, we saw many people are reaching out for help. Many help just passed the road thinking that only the people at the epic center need help, even though almost all parts of Lombok are affected. For more complete story, read the report of our work in Lombok from The Straits Times here.
We are still raising funds to provide the survivors with other important needs like toilets and blankets. Kindly contact our founder, Lee Siew Yian, to find out how you can contribute.
The donation we have received has helped the people of Lombok. We are always grateful for your kind donation. Your support is what keeps us going.
A NEW VISION’S VOLUNTEERS
A New Vision’s mission is to eradicate curable blindness by helping the poor and blind to regain their eyesight with an under-10-minute cataract surgery.
Siew Yian has been a volunteer with A New Vision since 2014. She started by helping with photography to help create awareness. Her friends became aware, and donation began to pour in to support the cause and to help the poor and blind to see again. Siew Yian is now a volunteer program co-ordinator. She also helps to recruit volunteers and fund raise.
Cindy started as a volunteer for A New Vision in September 2016 when the mission went to her hometown in Magelang, Indonesia. Her background as a radio broadcaster and ability to speak English proved to be useful. Her interview skills and ability to connect with the patients help produced a touching video which helped A New Vision to be selected as one of the finalists for UN Woman Project Inspire competition in 2016. She also helped the TV production team from Channel 8 (Singapore) as a translator. The team produced a two-episode documentary which show cased A New Vision’s volunteers at work. The program was aired in May 2017.
A New Vision is a Singapore registered non-profit organization. To find out more about A New Vision and their causes, visit www.anewvision.org.
TOILETS FOR A SPECIAL SCHOOL
For many years, the students at SLB YPPALB Kota Magelang, a special school in Indonesia, were used to queuing up to use their toilets. Catering to over two hundred students, there were only two toilets and one shower room available. When The Good Exchange team visited the school a few months ago, we immediately knew what we needed to do. The generosity of the people of Singapore helped us to fund a toilet building project at the school. Every day, Mr Budi Susilo, a teacher at the school, happily sent us a report on the progress of the construction. We finally received the news that the project was done! The good news is, this school will be hosting an art competition with the special schools in the region as the participants. The new toilets will be so much of help.
Thank you to donors for providing basic, important facilities to these special students.