Ever since Kechara Indonesia (Yayasan Kechara Indonesia) was established in Jakarta by Valentina, I have been getting constant updates regarding their activities… and with each passing activity, their outreach to the community grows bigger! In their most recent community work for the people of Jakarta, YKI sponsored a total of 400 spectacles for the needy in Jakarta. 

I am so happy to receive updates like this from Valentina, who transforms Dharma into action in the form of wonderful social work she does in Indonesia. Valentina is an extremely nice and capable lady, and has great relationships with the social workers in the Indonesian government, whom are always happy to assist YKI in their charitable activities. 

I thought I’d blog about YKI’s latest community project known as ‘Vision for the Future‘ for everyone to read and see, what a success the project was. Below is a brief history about the project and also some pictures from the event. Do read up and see the many people who have benefited from their tireless efforts. 

Tsem Rinpoche

Vision for the Future 3 – Palmerah District Jakarta

[Written by Valentina Suhendra]

History

In year 2013, I met a Regina Amal, who is passionate about charity work.   Not long after I met her, Regina started to join YKI’s various activities such as the  student vaccination program, food distribution, sembako distribution etc.  She told me that she has an idea to perform eye examination projects and sponsoring spectacles for those who cannot afford it.  I told her that the idea was good, but I have seen many people who have grand ideas, but fail to execute them for whatever reasons.  Only by executing, someone can gain confidence to execute future projects.  Several weeks later, Regina participated in KPMG’s CSR competition with her Vision for the Future idea and won.  She obtained the funds to execute her idea and sourced the relevant vendors, it was during this time that she asked Kechara Indonesia’s assistance to find people who would potentially need the spectacles, but are unable to afford them. 

The Vision for the Future Project 1 was executed in year 2013 in two locations which is in  Cipete  and Pertamburan.   The project has since evolved to become a joint Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project between KPMG and YKI.

At the initial stage of this program, the Vision for the Future was only open for children under 18 years of age, as the original intention was to help children to concentrate better in their study.  However, when looking for potential participants, we noted that there are many adults who needed spectacles as well but could not afford them, especially for those above 40 years old who needed double focus spectacles.  Taking this in account, we removed the age limit of the participant in our future projects.  The project was a success.  Everyone involved in this project was touched during the spectacle distribution, especially when we saw the recipients’ faces beaming happily because finally, they are able to look at the world with a clearer vision.  Many of the spectacle recipients later gave us feedback that they will now be able to concentrate better at school and at work.    

The second project ‘Vision for the Future 2’ – was executed in early 2014 in Cipete, South Jakarta for 200 people.  The project was successful as well and because the crowd was very cooperative, YKI decided to adopt Cipete as one of our regular food distribution site.

Vision for the Future 3

Since YKI was formalized in February 2015, we have worked closely with local government officials which enabled us to execute activities in the scale that was previously not feasible to us.  Previously, our Vision for the Future project can only cater a maximum of 100-200 people for each project, mainly due to security reasons and difficulties in finding eligible participants.   

In January 2015, Regina asked if YKI was interested in executing another Vision for the Future Project within 1.5 week period, which would take place in 7 February 2015, as many committee members would not be available in mid – end February 2015 for various reasons.  Despite the short time frame, we decided to give it a shot and went ahead to plan for the 3rd Vision for the Future program.  This time, we aimed to invite 400 participants in our eye examination programs and at the same time, we raised the funds needed within that short time span.  During this time, YKI liaison from Social Section in Kecamatan Palmerah, Ms. Emayati Adiba, and Registered Social Workers (Pekerja Sosial Masyarakat (PSM) in Palmerah District) was a great help to our project as she started to mobilize other social pillars to find the 400 eligible participants from Kecamatan Palmerah. She also arranged for snacks to be prepared for the event.  We were fortunate that the government have been very helpful as they helped us select those who fall below the poverty line through the use of their official database, so that these people may benefit from our program. Although the project was done in a rush, all parties involved worked efficiently which made this program a success. 

Thanks to the kindness of Deputy District Head of Kecamatan Palmerah – Mr. H.M. Asyik Noor Hilmany whom allowed us to use a government office , YKI managed to secure a venue for our event at zero cost. It was held in Kota Bambu Sub District (Kelurahan Kota Bambu) office, where they allowed us to use the 4^th floor of their office and furniture for the event, and because it was a government office, we did not have to worry about security or safety issues. This allowed us to carry out our event smoothly and focus on serving the community.  All six sub districts (Kelurahan) within Kecamatan Palmerah participated in choosing eligible participants for this project.  The invitation for this event was issued to be on the 7^th February 2015 and the registration began from 8:00 AM to 12:00  PM.  When the day of the event arrived, the whole event went smoothly due to the harmonious cooperation between many different parties.

YKI set out the ground rules as follows:

• Only those who received the invitations can participate in the eye examination program
• Only those with a minus greater than 0.5 are eligible for the spectacles and can proceed to choose the frames of their choice
• Every registered participant is given 1 box of snack
• YKI will sponsor new spectacles for eligible recipients. 

YKI volunteers were spread out in various counters:  Registration counters, automatic eye exams counter, manual eye exam counter, frame counter, spectacle data entry counter.  

After the event, YKI compiled the list of spectacles to be ordered and agreed the commercials with the vendor.  Several weeks later, the spectacles were ready for distribution.

Spectacle distribution

A  month later, YKI together Registered Social workers, KASI Sosial Kecamatan Palmerah and Kelurahan Kota Bambu distributed the spectacles to the recipients on the 6th and 8th of March in Kelurahan Kota Bambu office. 

Overall, this project was a success due to harmonious cooperation of all parties involved, Kecamatan Palmerah, the sponsors, the spectacle vendor, and last but not least the volunteers.  The members of YKI are extremely grateful that we are able to connect with various kind, dedicated and compassionate individuals that are determined to ensure the event was a success. 

7th February 2015 – YKI’s free eye examination and spectacle event

 Ms Emawati, YKI’s social liaison giving an opening speech

 Valentina gave her opening speech, on her right is Mr. H.M. Asyik Noor Hilmany, the Deputy District Head of Kecamatan Palmerah

 Volunteers processing some official documents. All recipients of these free spectacles received an official invitation letter from the government to participate in YKI’s event. Through this method, it ensures that the recipients of these spectacles comes from lower income families

The recipients listening attentively to the speeches made by YKI’s representatives

 Waiting for their turn to conduct their eye examinations

 Some simple snacks were distributed while the recipients wait for their turn to have their eyes checked

After registration, a coupon number to indicate their turn to receive their eye examination was given to the recipients 

 An optometrist, assisted by YKI’s volunteer, conducted an automatic eye check up on the recipients

 After the automated eye check, a manual eye examination is carried out to fine tune the results

 YKI volunteer laid out several frame choices for the recipients to choose

 YKI volunteer assisting a lady to pick a nice spectacle frame

 Once selected, a YKI volunteer will help document the choosen spectacle frame, the results of the eye examination as well as the recipient’s details, so that they will be able to give the spectacle to the right person a month later

After a long day of serving the community, YKI volunteers take a picture together to rejoice in the good work they have done. The young lady in grey T-shirt is Regina, she was the one that came up the idea to sponsor spectacles to the needy 

6th and 8th of March 2015 – YKI free spectacles distribution

Volunteers preparing the spectacles and labeling them with the client’s names

Ibu Herawati (right) giving a free spectacle to one of YKI’s clients

More Articles about Yayasan Kechara Indonesia

1. Yayasan Kechara Indonesia (YKI)
2. Guess what Valentina did?
3. Guess what we did on Mt Rinjani
4. Activities in Kechara Indonesia!
5. Kechara Information Center, Jakarta, Indonesia

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