How We Started

Chance International was founded by Natascha Barrymore, her family and friends. Natascha has been heavily involved in relief and aid efforts in Aceh since she first travelled independently to Indonesia just after news of the tsunami broke in 2004.

Faced with the choice of making little difference to the welfare of many and a great difference to the welfare of few, Natascha determined to provide a hands on approach to aid and eventually set up Chance International, beginning by meeting the immediate needs of the 400 inhabitants of the village of Lam Asan.

Natascha was the only westerner to travel to the conflict areas in January and February 2005, which was how she met the people of Lam Asan. Her personal achievements leading up to the foundation of Chance International include:

• Setting up a child heart and brain treatment program: Natascha was approached to help a child with severe hydrocephalous who was receiving no help as her condition was not a result of the tsunami. She organised funding for the operation and transport of the little girl, Suci, to Jakarta with her father, and was inundated with similar requests within 24 hours. Metro TV, a large media group in Jakarta, agreed to fund the operations and a system was set up that any child found with heart or head conditions could be sent to a Jakarta hospital for treatment.
• Facilitating surgical operations in Tsunami stricken areas: an Hungarian medical team approached Natascha complaining that they were placed in a camp treating minor ailments when they were actually a full surgical team. Natascha arranged for them to go to an island that had lost it's surgeon in the tsunami and had a huge waiting list of patients in desperate need of operations. The following day they were operating and made many return visits in the following years.

The last two programs have carried over 150 operations to date.