The Kolewa Foundation – for a future with a smile!
Our motive
Physically disabled or limited children have a right to a decent and promising life. They should be able to grow up just like any other child. The Kolewa Foundation contributes to this goal by offering medical help and fitting education.
We want to prevent that these children get isolated and neglected, and have to grow up without proper education, as a result of their disability or the way they look. These children should have a chance to participate in home and school activities as much as possible and not be ostracised at school. They are part of the community!
What we do
We bring change to the lives of children with medical issues. Our approach is unique; we take care of the children’s entire ‘medical trip’. This includes medical examinations, (often relatively easy) surgery and providing medicines. During this medical trip, we try to make things as fun as possible for the children. For children with hearing disabilities, we provide special education, sign language classes and speech therapy.
Our work area covers all the islands of Indonesia. Our patient companions go to pick up patients from other islands. Before and after the surgery, the patients and their companions stay in our shelter ‘Rumah Bicara’ in Denpasar, the capital of Bali. After a final check at the hospital, we take the children back to their homes. We provide follow-up care in the form of check-ups, additional support and periodic monitoring family gatherings’ where we reunite with the children and their companions. We also try to prevent diseases by giving poor families
access to clean drinking water through our water filtering project.
We work to improve self-confidence, the feeling of belonging and daring the children to interact with others. We also work on improving the communication between parent and child. We stimulate the development of the children by offering all kinds of activities and
lessons. We provide information about a healthy lifestyle and hygiene. Most of these children have very bad teeth, so before the procedure, a visit to a dentist is often required.
Our target groups
We focus on children from families on the most isolated and poorest islands in Indonesia. Due to the lack of adequately equipped hospitals and available specialists, good medical care is often not available. The patients families often don’t have the financial means to make the trip to Bali.
The medical focus is on children born with cleft lip, cleft palate, hearing problems or serious disfigurations due to burns. We also help children with anal atresia, spina bifida or hydrocephalus, among others. We provide aid for approximately 200 children per year.
How do we do this
Committed and result-oriented
We are a small organisation, that is our strength. Our commitment allows us to act quickly.
We can skip the lengthy procedures and start working right away. We are creative in finding solutions and will continue until we succeed, which means that we can quickly achieve a positive result. That is exactly what appeals to the sponsors and friends of the Kolewa
Foundation. They are enthusiastic about our approach, which enables us to make major changes in the lives of these children.
Sustainable cooperation
Apart from the Kolewa Foundation in the Netherlands, there is also an Indonesian
foundation, called Yayasan Kolewa Harapan. This foundation is run by an enthusiastic and professional local team.
The stable network of our Indonesian field partners is indispensable. We consider it important to have long-term cooperation with various institutions for eye and hearing problems, speech therapy and rehabilitation. This enables us to contribute to the sustainable improvement of the local health care system. We work together with local scouts on the various islands, and we receive regular support from student trainees and volunteers from
the Netherlands.
The Kolewa Foundation – for a future with a smile!
