Our Director on how PUSPADI Bali has Evolved and the Vital Work that Still Needs to be Done In 1986, PUSPADI Bali’s Director I Nengah Latra had an accident by a kerosene blast, which left him horrifically burnt. Two years later, he went to Yogyakarta to have rehabilitation and then continued to work there for more…
Category: Blogs
Disability Rights is Everyone’s Issue
by I Nengah Latra (PUSPADI Bali’s Director) In 2017, my team and I are anticipating supporting hundreds more Balinese and East Indonesians from all walks of life who are seeking our support after losing a limb in a motorbike accident or due to diabetes, polio, congenital birth defects and a range of other factors. It…
Balinese Teenager Devi Lets Her Talents Shine Despite a Life Marred by Tragedy
Devi is a talented Balinese teenager who has suffered unimaginable tragedy in her life and found the strength to succeed, through the support of PUSPADI Bali. When Devi was six years old, she lost her leg and parents in a motorbike accident. She then grew up living with her grandparents. After the accident, Devi was…
Balinese Man Regains His Independence After An Accident
Looking at Darma now, he is a changed man – with a positive perspective, loving family and now his own motorbike so he can truly have independence and more choices. It is in stark contrast to six years ago, when Darma lay paralysed on his bed as well as living in destitute conditions in Karangasem,…
Modular Prosthetic Legs: Changing Perceptions about Disability in Bali
One of our great supporters A Leg To Stand On (ALTSO) has recently given us high-quality modular prosthetic legs, enabling people with a disability in Bali and East Indonesia to be more comfortable and at ease when they walk. The modular prosthetic legs differ from the mobility aids that PUSPADI Bali staff normally make, with…
A Disability Rights Law in Bali Must be Regulated
I Gede Widiasa is a husband and father to two children, working as a masseuse in Denpasar and has been living with low vision since his youth. After grappling a fever when he was two years old, Widiasa lost some of his sight. Widiasa toils to provide for his family like many others in Bali…
Meet the People Taking Part in the World-First Wheelchair User’s Voice Pilot Study
Reni is swiftly and easily moving around in her new wheelchair, as she sweeps the fallen leaves and chats with her family outside their traditional Balinese home and temple in Abiansemal in the Badung regency. It’s Reni’s third and most comfortable wheelchair in the past 2 ½ years, after enduring big, second-hand and ill-fitting ones,…
Goodbye to Selvia: one of our Top Prosthetics & Orthotics Supervisors
We’re sad to farewell one of our brilliant staff, Selvia Suryadinata, our Prosthetics & Orthotics Supervisor! Selvia has been with PUSPADI Bali for almost two years after graduating from the Jakarta School of Orthotics and Prosthetics. Selvia has a tremendous work ethic, with the people with disabilities that we support always receiving the utmost care…
The Groundbreaking Research Underway Into Wheelchair Distribution in Developing Countries
I Ketut Gigir lives with his family in a basic home made out of brick and natural resources in a remote, impoverished part of Karangasem in East Bali, surrounded by fruit trees, poultry, pigs and cattle. In 1985, Ketut Gigir became paraylysed after falling out of a tree, which forced him to learn how to…
Farewell: Interview with Abie (our Prosthetics & Orthotics Supervisor)
For the past 2½ years, Abie Cahya Kusuma has made many prosthetics, orthotics and mobility aids for the people we support across Bali and Eastern Indonesia. Now he has left PUSPADI Bali and reflects on his wonderful time here, in an interview below. How would you describe your experience at PUSPADI Bali? I feel grateful…