From July 2008 to July 2009 we have been able to implement many new projects and continue to improve on the existing service we provide to the Sumbanese community. The following is a short summary of our many achievements.
We completed a series of four large water projects and numerous smaller hand dug wells throughout the region. Together these projects are bringing water to another 5,968 people living in 56 villages. For the first time in their lives theses people now have easy access to clean safe water. In total we now have been able to bring water to 23,210 people living in an area of 95 square kilomiters of coastal Sumba.
Last year's pilot organic farming project succeeded in providing more food and substantial income for the 8 families that participated. This year 32 families have joined this program which has already more than tripled the size of land being farmed.
We also expanded out to new areas where our tractor and water pumps are helping create productive farms from once fallow land. We insure that the farmers families eat what they grow and only sell the excess. Each area has created its own farmers co-operative that works and manages the farms and also sell their produce to Nihiwatu resort and at several local markets.
At two schools we now have small farm projects that are teaching organic farming methods to hundreds of children. We provide the knowledge, the equipment and the seeds. The children are making compost and growing healthy vegetables. In so doing we are introducing new and healthier foods and creating the start of a better diet for this generation.
In its first year of operation close to 100 tons of copra was purchased from hundreds of local villagers to make Biodiesel at our factory, the fuel is sold on to Nihiwatu Resort. This project is creating a small and continually growing economy in the region by injecting much needed cash into a generally cashless community. We have been following what the families are doing and we are very encouraged with what we see. Several families have already been able to open small shops, others are using the money wisely to pay for advanced education for their children.
The by-product of the bio-diesel process is glycerine which we make into liquid soap at our factory. Each week 2,000 liters of soap is manufactured sent out to special dispensing stations we have built close to the water faucets at 12 villages. The soap a big hit, so much so that we can barely make enough to meet the demand.
Hundreds of children have gone through our malnutrition program this year. Some of those children were close to death and the others would certainly have been harmed for life without our intervention, some of the recoveries were nothing short of spectacular. For at least three months each child is fed a special high protein diet we have developed. They are monitored closely throughout the time they are in the program and for up to two months after they have gained normal WHO recommended weight and released from the program.
While their children are in the program the mothers are taught about nutrition and the importance of a healthy diet for their families and how to cook healthy meals. Many of them are now growing vegetables at their homes to feed their children with after they have left the program.
This year we focused on the consolidation of existing programs and areas. The Sumba Foundation Malaria Control Program performed numerous field surveys, mass blood screenings, malaria treatments and bed net distributions as well as reading malaria slides at our central Laboratory. Thousands of people received treated mosquito nets and thousands more were treated for malaria by our team.
We also opened the first permanent microscopy school in Indonesia and most likely the only one in South East Asia. This initiative will teach and improve the diagnostic skills of hundreds of government microscapist; ultimately it will benefit the hundreds of thousands of Sumbanese who are typically miss-diagnosed at the hospitals and clinics on the island. This is the first important step we are taking to control malaria everywhere in Sumba.
The Sumba Foundation has expanded its reach significantly over the past 4 years and now runs 5 medical clinics covering a population of approximately 18,000 people. Our clinics provide basic health care for the population and the malaria control program is also executed through these clinics. The clinics are each staffed with 2-4 nurses plus a clinic assistant who does administrative work as well as dispense prescribed drugs. The clinics open at 8 in the morning and close at 12:00 or when all patients have been seen and treated. The afternoons are used for the malaria control program including field surveys, mass blood screenings, treatment and bed net distribution as well as reading of malaria slides at our central Laboratory.
This year our clinics treated diagnosed and treated more than 33,000 patients in our clinics. The ailments treated include everything from reparatory infections and malaria to common infectious diseases such as flu and diarrhoea to: cuts, burns, wounds, dental care and chronic conditions related to old age. Our Health Program also provides an emergency on call service where villagers can come any time and request assistance for patients who are too sick to come to the clinic. This assistance is usually at night time for emergencies such as problematic birthing deliveries or small children with severe diarrhoea or pneumonia.
If patients at the clinics or in the villages are too sick for us to treat we refer them to the nearest hospital and provide the evacuation transportation. This year we helped 86 patients in the villages and transferred 43 critical patients to the local hospital. Seven of these cases were cerebral malaria cases who because of our help survived have fully recovered.
For years we have been dispensing hundreds of eye glasses at our clinics but we have not been able to help those in need of surgery. Cataracts are a big problem for many in Sumba. The women who are affected are no longer able to weave the blankets and baskets that are so important in this society, the children cannot read in school and the men can no longer farm. Twice during during this year we invited a team of Australian eye surgeons to Sumba to help us help as many people as possible.
The team of volunteer Ophthalmic eye surgeons, nurses and Optometrist were joined by our staff for a week in July 2008 and again for a week in July 2009. Together they saw 1,190 people and performed 166 life changing eye surgeries. They also dispensed 917 spectacles and about 150 sunglasses.
During this year we donated libraries to 9 of the primary schools we support. Now more than 1,800 children are being inspired by the 3,285 grade appropriate books we bought for them. Some of the donors to this project were able to help us set up the libraries at the schools, an altogether rewarding experience. We are pleased to report that this project was recently adopted by the local government who now are building libraries at dozens of primary schools throughout the region.
This July 2009 we initiated a school lunch program at two of the primary schools we are supporting. Three times a week we have been providing a healthy meal of vegetables to hundreds of children. In part this program is meant to teach children the importance of a good diet and nutrition, and more importantly to help boost the health of the many children in school who are undernourished due to a lack of good food in their villages. Some of the vegetables come from our nearby farming projects and women close to the schools volunteer to cook. We will be monitoring the success of this project which we hope to expand to more schools in 2010.