From Women to Women

An afternoon tea session at the Fountain Lounge, Grand Hyatt Hotel, Jakarta, was recently hosted to raise funds to build houses for the poor in Indonesia. Noni S.A. Pumomo, Group Executive of the Blue Bird Group, with the support of her colleague, Marlene Setiyadi representing Humanity Indonesia, and Mee Kim representing the Korean Chamber of Commerce in Jakarta presented the charity with a fashion show and an auction featuring paintings of sorts, and household products.

Noni, host of the event “Women Built for Women” says the project requires at least Rp 375 million for the building of community centers, houses in Cilegon, and for training. Other objectives include providing for women and unfortunate children who live below the poverty line in the village of Grogol, Cilegon.

As of now, at least 13% of housing in the village of Cilegon lacks sanitation facilities which have been major causes of deaths of children and adults from diarrhea, respiratory problems and skin diseases. “Women Built for Women” programme works to overcome these immediate problems of lack, and aim to also provide sanitation and clean water supply to these communities.

Mee Kim, also the President and owner of CEO SUITE group of business centres have been working with the South Korean business communities in Indonesia to help the deprived and the less fortunate. “The Korean community in Jakarta has contributed at least Rp. 100 million, and we are optimistic that sufficient funds will continue to flow in to save this generation”, she said.

According to Noni, real empowerment of women comes when women are able to enhance their skills to sustain their own families and the communities in which they live.

Marlene Setyadi, one of the project implementers of “Women Built for Women” targets to empower at least 80 women in Bali and Cilegon to begin with.

Apr 26, 2013