Twelve Rotarians from the Rotary Clubs of Maddington and Mandurah, Western Australia, visited the Sanur office of the Foundation.

The group went on to inspect the two new mobile clinics provided by the Australian Government as part of the A$3.2 million grant to the Bali Department of Health after the October 2002 bombing tragedy.

Photo: Rotarians from Maddington and Mandurah with John Fawcett at the Foundation’s office in Sanur.

Australian volunteers, Ted Lee, Kevin and Joan Lock traveled to Bangli to set up 10 computers in SD II Catur primary school in Bangli, east of Denpasar.

The computers were donated by St Anthony's College in Wannereoo, Perth, and were shipped to Bali along with desks and chairs for the school.

On the second anniversary of the Bali bombing tragedy, in the presence of David Ritchie, Australian Ambassador, and Dr Dewa Oka, Head of the Balinese Department of Health, YKI signed two agreements with the Balinese Government.

The first was the cooperation agreement between the YKI and Rumah Sakit Indera on their respective roles in the new ABMEC, which is being donated by the Australian Government. Now that this agreement has been signed, contracts for a design and construct tender will be issued, and it is planned to start construction early in 2005, with an anticipated completion by October.

The second was a tripartite agreement between AusAID, YKI and Rumah Sakit Indera to run one of the two mobile eye clinics in north Bali. AusAID is providing operational funding for the mobile clinic for 12 months. YKI will coordinate the program, provide training and contract staff, as well as major consumables such as lenses and pharmaceuticals through Alcon Australia.

A screening program for eye problems in 5 primary schools in the Amed district, an arid, isolated area in the north-east Bali, was carried out by a YKI team, with Australian volunteers, optometrist, Len Mills, Sharon Mills and Ute Shierhorn, low vision specialist. 1,167 children were screened over the six days of the program.

During the program, the mobile clinic team from Rumah Sakit Indera and YKI also screened 174 village people for cataracts, and 6 cataract operations were performed in the mobile clinic.

YKI issued 55 pairs of spectacles, took orders for 43 special lenses, and gave antibiotic and antiseptic eye drops to those who required them.

Mr Richard Elsey was appointed as a member of Executive Board of The John Fawcett Foundation at its last meeting.

Richard brings valuable experience to the Board from his position as Chief Executive Officer of Westcare Incorporated, and already has a close connection with the Foundation through his involvement in the Tuberculosis Project Consortium. The Australian Red Cross has granted A$400,000 to run this project for six years.

The third colostomy operation this year was conducted on a 2.5 year old boy from Keramas, Gianyar, Bali.

Ketut Sujana was brought to the Foundation by his parents who were too poor to afford the operation to reconnect his bowel.

Dr Jaya Kesuma performed the operation in the Rumah Sakit Puri Rahaja, and Ketut is now on the way to having a normal life.

Eva, a 35-year-old elephant who had been blind for several years in her right eye as a result of a cataract, was operated by Balinese ophthalmologist, Dr Dharyata, with a team of nurses from the Rumah Sakit Indera, in a somewhat unusual extension of the Foundation's Sight Restoration and Blindness Prevention Program.

Alcon International donated lenses and pharmaceuticals for the two-hour operation, performed under very difficult circumstances, but with a successful result.

Eva lives in the Bali Elephant Park in Taro, high in the mountains in central Bali. The Elephant Park is owned and run by Australian, Nigel Mason, and houses 27 Sumatran elephants in a beautiful tropical garden environment.

A new Cataract Eye Clinic for poor people was opened on 6 September in Kuta, South Lombok. The Clinic was established by the Una Sola Vita Foundation based in Italy, by ophthalmologist, Dr Alessandro Pezzola, and will be run in conjunction with the Yayasan Kemanusiaan Indonesia

and the Sight Restoration and Blindness Prevention Project.
The clinic will start free cataract operations with a preliminary session in January 2005.