Val's Diary
Val posts regular newsletters from Indonesia.
2012 January Recovering from food poisoning, experiences with a local healer, feeding programme for street kids started, the team work on street cleaning.
2011 November An update on all our projects: Fly Free School, Coconut grove, Cow project, Sheep project, Street kids project, appeal for sponsoring children. Also a full photo record of our recent trip on behalf of Menanam Pohon Merintis Masa Depan, the Tree Planting Project.
2011 October We find a building in Bandung for Street Kids project, buy 2 sheep, visit cow project, donate to kindergarten, rainy season begins.
2011 September I return from Scotland, search for a building in Bandung.
2011 August Help needed for Bandung Street Kids project.
2011 August FlyFree school recognised by Indonesian government, some help possible, classes are very popular, helping the street kids, high success rate for our leaving students.
2011 April Update on FlyFree, good news on charity reg, rescue work in west and central Java, environmental projects, new project to help the street kids in Bandung city.
May 2011 Environmental Awareness Project.
2010 November FlyFree and kindergarten classes running smoothly, the Merapi volcano erupts, tsunami hits the island of Mentawai, we send 2 teams, resourcefullness of Indonesians.
2010 October Update on FlyFree Centre, news about sponsor-a-cow and the coconut orchard, we have applied for UK charity Status, working at the earthquake sites.
2010 February Legoc school is doing well, working with Happy Hearts and Mum Foundation, 2 new projects to help earthquake relief.
2009 November Thousands homeless, we hand out food and medicine, FlyFree school buys coconut orchard.
2009 I return from Scotland to an earthquake in Bandung, very little help from government, our relief efforts.
2006 Make-shift kintergartens in tents, getting used to my new life, respect from the people of Indonesia.
2006 Earthquake in May, tsunami in June, how I got involved.
Hi everyone, sorry for the delay this month, I have been sick
with a tummy bug after eating bad food, maybe cooked in old oil, first time this
has happened so really I am lucky. I went to a local traditional healer for 6
treatments and I'm feeling a lot better now. It was an amazing experience, he put
his hand on the source of the pain and draws the disease into his body, then
spits blood out of his mouth into a bowl, bit scary first time, he treats 5
people in one night, so the blood can't be his or he would die! When the disease
is cured nothing come out his mouth. He cures cancer and many serious diseases. It
was a very humbling experience and leaves you feeling hopeful and
energized.
On a happier note.
Our street kids project is a success, the
kids come everyday for education and games, the feeding program started in chaos
with everyone pushing and grabbing the food, frightened there was not enough to
go round, now we have order, they all realize there will always be enough to
share. Fruit is a great success but getting them to eat veg is difficult, so we
have to be clever and disguise it in other foods. Next we plan to introduce milk
into their diet, but afraid it will have to be flavored as they don't like the
taste of pure milk.
The kids call me Ibu Valerie, which means mother valerie,
very sweet, they always make me smile.
The guys in the team have a program
clearing rubbish from the village streets, working with local high school
students, very smelly job but makes a big impact on the environment.On this
occasion the local government helped fund the event.
February we will have
all the FlyFree school news.
November 2011
|
Update on all our projects
|
|
|
Fly Free school
Fly
Free school is running successfully and efficiently, again we have 2
boys attending college, very unusual from village life, many more are
now in full time work using their computer and English skills. |
|
|
Kindergarten teachers are doing great job, the kids happy and noisy but
learning at amazing rate, they loved the play equipment we gave them
last term, it is the only playground in the village, so well used, we
repainted the equipment and build a new fence to protect against the
weather and bigger kids using the playground. |
|
|
Coconut grove and cow project
The coconut grove
funds the school on daily basics and the cow project helps to buy
computers, we managed to buy 2 new computers from our share of the
profit but we need to replace many more as they are Pentium 3 and out of
date, hard to us to find spare parts.
The families looking after the
calves were delighted with their share of the profit to help feed and
educate their children, life as rice farmer is a daily struggle.
|
|
|
New sheep project
This
project is the same as the cow project but the investment is much
lower, 60 pounds for a sheep and 40 pounds for shed to house the sheep,
it is not safe to leave out at night, anyone interested in investing
please email me at
Valwhyte@hotmail.co.uk
|
|
|
Tree planting
We
have been participating in government scheme to replant devastated
areas, our team joined local students to plant out the trees supplied by
government, so far we have been involved in three different areas, our
bit help for global warming. |
|
Street kid’s project
We
have rented a building for a year, the team repairing and painting to
keep costs down. We now are up and running, teaching basic education,
playing games and showing them how to recycle plastic bags into goods
for the home, mats, curtains, and bags. I was very impressed by our
volunteer’s teaching skills. We also give them a meal of rice and
vegetable when funds are available; we would like to feed daily but
would need sponsors on a monthly basic.
|
|
To keep this project going we need your support, we are looking for sponsors for the group of 31 kids or individual children,
photo available, a small amount of regular funds goes along way here
and would make such a big difference to the children’s lives. The whole
project is run by volunteers so all funds go to the children.
|
|
|
We have a new website www.safehavenprojects.org.uk
Charity bank account on website or email me at valwhyte@safehavenprojects.org.uk
Thank you for your continuing support
Val and Team. |
More photos from our successful trip on the Tree Planting Project :
"Menanam Pohon Merintis Masa Depan" : "Pioneering the Future to Plant Trees"
At the beginning of month we found a building for the Street kids project at a
reasonable price, much to our delight. It needs a lot of work, repairs and
painting but the guys will do all the work to keep costs down. Only thing I
insisted on was new toilet and tiles, Indonesian toilets are in a class of their
own !!!!
|
We have bought 2 sheep, paid for by a kind investor and built a
shed to keep them in. A local family will look after the sheep and then we will
share the profit, this is like a life line for these village families, a hope
that life will improve instead of the daily struggle to find money to feed the
children. If you would like to help them by investing, please contact me by
email, valwhyte@hotmail.co.uk
In the middle of the month we made a visit
to the Cow project, 6 hrs run on the motor bike, thankfully no rain as most of
the way was like a OFF ROAD EXPERIENCE , did'nt want to sit down for hours. have
to say the views were wonderful, rice terraces and tea farms as well as natural
jungle --- all in 1 day. |
|
|
Happy to report this project is very successful, we
now have 13 calves and our share of the profit this time is enough to buy 2 new
computers for the Fly Free school. we are having problems finding spare parts
for our Pentium 3 computers and would like to upgrade to Pentium 4, our funds
are low so if anyone out there would like to help, please contact me.
As well as
providing much needed funds for the school this project helps the poor families
who look after them, at last they can send their children to school, manage to
pay for uniform and books, they realize how important education is and want a
better future for them. |
|
|
We also visited a kindergarten, 56 kids, being
held in the chief's house, they had absolutely nothing to teach with so we
provided, books, pencils and puzzles for them, the teachers were in tears, they
are really grateful, so little means so much.
This project is in a different
area from our Fly Free school.
Rainy season has now started making travel
more difficult, wet and cold is the order of the day, what i would give for a
good Scottish fire and a hot toddy, both thing hard to find in Java, have to
settle for a nice hot cup of tea, one of the great things about living here is
tea is given free if you buy something to eat and fruit is very cheap and
tasty.
Ok, all for now, next month we will open the street kids school and
take the computers to the fly free school. |
 I returned to West Java after 3 months in Scotland, delighted to see everyone again and the mosquitoes happy to see me. I am sure they said "good she's back now we can get a good Scottish feed".
It took me a week to recover from jet lag and adapt to the heat, summer in Scotland did not happen this year!!!!!
The first job was looking for a building for the new street kids project, not an easy task as it had to be in a very populated area, where the kids collect the plastic and rubbish daily.
Our aim is to teach basic reading and writing - we have volunteer teachers willing to give their time on a rota basis. We also hope to provide a meal of rice and vegetables for the kids.
We have 26 kids waiting for us to start classes again, the guys from the team also play games and football with them to bring some joy into their lives.
The bad news is its rice 3 times a day, - I miss my mince and tatties!
 We need help with the street kids project, the building we are using is being sold, we do not have the money to rent another place. We started off with 6 kids, now 26 kids one month later. These kids have never gone to school, their lives consist of collecting plastic to sell, rooting through rubbish heaps to get enough money to buy rice for the family, their only hope is education.
Their living conditions are poor, many live in shacks in the flood area, in rainy season every time its rains their houses floods, but they have no where else to go.
The parents do not think education important, survival on the streets is not easy for them, we hope to educate the parents in time maybe help to get some of the children into mainstream school.
We teach basic reading, counting, spelling ect, as well as fun and games, very important, and supply a meal of rice and veg, we are looking sponsors to help us educate these children and improve their lives.
Hello everyone, here is the latest update on Safe Haven Projects.
Exciting news! We are thrilled that we finally have our charity registered in Scotland, the number is SCO 41905 and this will enable people to donate and get tax free deductions.
Flyfree school has also been recognised by the Indonesian government so it is possible we may to get a little help from them in the way of books and school supplies .... Fingers crossed!!!!
 Flyfree school gets better and better
Everything at the school is running smoothly, funds coming from the Coconut Grove project help towards monthly costs and some computer equipment has been purchased with funds raised by the rent a cow project. Both of these initiatives are very successful, so thank you one and all for your support.
We have so many eager children attending the computer and English lessons and are all so keen to learn and improve their skills in both of these fields. Our craft and sewing classes are also hugely successful and the children are so happy to make little leather bracelets knowing that the sale of these will go towards improving their school and their futures.
Kindergarten classes are a great success. As the number of students have increased so rapidly, we have had to also increase the number of teachers and we now have four very proactive and dedicated 'gurus'.
On Thursdays, parents and children welcome the healthy eating classes, learning about good nutrition and hygiene.
The playground equipment is just fabulous and you cannot begin to imagine how much fun the children are having now that they have this outdoor play year. Again, thank you to all of you who support us and enable this to happen.
Also the new school furniture has been a delight to both students and teachers. Finally, they can keep their classrooms tidy and have lovely desks to work from.
As most of you know all, our computers are mostly second-hand and fabulous as they are in constant need of repair and replacement.
Helping the Street kids
Our latest project is helping the Street kids in a town on the outskirts of Bandung City. These poor children exist by  collecting plastic from the streets and rubbish dumps in the hope of buying rice for their families. We try to bring a little light into their lives by teaching them English, playing fun games, and giving them much needed individual attention. A kind businessman was allowing us to use his premises but sadly he has had to sell his property and we now need somewhere for these children to go.
Our great success
To finish on a happy note, we are so thrilled that many of our students have successfully been able to go into the workforce finding employment in offices, stores and tourist industry. A few have even managed to go to college inspired by their computer and English skills. This is what it is all about, giving these children hope for the brighter future. We are SO proud that we are seeing such fabulous results. AGAIN, thanks to all of you who have helped make this possible and help us to improve the lives of children here in Indonesia.
We can never express our thanks enough.
Until next time ......
Hello everyone, here is the latest update on safe haven projects.
First the good news - we are now a Scottish registered charity, reg number SCO 41905 and the kindergarten at Flyfree school has government reg. At last we might get a little help with funds for the school.
Everything at Flyfree School is running smoothly, funds coming from the coconut grove project, help with monthly cost and computer equipment has been bought with funds raised by the rent a cow project, both enterprises very successful.
 Computer and English classes are well attended, craft and sewing classes popular, field trips to plant trees always full, our bit to help global warming.
The two kindergarten classes are a great success, now we have four teachers as numbers keep increasing. We hold healthy eating classes on a Thursday with the mothers and children, and the new play ground equipment is being well used, great to see the children having fun.
All the equipment, school furniture, computers and books were bought with funds raised by our supporters, a big thank you to all.
We have had a few problems with earthquake tremors, extra computer repairs, building repairs, but glad to say nothing drastic.
The team have been kept busy with rescue work after earthquakes, tsunami, volcano eruption and floods in West Java, providing shelters and supplies to help the victims.
Our latest project is helping the street kids in a town on the outskirts of Bandung city. We provide free basic education, fun games and a meal of rice and veg. When we have funds
we were given a free building to use but unfortunately it is now being sold and we have to move out. We are looking for another building in the same area. The team give their time free to teach these kids, their daily life consist of collecting plastic from the streets or rubbish dumps to sell, hopefully enough to buy their ‘daily rice for all the family. It is important to us to bring a little light into their lives.
To finish on a happy note, more than 60% of our students have found jobs - in offices, stores or in tourist industry. Some even went to college, this is unusual in Legok as parents cant afford
the fees. This makes us very proud as this was our aim in the beginning, education opens doors to a brighter future.
Thank you all for your support and donations please help us to bring education to as many Indonesian children as we can.
The team and I are eternally grateful.
valwhyte@hotmail.co.uk
www.safehavenproject.com
May 2011
Environmental Awareness Project
|
Part of our work is teaching the students about environmental awareness. The team hold
discussions with the students to teach them about global warming and how it will
effect their lives, for example if they cut down the trees their villages won't
have drinking water. |
|
|
We take the students on regular field trips when the funding is available. The students learn to
appreciate their environment and pass the message on to their village when they returnhome. These photos are from when the team took students to replant a critical forestation in the west java area. |
Hi everyone.
I have returned to Java after a lovely visit to Scotland to see family and friends.
At first things were quiet and running smooth, the FlyFree school is doing great, our new kindergarten classes are very successful, giving the younger village children an early education is very important to their futures. The children are happy and noisy and very cute in their uniforms. Computer and English classes have good student numbers. The money raised in the summer bought 4 new computers as well as paint and repairs to the school.
Inverurie Academy provided good pounds which bought puzzles, books, paper, crayons and toys, also computers and teachers, desks and chairs for both class rooms. The playground equipment is ordered and we will have to build a fence to keep bigger kids from destroying the equipment, so more news next letter.
The coconut grove is supplying funds to the school every month.
The cow project is running smooth - plans are to sell in feb or march.
 Then in October all changed when Indonesia was hit by two huge disasters. The Merapi volcano erupted in central Java and an earthquake and tsunami hit the island of Mentawai off the West Sumatra coast. We were not directly affected but felt the tremors and sometimes ash appears even though we are 250 miles away.
We have sent out two rescue teams, 18 guys to Mentawai, and 20 guys to Merapi to help the people. Thanks to Marilyn and Bill Rodger who have sent us operational funds. Many families are now homeless, their farms destroyed, no way of making a living. It will take a long time for land to recover from the lava and tsunami destruction.
I find the Indonesian people very resourceful in the face of disaster, the children always ready with a smile. Our team of volunteers are all young Indonesian men from ordinary families, many without jobs or money who are willing to give their time and energy to help the people after natural disasters. They collected funds on the city streets before they went to buy rice and noodles for the children.
Again I am asking for your help and support for the children of Indonesia. We wish to supply rice, baby milk, and blankets as we have done in the past. All donations will go directly to our team to buy supplies for the families in desperate need.
If you wish to donate please send to Nationwide Account.
Mrs. V. K. Whyte
Account no: 02559611
Sort code: 07 - 01 - 16
or through PayPal, information is on our website www.safehavenproject.com
Thanks you in anticipation.
Val and the team
Hi everyone,
At last an update newsletter about the FlyFree education centre. I am delighted to report that everything is running smoothly. I have been in Scotland for 5 months and have to say a big thank you to Agus Deni and Uwa Ukar for managing the safe haven project while I was away. An Earthquake hit West Java on 2nd September in our area but I am glad to report that the school building was only slightly damaged as well as 7 computers and 1 printer, all have been repaired now and things are back to normal. We feel extremely lucky as in other areas there is complete devastation.  The computer classes are still very well attended, with students receiving prizes at the end of the school year in August. The teachers held a games day for all the children. The English classes have smaller numbers, mostly girls. The boys only want to learn about computers, but that's the same the world over. The local school program has been very successful and will be continuing this year. Our aim is to get the centre run by community and financially independent. To do this we must have small businesses to bring in the funds needed.
Project 1 is the cow project:
We ask sponsors to invest for a year, we buy a calf, fatten it up and then sell it. We started this program at the beginning of the year, with help from local village families, they feed and look after 1 animal each and we share the profit, it is good to know that we are helping poor families as well as school. We have funding to buy more calves to increase this project.
Project 2 is Coconut grove:
We plan to buy a mature coconut grove, where we will be able to sell coconuts to the city every month. Underneath the trees we can grow grass to feed the cows, so double benefit.
lnverurie Academy has been very supportive to us and raised the funds to buy three more calves, the coconut grove and pay one of the teachers for a year. Originally they raised the funds for a fishing boat but a Japanese business man has brought many boat to Legok and there is no longer a need for one. This is Indonesia where nothing goes to plan and option B is always needed.
Our other news is that we have applied for UK charity Status, hopefully this will make it easier to get sponsors as tax relief will be a benefit to supporters.
 
The team and I have been working at the earthquake sites both here in West Java and in West Sumatra, first with rescue then clear up and distribution of food and medical supplies. Alison from the MUM foundation in Bali has been in contact with us looking at the possibility of rebuilding kindergartens, there are many children without education due to the earthquake disaster.
To finish on a happy note many of our first students from the FlyFree education centre are now employed in office type jobs, bringing a decent wage home to their families. This brings us great satisfaction as that was our aim from the beginning - " to help them to help themselves." East and West United have help this impossible dream to become a reality. A
very big thank you to all our supporters - without your help none of this would be possible.
Love and light
From Val, Agus and Team.
Hello there everybody, it is hard to believe but I have been here for 6 months already. Legoc school is doing great, computer classes and English classes running smoothly and new kindergarten class starts on 1st March running four days a week. I am excited about this as no preschool education in our area, a teacher moved into the village and is giving her time free for three months until we can get established.
The school is being kept clean and tidy, garden neat, and re-painting done when necessary. Our only problem was unstable electricity so we rewired the whole school on our last visit. The coconut project and cow project are both running efficiently, helping with running costs for the school.
 The kindergarten rebuild with Happy Hearts and Mum Foundation is amazing. We have really 4 in remote areas, villages who have little chance of help coming from other NGOs. It is wonderful to see the children's faces when they enter the new buildings with colourful furniture, play equipment, and a fantastic playground. It makes all the work worthwhile. We hope Happy Hearts will continue with this project for many months.
The situation in earthquake camps is little changed, many people trying to rebuild their houses themselves, their government money has still not arrived, others are still in the tents in the horrendous conditions. With help from BCC ladies group in Jakarta we have been providing baby milk, medicine, warm clothes and blankets on a regular basis.
At the moment we are looking for funding to build a bamboo house for one of our team's family, no one should live in these conditions.
We have two small projects on the go to help the earthquake victims to help themselves. Many lost their jobs as a result and therefore their children cannot go to school, no money for uniforms or fees.
Project one: is helping to groups of women to buy and sell clothes on a credit scheme, only being running for two months but looks successful.
Project two: is a rabbit breeding program, we provided start-up or five families, hoping in the long run to get the children back into education.
As always I am grateful for your continuing support, for helping me to bring hope into the lives of the children.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts,
Val and the team.
November 2009
Up to date news about the Safe Haven team's involvement in the earthquake recovery program :
We visited some of the people in their makeshift tents. It was heartbreaking to see the condition they are living in. Disease can't be far away. In one area 2 families were living in a tent on the gravesite as the farmer wanted to plant his land and they had nowhere else to go.  In this tent are 4 small children plus 3 newborn babies. Twin girls and baby boy as well as parent and grandparent. These families were very poor before the earthquake and have no hope of rebuilding their houses unless the government help.
The government is so slow to do anything.
In Area 1 : 3,000 houses destroyed
In Area 2 : 10,000 houses destroyed
So many families will suffer during the rainy season.
We do what we can - supplying extra rice, sardines, baby milk, second hand clothes and blankets. They are so grateful for anything they get. Our team use local schoolchildren to help with delivery as access is often difficult. It is good experience for them to be involved and to learn to care for those less fortunate than themselves.
We have been given the go ahead and funding to build kindergartens with the possibility of more later on. Without education these children have a dismal future. Education is their only hope of getting out of poverty.
FLY FREE NEWS :
We have purchased a coconut grove beside the school and have sold our first crop of coconuts. The profit will be used for running cost for the FlyFree school. We have put up a plaque in the school building to thank lnveruie Academy for their support. Students supporting students is a great concept and we are very grateful for their continuing support.
We are also very grateful to all our sponsors. We appreciate your help in caring for the children in Java.
“See with Your Heart
Feel with your Heart
Act with Your Heart "
Thank you for acting with your heart
 Earthquake Relief in Cibeureum and Pangalengan – Bandung District.
I returned from Scotland, two days after there was an earthquake in our
working area, our school was only slightly damaged, thankfully all my
friends were unhurt.
The damage in the above areas is extensive, more than 17,000 families
left homeless, living in tents and the situation made more difficult
with the rainy season imminent. The children are cold, wet and hungry.
The Government are helping, but the food supply is not even enough to feed a family for a day.
Our team have been helping from the beginning, first with rescue, then
clear up and distribution. We are organizing extra rice supplies,
doctors and medicines as well as school programs. We also have a trauma
consultant working with us.
We are very grateful for any help offered, in free time or donations.
2006
At first it was very strange with the dodgy toilets, cold showers, eating rice three times a day and living in makeshift tents. The only white woman with lots of young Indonesian volunteers, my Indonesian was almost non existent and only a few people spoke English. My life and my outlook completely changed and I am grateful to the people of Java for helping me to find the peace and contentment within myself that I thought I had lost forever.
The Indonesians are very respectful even when this strange Western woman was doing things they could not begin to understand. Unable to call me by my first name as that is considered disrespectful if you are older than them, which I obviously was! So I became Miss Valerie or MaMa wherever I went.
The kindergartens where I went initially were all held in tents as the old buildings had been destroyed. We supplied the books, pencils and all the craft materials has everything had gone, I worked there everyday between 8 and 10, hoping to bring a little joy back into the children’s lives.
Then we would return to camp for more rice and load up the land rover with the donated tents, food, vitamins etc, to go to the villages further up the mountain.
 On May 27th a powerful 6.3 earthquake rocked central Java and left more than 5,800 killed and an estimated 7,519 seriously injured. Up to 200,000 people were left homeless and over 46,000 homes were destroyed or seriously damaged.
As if that was’nt enough, in June a TSUNAMI hit the west of JAVA, again killing families and destroying homes. I travelled across to help and this turned out to be the greatest experience of my life.
Whilst I was there I found out that I could work as a volunteer with the children who were left misplaced and orphaned after the Tsunami, I felt that I had found the place where I was meant to be.
My name is Val and it is my intention with your help to give these kids and their families a better way of life.
|
|
|
