| In 1975, Robin Williamson, (my brother-in-law, and now one of our Trustees), suggested I contact Save the Children Fund in the hope of getting a job overseas. I met Gladys Clackett (whom I remember very fondly) at Save the Children Fund's London HQ. She gave me a choice of locations for my first serious job. "Which would you prefer, Algeria or Indonesia?" As I had no idea where Indonesia was and Algeria seemed to be too close to home, I chose Indonesia.
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| I left England in December 1975 and found myself in Jombang, East Java where I spent two very happy years with Save the Children. I was able to explore the length and breadth of East Java in detail and learnt to speak Bahasa Indonesia from people at the office, in the villages and markets. It was during those two years that I became attached to the Indonesian people and particularly the Javanese. |
| In 1977 I married Tatik who was one of the locally employed staff with the Save the Children project in Jombang. We returned to England in 1978 and began to establish roots. We have supported Save the Children ever since, but in 1998 when Suharto fell from power, Indonesia suffered turmoil, rioting and more widespread suffering. As a result there were many more children in need, and Tatik decided to become directly involved. We formed the Indonesian Children's Appeal in 1998 and began fund-raising through our business and through friends in a low profile manner. Our income rose significantly so that we were able to register formally as the Hatch-Barnwell Charitable Trust with the Charity Commission of England and Wales on the 10th May, 2002.
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Philip Hatch-Barnwell |
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