SurfAid International Celebrates 10 Years of Humanitarian Work

Humanitarian organisation SurfAid International is proud to celebrate its 10th anniversary this year after starting with a small malaria program in one village in the Mentawai Islands, off Indonesia’s Sumatran coast, in 2000.

“By living in a pilot village in the remote Mentawai Islands we soon learnt that by using drama and song we could facilitate behaviour change among the community. Within nine months we had more than 90 per cent of the village sleeping under mosquito nets,” SurfAid founder Dr Dave Jenkins said.

Over the past 10 years, SurfAid has worked in more than 300 villages in the Mentawai and Nias island chain and also more recently in Padang, the regional capital of West Sumatra, after a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck the city last September.

The scope of SurfAid’s work has increased from malaria prevention to now include water and sanitation, disaster preparedness, and community health programs.

In 2007, SurfAid was awarded the World Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (WANGO) Humanitarian Award, after being chosen from more than 49,000 not-for-profits worldwide.

“SurfAid has always been about creating lasting change, not patch-ups which don’t work for long,” Dr Dave said.

“Although we did not appreciate it at the time, one of the best things that happened at the beginning was our complete lack of money other than what we had ourselves and through endless volunteer days and small donations from our friends and families.

“This made us study what could be the best return to our donors and clearly the science was telling us to look at some of the basic behaviours that we take for granted – breastfeeding correctly, washing hands, feeding your child some fruit and vegetables, and sleeping under a mosquito net makes a huge difference.”

SurfAid’s research shows that nearly one in 10 Mentawai children do not make it to the age of five. In industrialized countries, on average, there are six deaths for every 1,000 live births.

It was seeing the tiny graves in the village of Katiet while on a surf trip back in October 1999 that set Dr Dave on his mission to establish SurfAid.

“We were anchored off a village and I went in to have a look around. When the chief found out I was a doctor he asked me to come back and see some people. I returned with a small medical kit and 200 people were waiting.

“We had quite an emotional afternoon coming to terms with the state of health there, seeing desperate children who were sick. They had worms, were anaemic, and had pot bellies from malnutrition. One woman with pneumonia was brought to me in a wheelbarrow. She died later that night. Whole families were wasting away with pneumonia.”

Today Dr Dave is proud that SurfAid:
Has distributed nearly 60,000 specially treated mosquito nets and malaria education to more than 300 villages in some of the remotest areas in the world stretching along hundreds of kilometres of rough seas from northern Simeulue to the southern Mentawai
Has expanded from the initial malaria program to encompass hygiene, sanitation, nutrition, clean water projects, pregnancy and birthing, and immunization
Is always looking to engage communities to help themselves and build local capacity
Has responded to four large emergencies, including the Asian Tsunami, despite never being established as an emergency response organisation
Has helped communities extensively prepare for emergencies
Has defined a uniquely positive example of responsible tourism and cross cultural partnership
Is encouraging global citizenship through our schools program which is now in Australia, New Zealand and the USA. http://schools.surfaidinternational.org
Dr Dave said: “We have had incredible support from a range of individuals, the surfing industry, government aid organizations and the United Nations and we thank everyone for their support and goodwill. They have all demanded a very high degree of professionalism, commitment and transparency and we are all the better for it.

“When it comes to helping more kids not only survive but thrive and reach their potential we are unashamedly ambitious and we are now ready to take our work to more villages and new areas where there is great need,” he said.

“With your help we can wipe out millions of days of extreme childhood suffering permanently. I think contributing to that mission has to be the coolest thing anyone can do.”

You can read more about SurfAid’s programs, participate in upcoming events, and donate at www.surfaidinternational.org

SurfAid International Founder Dr. Dave Jenkins Named Agent of Change Award Recipient

SURFER Magazine has named Dr. Dave Jenkins as the “Agent of Change” award recipient and SurfAid International, the organization he founded, as the beneficiary of proceeds from VIP table sales at this year’s SURFER Poll and Video Awards presented by American Suzuki and Ultimate Wave Tahiti. The award will be presented on Sept. 15th at the annual event that unites the worlds of sports, music, entertainment and philanthropy to honor the best in surfing.

The Agent of Change award honors a surfer who is making a difference for the betterment of the surfing community. Last year, Dave Rastovich received the first award for his work with Surfers for Cetaceans.

“We launched the Agent of Change award last year to help recognize and honor surfers who are making a difference,” said SURFER Editor In Chief, Joel Patterson. “Without a doubt, SurfAid International, led by Founder Dr. Dave Jenkins, is improving isolated areas that are particularly relevant to surfers. We are proud to honor Dr. Jenkins for his visionary leadership and give back to SurfAid International to help them continue improving the health and well being of both the people and the communities that are so important to the surfing community.”

In 1999, physician and surfer Dr Dave Jenkins went on a surf charter to the Mentawai Islands with one goal in mind: to find perfect waves. The surf proved to be everything he had hoped for. What he also found though were the Mentawai people, mostly women and children, suffering and dying from the ravages of malaria and other preventable diseases. Dave questioned what he was doing with his own life by pursuing personal career goals, and he found that he was unable to just walk away. It was a defining life moment. He sought support from like-minded individuals and went on to establish SurfAid International, a non-profit humanitarian organization dedicated to the alleviation of human suffering through community-based health programs.

Today SurfAid has expanded to encompass disaster preparedness, water and sanitation, and health programs in the Mentawai and Nias islands, off Indonesia’s Sumatran Coast. SurfAid’s main goal is to empower the island communities so as to foster sustainable health and resilience. With the support of the global surfing community, and the people of the Mentawai and Nias islands, SurfAid has come to exemplify the healing power of cross-cultural partnerships. For more information, visit: surfaidinternational.org

SurfAid also has an international Schools Program, which aims to develop global citizens using the humanitarian challenges and achievements of SurfAid as an example for action: schools.surfaidinternational.org

“It’s a great honor to receive this award on behalf of everyone who has helped SurfAid achieve so much in the last 10 years,” SurfAid CEO and Founder Dr Dave Jenkins, said. “It’s particularly cool to receive it from SURFER Magazine, whose heartfelt decision to cover our initial work sparked an immediate and lasting response from the surfing tribe and industry that embodies the core of who we are.”

In addition to the award, the SurfAid International organization will receive proceeds from the sale of VIP tables at the event. SURFER is selling the tables to companies within the surf industry for $2,000 each for a table of 10 within the premiere seating area. So far, industry support has come from a plethora of sources including: Bubble Gum Surf Wax, Channel Islands, DC, Hurley, Rusty, Sanuk and Volcom, to name a few, and tables are still available.

The 37th annual SURFER Poll and Video Awards presented by American Suzuki and Ultimate Wave Tahiti will be held on Tues., Sept. 15, 2009 at The Grove of Anaheim. Attendance is by invitation only, but the event will be Web cast live at surferpoll.com