A French association to “give difference a place in Indonesia”

Supported since its beginnings by Azimuth Adventure Travel, the Hati association, which has set itself the mission of supporting professionals serving people with disabilities in Indonesia, celebrated its 12th anniversary in October 2018 and has just closed its fifth training session in Indonesia.

Who are the members of Hati? What actions does the association take? What are her needs and how can we support her? Daphné Barbedette, co-founder of the association, agreed to answer all our questions.

When, how, and why was the HATI Handicap Indonesia association born?

Following my meeting with a speech therapist, Hélène Fadlan, who had known the disability situation in Indonesia since 2000. We were both in love with Indonesia, and we wanted to improve disability care in this country. HATI Handicap Indonesia was therefore born in October 2006 to “Give difference its place”.

What are its main objectives?

HATI Handicap Indonesia was created with the aim of supporting at the therapeutic level (speech therapy, psychomotor skills, specialized education, etc.) future professionals or Indonesian professionals who work with people with disabilities. The objectives of HATI HANDICAP INDONESIA are as follows:

• Participate in improving the living conditions and care of disabled (mentally disabled, multi-disabled, etc.) and deaf populations in Indonesia 
• Contribute to developing care in Indonesia adapted to different types of disabilities by setting up training sessions around the issues of caring for disabled children.
• Promote and help carry out Indonesian initiatives in this direction. In particular, HATI supports local associations, including Rumah Kata, which work for the socio-cultural development of the deaf community in the Yogyakarta region.

Since its creation, the HATI team, all of whose members are volunteers, meets regularly to develop missions and set up various events in France, intended on the one hand to publicize our actions, and on the other hand to finance our operation, our future missions and our project for a resource center, a place of reception, information for parents, teachers and specialized therapists initially, and support in a second phase.

What missions has HATI Handicap Indonesia carried out since its creation?

Five training sessions/knowledge exchanges were carried out by French paramedics in the universities of UNY (2008, 2011, 2014, 2016) and Politeknik of Surakarta (2018), and in the two specialized schools of Yogyakarta (2016, 2018). ).

Have you noticed any changes in the situation of people with disabilities in Indonesia?

Broad topic. The situation has changed absolutely because morals are evolving, certain “taboos” are being lifted. The most striking example remains the stopping of the contrariety of the left hand which is devastating on any child, but which has evolved into the handicap, putting aside the principles of religion for the benefit of the well-being of the child in order to promote the emergence of skills of children with specific needs. There is always a distortion between the city and the countryside.

Money is another problematic factor, because some children are not in school or not in a school adapted to their disability. However, the emergence of more and more local associations or events working towards “awareness of difference” is starting to have an effect. We are seeing an increase in the number of workshops to promote learning Indonesian Sign Language (LSI), awareness of accessibility, protection of the disabled community through laws...

But a lot remains to be done, especially in terms of the number of specialized schools, institutes for adults, awareness of disabilities, notification to parents, diagnosis, etc.

As the years go by, have your goals evolved?

 The goals remain the same, with the ultimate goal of opening a resource center in Indonesia. But as the years went by, we wanted to have a more global vision by completing HATI's missions in Indonesia, that is to say by also working to raise awareness of disability in French primary schools. The circle seems to have closed. All that remains is to achieve the central objective.

Who are the members of the HATI Handicap Indonesia association?

The members are all volunteers, mainly paramedics. But everyone is welcome. We find both one-off volunteers and active volunteers.

What are your actual needs ?

Our current needs are still the same. We are always looking for volunteers because without humans, action does not exist. We are also looking for medical equipment such as wheelchairs, etc. And of course we also need funds, the crux of the matter for any association, to finance the missions that we would like to have closer, and especially to open the resource center that we would like to set up soon.

Can you tell us about the relationship between HATI Handicap Indonesia and Azimuth Adventure Travel?

HATI Handicap Indonesia and Azimuth Adventure Travel, it's a long story: an encounter, emotions... and above all it's the support and kindness of Dominique Clarisse, Director of the agency.

Here are three missions in which Dominique Clarisse supports us.

Thanks to his patronage, the volunteers' national tickets (round trip to Yogyakarta) are financed. Their valuable help allows us to save money, and therefore allows us to finance the interpreters on site, which constitutes our biggest expense during missions. And we thank him once again.

But Dominique also donated chairs to Rumah Kata. It is thanks to donations and support that we continue to dare to believe that our cause is just. And without support, no energy. So thank you, really thank you.

How do you go about it if you want to support HATI Handicap Indonesia? (as an individual, company, etc.) If you wish to help us, several possibilities are available to you, whether you are an individual and/or a company.

You can :

• Use Lilo, the solidarity search engine which allows you to finance the projects of associations, including that of HATI (https://www.lilo.org/fr/hati-handicap-indonesie/). For each search carried out, the Lilo user will accumulate “drops”, which will be transformed into euros before being donated to the association of their choice.
• Make a donation through the Helloasso associative platform (tax deductible) on our website (hati-france.org or our Facebook page)
• But you can also go further in the adventure, and do like Dominique, by supporting us through corporate sponsorship (tax deductible if you wish)
• Become our sponsor, establish a partnership (for example on your e-commerce platform) or any other form that suits you
• Provide medical equipment that we will distribute in Indonesia
• Collect corks (rather for Ile-de-France)
• Be part of our family of volunteers
• Or simply share our page https://www.facebook.com/HatiHandicapIndonesie/

You will find everything on www.hati-france.org. But nothing beats human contact, so don’t hesitate to contact us, and let’s get to know each other.