Author: The Lembongan Traveller

The power of community

We feel it is time to reach out and once again thank all of our incredibly generous donors to the Love for Lembongan fundraiser.  Your support through out COVID was nothing short of amazing and gave the local Lembongan so much; in the form of food relief, remedial literacy and numeracy programs, community health checks, providing medication to the disadvantaged and environmental initiatives which included the development of a community garden.

More importantly you gave HOPE.  It was this sense of family and support that helped sustain them during a time of immense challenges, the locals knew they had people from afar caring about them.

Love for Lembongan, with the guidance from Bali Children Foundation, was the vehicle behind implementing programs that touched the entire community, giving ongoing support to the 8000 people living on Nusa Lembongan and Ceningan. This included distributing over 30 tonnes of rice and other essential dry goods, all bought locally and creating an important injection of funds back into the community in the process.

As we move forward into the next phase, Love for Lembongan is focused on supporting community initiatives that are sustainable and beneficial for the longer-term.  We will also continue to support those most in need.

Sadly, last week a local family lost their two bedroom house and kitchen in a fire, destroying everything they owned.  The family of four  ( two children aged 5 & 8 years) have had support from family and friends, however, as you can imagine they are without many standard house hold items.  Our team met with the family this week and have gathered a better understanding of how we can assist them.  Donations are welcome and can made via the link below or if you are on Lembongan, touch base with our team at The Lembongan Traveller office in Jungut Batu.

DONATE HERE

PRIORITY PATIENTS PROGRAM

As tourism returns, our work with “Love for Lembongan” and support of the community continues. Whilst food relief was initially our focus we are now moving into providing more sustainable support via our Priority Patience Program. At the end of 2021 we partnered with island angel BUNDA to provide health care and medical checks to the elderly and disabled.  During these visits we identified priority patients who were in need of further assistance.

Thanks to your donations, over the last few months LOVE for LEMBONGAN has been able to provide the following:

As 2021 comes to an end, we reflect on the challenges that have been faced by so many people here on Lembongan and incredible impact Love for Lembongan has had on so many..  Our “village of Lembongan lovers“ (you)  have rallied, opening your hearts to support those most in need.  Thanks to your donations the “Love for Lembongan” campaigns by The Lembongan Traveller, Lembongan Island Beach Villas and Tigerlilly’s have raised over $100,000.  An overwhelming result and show of support considering you have all been touched in some way by COVID-19.

We have so many positives to share with you, all a direct result of your tremendous generosity.  We have been able to implement a number of instrumental initiatives all guided and supported by our inspiring charity partner, Bali Children Foundation (BCF).  Special mentioned must go to their founder, Margaret Barry for her tiresome dedication to helping the Lembongan community.

EDUCATION – Remedial Literacy & Numeracy – Calistung Program (CLT)

The idea of a CLT program was first discussed at the beginning of 2021 when we recognised the impact of school closures during COVID-19 was having on the literacy of children in grades 1, 2 & 3.  Schools have only recently re-opened resulting in nearly 18 months of school “online”, which is done via Whats App.

BCF developed CLT,  in line with the National Indonesian curriculum, to focus on remedial literacy, numeracy and writing.  It was a seed planted in Lembongan which has now been implemented in 15 primary schools across Bali.  By January 2022 we will have launched CLT in all 5 primary schools on Lembongan and Ceningan.

Prior to launching the program in schools, BCF conducted testing for 2nd and 3rd graders on each of the remedial subjects to gauge the need on a grade and school basis. We learned that the grade 3 students were the furthest behind due to the increased expectation in knowledge from grade 2, which they missed. It also discovered areas of weakness among children in all three subjects that varied between schools.

CLT uses interactive and engaging material with a student centric model which allows BCF teachers to provide an ideal learning environment.

In addition to developing the CLT program, BCF have also began upgrading school libraries to provide a better learning space for the children participating in the CLT course. This process involves cleaning the old library, repainting the walls with child friendly images, providing multimedia equipment (projectors or tv), adding in a sitting space of carpet and colourful cushions, refreshing the library with new books which are labelled, inputted into a library record system and organised categorically on the shelves.

We are proud to have seen this program grow from infancy to fruition.  Your donations have given the next generation the opportunity for an education they deserve to ensure they prosper later in life.

ENVIRONMENT – Lembongan Community Garden

The Lembongan Community Garden was established to demonstrate new sustainable agriculture opportunities for the people of Lembongan. The aim is to expand the range of foods grown on the island and to offer a way for families to develop their own gardens.

The Community Garden will be used as a way for children and families on the island who would like to try permaculture. The experimental stage will last 6 months, after which a timeline will be developed for permaculture education for children and their families and the opportunity to participate in their own gardens.

Compost developed at the Lembongan Recycling Centre is vital to ensure the long-term establishment of permaculture on the island.  A hammer-mill was installed and a small number of local stakeholders are involved in the early stage of providing green, dried and food waste for the composting program.

We see this as a key initiative to offering sustainable practices for the community, especially as tourism returns.  Thanks to the generosity of many, this initiative was also funded by the LOVE for LEMBONGAN campaigns.

HEALTH – Home visits, health checks & care packages

In November we teamed up with island angel Ibu Nyoman ( affectionately known as Bunda), who has been a nurse and midwife at the Jungut Batu Hospital for 35 years, plus operates her own private clinic.  Her intimate knowledge of Lembongan community health is crucial in us reaching those most in need.

Over four weeks of Sundays ( Bunda’s day off from the hospital)  we reached more than 200 people which included:

• Home visits to the elderly and disabled who cannot otherwise reach medical treatment. These visits included health checks, medication and care packages.
• Health packages for pregnant mothers to be and breasting mums, providing them with vitamins, juices and formula.

Some of the most prevalent conditions that we saw include:

• Hypertension
• Diabetes resulting in blindness and in some cases amputation
• Physical disabilities resulting from trauma & unknown causes

From these visits we have identified a list of priority patients in urgent need of new mobility aids, braces and ideally therapy.

BCF have contacted Annika Linden Centre (specialists in providing disability support) on our behalf and are currently in talks with them to arrange a visit to Lembongan to assess the “priority patients”.

We have also reported an extremely high number of elderly on Lembongan and Ceningan who are at home, bed-ridden requiring full time care and unable to access basic medical support.  As a result BCF will be instigating talks with the Health Department to see how this can be mitigated going forward and hopefully steps  can be established for support of the elderly from a government level.

FOOD RELIEF – for Lembongan 

The initial key objective for the “LOVE for Lembongan” fundraising campaign was to provide immediate food relief to families on Nusa Lembongan.  Having no tourism on the island since March 2020, it is understandable how the lives of so many have been hugely affected. Life savings have been drained, assets liquidated for very little in return to try and meet the challenge of covering basic living expenses. Putting food on the table is a daily struggle for so many families.

We first reached out to our network of “Lembongan Lovers” (you) back in April 2020, immediately you reached deep and donated to support the Lembongan community.  We were overwhelmed with the response from day one and together over 18 months you have continued to give generously.

Thanks to your donations LOVE for Lembongan campaigns via The Lembongan Traveller, Tigerlillys and Lembongan Island Beach Villas have provided consistent food relief for the 8000 population of Nusa Lembongan and Ceningan.

There have been over 5000 Sembako packages gifted to families, these packages included basic food staples; rice, noodles, oil, onions and sugar. We work alongside local stakeholders, business owners, village heads and community groups to ensure packages are received by those most in need.  Databases have been kept to log recipients with their local ID numbers.  We also reached the migrant workers who live here from Sumba, Sulawesi and other islands who have not be able to return home to the support of their extended families and are not registered under the Lembongan village system.

Acknowledging that the financial impact of COVID is also preventing many people from being to afford gas to cook with, the team at Tigerlilly’s opened up their kitchen and prepared over 1000 Nasi Jinggo ( pre-prepared meals). These were distributed by scooter across both islands, given to those most in need of a freshly cooked meal.

The logistics of packing and delivery up to 700 packages across Nusa Lembongan and Ceningan in a day has been an incredible team effort from our volunteers on the ground. With over 50 kind hearted locals from The Lembongan Traveller, Tigerlillys, Lembongan Island Beach Villas, Tenang Villas, Bali Children Foundation and the wonderful Lembongan Surf Team members all lending a hand to help their community.

COMMUNITY – Health checks, education & yoga for pregnant mums

To celebrate Indonesian Mother’s Day ( 22 December ) we partnered with our island angel Bunda and Tonic Body & Soul Day Spa to create a special workshop for pregnant mums on Lembongan.

The workshop provided mums with health checks, an educational talk followed by a gentle yoga practice and healing sound journey, giving the mums space to recharge and connect within.

It was an incredibly beautiful morning, the LOVE for LEMBONGAN team honoured the pregnant mums with a stunning flower mandala and gifted them with care packages that included food staples, supplements and vitamins to help them through their pregnancy.

Gratitude to Bunda, Tonic Body & Soul Day Spa and our LOVE for LEMBONGAN team for creating a special Mother’s Day celebrations for our island mums-to-be.

The LOVE for LEMBONGAN fundraising campaign will remain open and an ongoing entity where we will direct support to the areas in the community most needed at the time.

DONATE HERE