The Planet Sulawesi Children Relief Fund (PSCRF)
Planet Sulawesi is raising and organizing a small aid fund for children of poorer families in Sulawesi.
We are publishing various media products like DVDs and books with content in relation to Sulawesi at our own expense. These are given away for free donations. All the money is collected and taken to support children aid programs, which are already successfully established on the ground.
We have chosen this way of helping, since we only have the possibility to visit Indonesia a maximum of five weeks a year. Our jobs do not allow us to take more time off. So we decided to support experienced aid workers in their ongoing projects instead of trying to help ourselves on the ground.
How PSCRF was born
The idea for the relief fund was born in summer 2006, when we showed a small film about one of our North Sulawesi trips to some friends. They were really enthusiastic about it, with the consequence that we asked them, if they would spend money for acquiring the film on DVD. The answer was an unanimous "yes", and therefore we decided to make the film more professional and produce a first edition of 100 pieces along with a nice cover and introduction to the project.
Maximal transparency
All the expenses for the production of the DVDs and books are carried exclusively by ourselves, which is the reason why 100 percent of the donations can be transfered to the Planet Sulawesi Children Relief Fund.
To guarantee maximal transparency, we list every single donation by amount, date, place, donator and product on our website. Anyone spending the desired amount of money on a Planet Sulawesi DVD or book can decide, if he or she wants to be listed by name or simply as anonymous donator. Thus everybody can control, whether his or her donation is listed correctly and how it contributes to the overall sum. The current amount of money collected in the fund is available on our website at any time, as well as the amount of money spent along with the detailed descriptions of the target projects.
Our partners
During our search for project partners we have discovered a small children's foundation run together with a remote tourist resort by a German sociologist, Katrin Weise. In the Pulisan Jungle Beach Resort the guests have started financing the education of village children from the poorest families some years ago, with all the organisation on the ground being managed by the resort. A huge step was done with the renovation of the lower secondary school in Marinsow which is very important for the region as it can be reached on foot.
The first product
As mentioned above, the first product available within the framework of the PSCRF is a DVD with a film about holidays in North Sulawesi titled "Nordsulawesi - Natur, Kultur, Abenteuer". In five chapters it shows many pictures and movie sequences of this beautiful region - a lot of them underwater. Informative comment is only available in German at the moment, although you can enjoy the pictures without the speech as well and check out the information from our website and other sources. The DVD has an overall duration of about 40 minutes.
From October 2006 on we give away this film for free donations - if you are interested in a copy, please send us a short email note: babsi@planetsulawesi.com.
The second product
In February 2008 we started publishing a set of Austrian special-issue stamps, which we give away to collectors for donations supporting our children relief fund. The topic of the stamps' illustrations is fishlife in Sulawesi.
"Nemo" - the first stamp issued in February 2008.
The set will include four stamps, each with a nominal value of 55 cents, and will be complete until the end of 2008. The edition is limited to 100 pieces per stamp. We guarantee that there will be no reprint!
If you are interested in a stamp, please send us a short email note: babsi@planetsulawesi.com.