Sponsorship update: have we reached the US$50,000 milestone?

Yes, I am delighted to share with you that the total donations to date now sit at IDR659,000,000 or US$50,690 (at an exchange rate of Rp13,000/US$). Thank you all for your support.

My heartfelt thanks to Fiona Forrest and her 'Foundation of Unity'. Fiona's Foundation has donated Rp25 Million towards the Becakterus appeal. Thank you for your Silver sponsorship. 

I must tell you last year, Fiona walked around the entire island of Bali - a truly amazing effort in support of her own yayasans. Well done my dear!

I would also like to thank Bank Ekonomi for coming in as a Bronze sponsor and donating Rp10 Million. Thank you my good friend, Mr Tony Turner. 

And very generously, Tony and Karen matched this sponsorship - Rupiah for Rupiah - by personally donating Rp10 Million. Thank you so much, ‘those turners’:-).

Individual personal donations of course are most welcome, and I would like to thank Cynthia Wihardja on making a personal donation of Rp1 Million. Many thanks Cynthia.

For anyone else out there interested in making a personal donation to the appeal, we will be setting up a fund raising page online where credit card payments may be lodged. It will be Indonesian Rupiah based, so anyone wishing to transfer from an overseas currency nominated card, please do check the zeros (exchange rate) prior to making your donation. Thank you in advance. I’ll be back with more details on this online appeal site as we enter the final month.

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, I'll be ‘pulang kampong’ to Scotland for a few weeks; which means some lovely Scottish weather to not look forward to, and no Becakterus training to worry me... but sure I'll find other ways to keep my legs turning in circles.

And in closing, to those celebrating, I would like to wish you a Happy Eid Mubarak, Selamat Idul Fitri, and happy and safe holidays to you and your families.

Stay safe all, Becakterus

Mary's Cancer Kiddies - all about us

Founded by Mary Binks in 2003, Mary's Cancer Kiddies (MCK) is a registered charity in Indonesia with volunteers based in Jakarta and Hong Kong who raise and manage funds to cover the cost of medical treatment for children from poor families.

To ensure that children from financially disadvantaged families have access to the medical treatment they need and to help them go through a difficult time with dignity.

For some families, the government-sponsored insurance for the poorest in society is complex and time consuming, many giving up on the system, afraid they may be found ineligible and then liable for medical costs, or later unable to obtain cover and face chronic, unendurable financial burdens.

Children with cancer

MCK has provided financial support for hundreds of young cancer patients at leading child cancer treatment centres: Dharmais and Cipto hospitals in Jakarta

Children with infectious diseases

Since 2007 MCK also covers treatment costs for illnesses such as tetanus, HIV, tuberculosis, acute diarrhea and malnutrition.

Visit MCK’s website to learn more: http://www.maryscancerkiddies.org

Platinum Sponsor - Guinness

It's not every day you get to announce to the world – or the 3 good folk that continue to read my blog – that one of our planets most iconic ‘Made of More™’, iron nutrient-rich drinks; a global brand like nae other, and the quality of product peerless in its pour, has generously agreed to support the Becak challenge. Yes, it's a GUINNESS® all round. Sláinte dong! 

I am super thrilled to welcome Guinness on board, and alongside ICAP will be Becakterus' number 2 Platinum Sponsor. 

"Life is better after a Guinness" it has been proclaimed in the past, and I know a few - probably the same 3 persevering with my blog - that would readily agree with this statement. I know I do.*

Thank you Graham Villiers-Tuthill for your wonderful support and kind donation of Rp250 million. These funds will go a very long way. This donation from Guinness lifts the total funds raised to Rp613,000,000, or at an exchange rate of Rp13,000/US$ to over US$47,000. 

Mr John Galvin, I owe you too, mate. Big time, many thanks. A huge thank you again Graham, and of course to Guinness and Diageo as a whole. Wonderful support!

Thank you, Becakterus

*Please remember to drink Guinness® responsibly - Becakterus does...

Yayasan Cinta Anak Bangsa - all about us

YCAB is the abbreviation for the organisation’s full name in the Indonesian language, Yayasan Cinta Anak Bangsa, which translates to “Loving the Nation’s Children Foundation“. The word “Cinta” means Love. YCAB is about loving the least served children of a nation.

This Love is translated into providing hope and opportunity to marginalised youth. We at YCAB believe that inherent in the vision of youth development, is the idea of economic independence; by empowering youth to be independent through educational provisions, economic assistance, and welfare creation for a better and sustainable future.

YCAB Foundation’s programs comprise of:

1. Healthy Lifestyle Promotion (HeLP): the primary prevention of risky behaviour including drug abuse and HIV/AIDS through education and the adoption of a positive lifestyle
2. House of Learning and Development (HoLD): affordable education for underprivileged and school dropout youths, providing Basic Education, Digital Inclusion, and English Literacy courses
3. Hands-on Operation for Entrepreneurship/Economic (HOpE): this program is 2-prong. The first is to empower HoLD graduates to find jobs and to start micro businesses by providing entrepreneurship training and seed capital. The second part is to help mothers (of the students) who run small business to improve their income through micro-loans and micro capital

We at YCAB would like to formally thank every single person, be it a large corporation, a small business, our thousands of volunteer’s, and to the man in the street, for we know that without YOUR hard work, love and kindness we would not be where we are now.