Thanks to Subud Portland and many generous donors, SD USA has received a total of $10,000 for project support!
The match has now been closed. Contributions to Susila Dharma are always welcome but will no longer be doubled.
Many thanks for your support, and a big THANK YOU to Subud Portland!
Here is an update from Muhammad Bachrun Bustillo, Founder of Borneo Football
Life in Kalimantan is still difficult. The Coronavirus crisis seems to be far from over and positive cases have been increasing gradually according to government reports.
The economy has been affected badly and I would say that everyone is having problems to secure an income.
After visiting more than 2,000 families in the area our BFIA staff confirmed how this crisis is affecting particularly the poor. Public schools have been closed for weeks, many people lost their jobs and right now their main priority is to find food.
Until now we have been able to get support to assist many families but we are not sure for how long if things don’t improve. BFIA team still keeps working hard and is in good spirits and optimistic but the future is uncertain.
BFIA activities in the areas of sports, health & nutrition and education have been adapted to the current situation and we keep in close contact with all our beneficiaries from the training centers and schools.
We encourage the practice of sports and football at home providing sports material and online tutorials. Additionally, we are distributing educational material for arts and our BFIA Basic English Course.
Borneo Football staff is working hard to reduce the local spread of the Covid 19 and despite stringent salary cutbacks, the staff are still motivated to support, mentor, and monitor the well being of the children and many families in need.
In continuation of the present work, which may be considered as the Initial Phase and to better help the community, the Borneo Foundation is preparing an Action Plan to respond to the present situation, and to prepare for the future.
As the world economy suffers from the continuing emergency situation, foundations are faced with dwindling donations and grants. Although Borneo Football still has committed supporters, funds are limited – and decreasing. Looking for new funding is a challenge because the competition is strong amongst the finite number of institutions and resources.
It is clear that the Covid-19 crisis represents a big challenge for all of us but we at Borneo Football think that in these kinds of situations we as Subud members can make a difference in the world.
Hope we all can walk in that direction and let’s pray that we all can survive this difficult test.
Muhammad Bachrun Bustillo
Watch this video: Kalimantan Covid-19 Prevention and Response Program
Subud Portland members have been working hard all year long to generate funds to be used to create the seed money for its 2020 annual matching fund for Susila Dharma USA. This is our tenth consecutive year of “matchmaking” for SD USA, bringing SD’s diverse and inspiring projects to the attention of our remarkably generous Subud USA membership to attract their greatly appreciated support each year. It is something of a match made in Heaven!
Starting in 2011 with a matching seed money total of $1,027, we have been able to grow our annual pool of seed money up to $5,000 for each of the last six years, resulting in a doubling of that amount of money for Susila Dharma. $5,000 becomes $10,000. We have been able to put up these annual matches by mounting many different kinds of local fundraisers over these ten years – potluck dinners, musical events, plays, interesting educational and artistic classes, a tea party, direct appeals to members, and several fun clothing exchanges and silent auctions, both at the Center and at Menuca. We also have a member who puts out coffee, tea, and snacks every week after Sunday latihan and each of our fundraising events, as well as several members who give extra personal donations to Susila Dharma throughout the year. In short, we are a busy Subud group!
In addition to our own fundraising, we have been lucky enough to have had the partnership of two other Subud Centers, Sacramento and New York, and Subud Enterprise Services for six of our ten matching funds. That has been extremely helpful, and we are always looking for partnerships to build up our pool of matching seed money to create a large match each year. Our most recent fundraiser, a book sale, had to be cancelled due to the covid virus pandemic. But we are holding on to those books until we can safely get back on the fundraising trail for Susila Dharma….
Speaking of the covid virus, our Susila Dharma projects have been hit very hard by the pandemic, with most of them having to redirect their efforts to local life-saving emergency relief efforts. Projects like Anisha and I Protect Me have joined with other local agencies to provide food and on-the-spot care for impoverished families caught in the crisis. It is a tribute to our projects that they have been able to respond so quickly and flexibly. This reality, combined with hard-pressed Centers not being able to partner with Portland this year, we are putting up one of the smallest matches in our ten year history of “matchmaking”. We hope that everyone will be able to respond extra generously this year. The need is extra great, and your donation can make all the difference in funding Subud’s own humanitarian effort, Susila Dharma.
Deepest thanks to everyone from Subud Portland.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, IPM has shifted to a model called 2train10 that will train women to protect themselves from gender based violence due to the confines of the lock-down and economic uncertainty in South Africa.
The Covid-19 lockdown has seen an exponential increase in intimate partner violence, which started the first day of lockdown where partners are trapped together with no work. Unemployment is almost 10% above the national average, and people living in poverty were estimated at 51% before Covid-19 lockdown. In the Nelson Mandela Bay inner city area where the project operates, the population is close to double that of the province. Families are hardest hit in overcrowded township houses. The anti-sexual violence TEARS Foundation say they have received 30% more text messages and calls over the past month. Victims who are able to break free are unable to travel far to shelters because they do not have money, no cars, and are prohibited by lockdown restrictions.
2 Train 10
School doors are locked to us, probably until 2021.
So we are doing GBV (gender based violence) awareness with a difference.
It is called 2Train10: Each person who learns about keeping safe is asked to volunteer to go into their street, friends, family and clubs to train another 10. Like a relay, where the baton is passed from one group to another, down many lines. The aim is to teach Covid-19 safety and safety from domestic violence and intimate partner violence.
We teach it to people who do not have access to the internet, who do not have data for online learning. So it is done person to person, face to face, in backyards, in front rooms – while keeping social distancing and without power-points or big overhead projections. We share from bits of paper and active demonstration.
Covid-19 is giving us a chance to extend our reach. We aim to reach 1000’s of abused families BEFORE abuse happens.
We are doing a movie and will let you know of progress. Watch for it.
Monica Bennet
Chair of I Protect Me
FYI – Monica was 1 of 30 winners chosen from a field of 1,200 applicants to become Fellows of the 20/20 Gratitude Network. These outstanding project leaders are all highly successful change makers for children.
