PUSPADI Bali

I Nengah Latra founded PUSPADI Bali in 1999 (formerly YAKKUM Bali until 2013) to provide immediate support to people with disabilities from impoverished, remote or inaccessible areas of Bali and East Indonesia. At 19, Pak Latra experienced a tragic accident when a kerosene lamp exploded during a religious festival in 1986 and covered him in burning fuel, which fused his arm to his torso. Feeling ashamed, he locked himself away for two years after the accident and avoided human contact. Later, Pak Latra came into contact with a field worker from YAKKUM Yogyakarta (a non-profit rehabilitation centre in East Java where he received surgery and treatment so he could regain the use of his arm and hand. He spent the next decade working as a senior manager at YAKKUM Yogya where he saved enough money to return to Bali and begin providing direct support to local people with physical disabilities. On his return to Bali, Pak Latra bought an old car (which he used as his home, office and ambulance for the next four years) and drove all over the island, searching for people with physical disabilities who were hiding away in their homes. In those early days, he’d assess their needs and source a wheelchair or mobility aid, such as crutches. Or Pak Latra would assist a local child with a disability who never had an education to go to school. Since then, PUSPADI Bali has expanded its team and now supports more than 4,900 people with physical disabilities in Bali and East Indonesia. PUSPADI Bali believes people with disabilities should be empowered to live out their dreams and reach their full potential. They are the only NGO in Bali providing high-quality mobility aids, education & training and advocacy programs to people with physical disabilities in Bali and East Indonesia. Their small team of 20 staff make and distribute appropriately fitted prosthetics and orthotics, deliver wheelchairs and regularly do home visits to find more local people in need.