Busy, Busy!

As this update goes to print YS staff are hard at work on the 'Lombok 70 Project' which will see seventy Lombok cleft patients, mostly babies, through operations at Sanglah Hospital, Denpasar.

We are also delighted to welcome our new (and only paid) staff member, Oki, as co-ordinator for the Bali Cleft Centre.

Of course, fund-raising requires an ongoing effort and YS founder, Mary Northmore, is constantly busy seeking funds both here in Bali and further abroad.

Sue Frost, Ed

Lombok Babies

A rather nervous group of mums on arrival at the hotel in Denpasar on 1st October. Happily, all babies have now had their operations and are safely home in Lombok.

Our Patients
 

Aussie Dollars & Rotary Rupiah

Zonked out! Being admitted to hospital is a long process!

Thanks to a generous donation from the Australian Consulate-General's Direct Aid Program, we have been able to launch our Lombok 70 Project. In partnership with Rotary Nusa Dua, who are picking up the medical expenses, we hope to bring seventy cleft patients from Lombok for operations at Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar over the next few months.

The Rotary Club of Nusa Dua and Sanglah Hospital have a fine record of providing operations for cleft patients from Bali and several hundred have been performed over the last few years by Dr Asmarajaya and his team. When Yayasan Senyum was told of seventy cleft patients waiting for operations on Lombok, we approached Rotary who had no hesitation in offering support for the operations. Special thanks go to Jo Rosarius who co-ordinates Rotary's cleft program. The problem of finding money for travel, accommodation and food, was solved with the offer to Yayasan Senyum by the Australian Consulate-General. We, and our patients, extend sincere thanks.

Our first group of eight arrived on 1st of October and the second group on the 11th. They were escorted by a staff member from Yayasan Kita Peduli, the Lombok group which located the patients and organized their travel to Bali. The process of getting the patients admitted for their operations is complicated and YKP and YS staff and volunteers have done a marvelous job. Complicating matters have been sick babies who have needed extra treatment before their operations. We hope to have two groups per month, extending well into 2007.

Junaidi

Generous donations enabled us to send Junaidi to Adelaide in July this year. A large, rare and thankfully, benign, tumor over Junaidi's right eye was successfully removed by Prof David David.
Prospects are now good for Junaidi who, as you can see at right, is happily looking forward to the future.

Donors...
 

WE DID IT - but only with your help!
We were given one weeks notice – at the busiest time of travel in Indonesia – that there was a slot available in Adelaide for Ni Ketut Sri PP. Normally we need at least one months notice, so this was a challenge – to gather all the necessary documents for a passport, make passports for her and her father, do medicals for visas, process visas, and find the money – and find two seats on Garuda to Sydney and onward with Virgin Blue.

We could not have done it without the kind help of many people. Our heartfelt thanks to the staff of Garuda Indonesia Airlines, The Australian Consulate-General Visa section, Kantor Immigrasi Bali, and our kind donors: Gil and David Wilson, Daphne Zepos; Shigeko Gentry, Nils, Roland Lickert, Cynthia Hardy, and Rotary Club of Nusa Dua.

Ni Ketut Sri has a facial deformity known as Goldenhar syndrome. She needs very advanced treatment before she can start school.

This child is very bright although she cannot speak or even smile... yet!

Here you see Ketut and her daddy (r) at the airport on 21st of October saying goodbye to Mummy and 3 sisters, including her twin. On the left is Ketut's uncle.

Many thanks to our other donors:

How You Can Help - Donating or Volunteering - contact
Mary Northmore
Ketua Yayasan Senyum, Ubud, Bali
0361 975568 or hp 0811 395 963
Email: Click here

In Bali:
dedicated Rupiah bank account:
BCA Ubud, A/C No 1350249555 a/n Mary Northmore
dedicated US Dollars bank account:
Bank Permata, Menara Ubud branch, A/C No 5804194233 a/n Mary P. Northmore

Medical News
 

Nasendoscope

Prof David David demonstrates the use of the nasendoscope to doctors, nurses and speech therapists at Sanglah hospital.

On his visit in late September, Prof David David presented Yayasan Senyum with Nasendoscopy equipment for use by doctors and speech therapists at Sanglah Hospital.
The equipment, partly financed by the US foundation, The Smile Train, will assist Sanglah staff to get a clear picture of cleft patients' throats, both before and after operations. Prof David will visit Sanglah over the coming months to train staff in the use of this delicate equipment.
A metal probe is inserted through the nose; the light and camera enable a picture to be seen on the screen and photographs taken for future reference.
Yayasen Senyum has an ongoing commitment to maintain the equipment. We are also looking for funds to enable Sanglah staff to go to Adelaide for further training.

Volunteers
 

Our Lombok Partners
Yayasan Kita Peduli is headed up by Pak Sugiarto. Pak Sugi and his team have been responsible for finding many people on Lombok in need of treatment including the 70 patients currently in our program. Kita Peduli also escort patients to Bali and, with the help of our new co-ordinator, takes the patients through the process of admission to Sanglah Hospital.

Meet Oki, our new co-ordinator
We are delighted to have on board our new co-ordinator Oki (Made Rony Sri Widawati). Thrown in at the deep end, Oki's first task has been the admission to Sanglah Hospital of the first groups of Lombok patients. It's a complicated process but Oki has been marvelous, combining her efficiency with a wonderful caring nature and empathy for the patients.

Our new co-ordinator Oki with a little patient and his mother.