Our Story
In 2014, our founder Jack Kennedy’s visit to Sili village in Cempi Bay, Central Sumbawa, turned life-changing when he contracted malaria. This firsthand experience with the disease’s impact in Eastern Indonesia was a profound eye-opener. It highlighted the ongoing struggle against malaria in the region and sparked a determination to make a difference.
Motivated by this experience, later that same year, Jack, along with two close friends, provided the initial funding that marked the beginning of Health Access Sumbawa’s (HAS) journey. Our initial mission was ambitious yet straightforward: to control malaria in the three hamlets of Sili, Maci, and Panubu within three years, with a budget equating to “the price of a car.” In November 2017, HAS proudly achieved this goal, but it was clear our work was far from over.
The journey continued to evolve, and in 2019, we took a significant step forward by registering Health Access Sumbawa in Australia as HASOZ. Under the guidance of Australian directors Damian Bowman, Chris Webb, and Donna Potts, HASOZ has expanded its vision and commitment to addressing health challenges in the region, building on the foundation laid down in those early, transformative days.
Charity For Foods
Charity For Water
Charity For Education
Charity For Medical
The expansion of our initiatives under HASOZ brought a pivotal addition, thanks to Damian Bowman: the Owen Francis program. This vital program focuses on providing life-saving transportation and medical treatment for children in critical conditions from remote villages in Sumbawa to advanced medical facilities and surgeries in Bali. We are proud to operate this program in collaboration with the Harapan project in Sumbawa, synergizing our efforts to maximize impact. For more details on the Owen Francis Program and its life-changing work, please click here.
In 2022, we took another significant step by beginning our support for the BACKY LAKEY DOMPU FOUNDATION, furthering our commitment to improving health and access to medical care in the region. To learn more about this initiative and how it’s making a difference, click here.
SMALL DONATIONS HAVE
A BIG IMPACT
There are many children in Hu’u District who are not living with their parents. Some are victims of broken homes. Some are the children of parents who migrated out of the region/overseas for employment but never returned. Some children become orphans when their parents died from accidents or disease.
A Letter from Jack Kennedy
Hope you are healthy and doing well. Kathy and I just celebrated our 54th anniversary. We are watching the new Ken Burns 4-part documentary on Muhammad Ali. His problems with the draft during the Vietnam War bring back memories of the tumultuous 1960’s.
Origins of an idea. The Vietnam war bumped me off my intended career path (to become a foreign service officer with USAID). As a kid growing up in S.E. Asian countries, I saw firsthand the problems with big bureaucratic foreign aid programs. Despite good intentions, tens of millions of dollars were wasted. When American troops left Vietnam, our development programs collapsed. We are seeing this story repeated now in Afghanistan.
Back in the 60’s, I decided to study business rather than government, believing that small, market – based programs offer a better development model. As a micro-sized non-profit focused on improving the health of the poor in remote communities, Health Access Sumbawa is getting done what no government or international NGO has attempted in Sumbawa. I’m so grateful to you and to your fellow donors for making all this progress possible.
Why Sumbawa, Indonesia? My life experience teaches me that conditions must be right for any development project to succeed. Tragically, community development is almost impossible in a chaotic country like Haiti or a war-torn country like Afghanistan. Until you have a relatively stable and safe community, the best you can offer is temporary relief to suffering. Massive NGO’s (usually funded by governments) have the capacity to deliver boatloads of food to starving people. Emergency relief will always be needed, but it is not development.
Indonesia is a stable country with many poor people but also many opportunities. Sumbawa is fertile ground for a project like HAS. Path to A better life. Poverty and warfare in Asia have decreased significantly since the 1960’s but there is no guarantee of future stability. Look at the problems now in Burma. The forgotten poor eventually rebel. Indonesia, The Philippines, Burma, and Thailand all have low grade insurgencies and terrorist groups within their borders which decades of repression have failed to eliminate. The only solution is to address inequities: offer the poor opportunities to build a better life.
Our strategy works. Your support helped to eliminate malaria from remote villages. Helped to build a food system that serves the poor. Transformed the lives of children born with cleft lip & palate by providing access to surgery. Health Access Sumbawa is doing all these things competently and with no corruption. All our spending is local. We are a volunteer organization. HAS spends almost nothing in the U.S.
Our programs in Indonesia are managed by carefully selected leaders who live and work in their communities. Employees receive an ownership stake in their work.
Growing HAS Influence. Some people ask about “scaling up” our success. The best way to “scale ” the HAS model is for leaders to study and copy our most successful ideas. HAS will help with training, technical support and consulting. We need a bit more time before we will have the capacity to do this in a big way.
Our “pebble thrown into the pond” is sending ripples of hope across Sumbawa Island and beyond. We are not beholden to any company, donor, or political party. We have the freedom to do things the right way. Thank you so much for giving us that freedom.