KLM staff will be helping to build a center for disabled children in Medan…
KLM staff will be helping to build a center for disabled children in Medan (North Sumatra) as soon as possible. The center will serve as an established orphanage, providing temporary refuge to disabled children from areas in Banda Aceh affected by the tsunami and acting as a training center for nurses and physiotherapists. Construction of the center will cost EUR 66,000.
It is estimated that more than a million children suffering from some form of handicap live in Indonesia today. Care facilities are scarce and these children face many hardships. The Indonesian Bhakti Luhur Foundation has been helping these forgotten children for many years now. The foundation has established orphanages throughout the country that also provide home care to those who need it in the surrounding areas. The Bhakti Luhur Foundation intends to expand the facilities it provides to include the disabled children of North Sumatra. In so doing, the foundation needs to build a new rehabilitation center in Medan. The center will act as base for providing care throughout North Sumatra and offering assistance to disabled children from the regions struck by the tsunami.
In the course of recent aid operations to Banda Aceh, the participating organizations identified lots of disabled children for whom individual care is largely absent.
By sending out nurses trained in Medan to the stricken areas, the Bhakti Luhur Foundation will be caring individually for children in their own environment. Children requiring special surgery, those orphaned by the devastating tsunami or for whom no local care can be provided will be brought to the new center in Medan. The rehabilitation center will be able to house around 100 children on a permanent or temporary basis until they have recovered from the medical treatment they require.
Five organizations are involved in the project in Medan, each contributing its own specific expertise in the drive to establish the center. The Wings of Support Foundation, a volunteer organization run by KLM cockpit and cabin crew, will be financing and supervising the project. In so doing, Wings of Support will receive financial support from KLM AirCares, KLM`s charity sponsorship program. Until September 31, 2005, KLM AirCares will be collecting funds on board KLM aircraft and from KLM staff. Pilots Without Borders , a charity organization run by airline volunteers, will also support the home. Pilots Without Borders will especially contribute the logistical skills needed to transport equipment and, if possible, furniture and fittings to Medan. The project was initiated by Sharing Success, the participation fund for entrepreneurs united within the Liliane Fund, which coordinates and canvases for parties to adopt centers in Indonesia. The Liliane Fund will finance the medical and social care required by individual children.
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