Bali burns boy appeal - Dhani needs our help

His father lay helpless listening to 5 year old Dhani's screams of pain!

In May 2007, Dhani and his father Ahmad were involved in a horrific accident involving another motorbike and a truck in the village of Air Sanih in North Bali. Dhani & his father were driving home on their motorbike and wanted to turn right so moved to the middle of the road. There was a truck coming the other way and a motorbike tried to overtake the truck. The other bike saw Dhani’s bike too late, Dhani’s Dad Ahmad tried to swerve to the left but other bike panicked and headed straight for them, hitting them as they reached the lefthand side of the road.

Ahmad was thrown 8 meters from the bike and doesn’t remember the impact. Dhani ended up on top of the bike, the fuel tank ruptured spraying petrol all over little Dhani which then ignited. Ahmad, lay helpless and dazed, his right leg completely shattered watching helplessly and in total in horror as Dhani lay screaming, the fire eating away at his little body. After that everything is a blur as he passed in and out of consciousness

After the accident they were taken to a local clinic who had little idea how to treat deep burns and Ahmad had his right leg amputated at the knee. As if
the trauma of loosing a leg and being burnt all over wasn't enough
both Dhani & his father got severe infections.

Luckily Gloria Goodwin of the Bali Crisis Center in Lovina
saw them both at another local hospital where Dhani was close
to death and she was asked by the hospital to help them as the
family had run out of money. This was 3 months after the accident.

Dhani had massive infections....the burns he suffered affected his face, head, arms,
chest plus abdomen and legs...he was just 5 years old at the time...( his birthday is on Christmas day).

The bandages applied by the first hospital had welded themselves to Dhani's body and the only way to remove them was under a general anesthetic. As luck would have it Gloria receives free supplies of Burn Aid from a pharmaceutical company in Australia so was able to provide some relief for Dhani's after the operation.

This case was brought to my attention by two long term Bali Expats; Nick Burgoyne & Maria Jaques who had been trying to raise money to help Dhani & Ahmad. As a Rotarian I have access to other clubs around the world and was confident that we could raise the money swiftly.

On Saturday 26th April we traveled to North Bali to visit Dhani and talk to the family to find out the facts and verify that this case warranted help; looking at the photos beforehand we all agreed that was probably a foregone conclusion however I needed verfication before approaching Rotary Clubs.

The meeting was recorded and Ahmad explained during a video interview what exactly occurred on that terrible day. Dhani's father is a simple and good man who loves his son and wants nothing more for himself than to be able to work and earn money to support his family once again. For this he needs a modern prosthetic limb as the one supplied in Java gives him infections & sores so he does not use it anymore.

It was interesting to visit the family and listen to their story and thier thoughts and aspirations for the future. I found that despite the obvious cultural differences between us there were distinct similarities in what we both wished for our families. The most noteable difference of course was that we have been blessed with a relatively comfortable life and they have very little. It would not have been right to just walk away and leave them to their fate. It was then that I realised we had the power to make a difference. The choice was an easy one!

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