EAST JAVA, Indonesia: Kuwaiti Doctors attend to a patient who underwent an eye surgery funded by Kuwaiti charity. - KUNA

EAST JAVA, Indonesia: The State of Kuwait contributed with $4.5 million in humanitarian aid to Indonesia over the past two years and a half. The Kuwaiti financial allocation was disbursed for building mosques, schools and digging water wells, said ambassador Abdulwahab Al-Saqr during a ceremony held by the Indonesian Al-Bayt Charity, affiliated to the International Islamic Charity Organization. It was held on the occasion of conducting eye lens opacity surgeries for a number of blind locals, with Kuwaiti donations.

Kuwait has built a number of villages in Indonesia after late leaders; namely the late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah in Panda Aceh for victims of the 2004 tsunami and Village of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah in Garut Java. These philanthropic projects are supported by the International Islamic Charity Organization, Revival of Islamic Heritage Society, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Nouri Charity Society, Al-Zakat House, Kuwaiti Red Crescent Society and others.

Commander of the naval force in eastern Indonesia, Dara Anto, lauded the project for treating many blind people in the city of Surabaya. Indonesia has witnessed alarming rise of blindness cases. Meanwhile, Sheikha Mariam Al-Sabah, speaking on behalf of the Kuwaiti donors, affirmed that the Kuwaiti charities were seeking to help people in various parts of the world, according to guidelines of His Highness the Amir.

Abdullah Al-Mayas, general director of Al-Bayt society, said up to 500 Indonesians have benefited from the project, noting that a cataract surgery costs KD 60. Al-Bayt society inaugurated "friends of the blind campaign" in 2017 to limit cataract cases in the Asian nation. The Kuwaiti ambassador, accompanied by the naval chief and donors, visited patients undergoing treatment at a local hospital. - KUNA