Sculpture unveiled to commemorate Charles Jacobs  

A sculpture of Charles Maria Jacobs has been unveiled at the PemKesDes (Village Health Center-VHC) in Desa Les, North Bali. The bust was designed by Ongky Wijaya in honor of Pak Charles, who was responsible for constructing the Village Health Center in 2010 following donations from the Foundation Help Desa Les and Toine Knipping, CEO and Founder of Amicorp Group and CEO of the Amicorp Community Foundation.

To pay their respects to Pak Charles, several of his friends and members of the Amisewaka-DLCC team, along with Toine Knipping, gathered on the day of the installation. Jero Mangku Lingga Anyar, a dear friend of Pak Charles, proffered a small set of offerings. The speeches made by those close to him reflected the village’s deep gratitude towards Pak Charles for his decades of service to the community.

Pak Charles was “adopted” into a local family, and when he died, they were the ones who organized all his death rites; he was buried in the village cemetery.

Pak Charles arranged and funded various initiatives for the village of Desa Les, including a clinic. A group of dentists from the Netherlands volunteered their time to provide free dental check-ups and care to children in the village. Interestingly, the children living in the mountainous areas, generally from poorer families, had better teeth than those living closer to the village center. This was attributed to their limited access to sweets. Additionally, a midwifery clinic was established alongside dental services.

In 2001, he initiated the construction of a primary school in the hamlet of Butiyang, located in the hills above Les, where there was no school at all. Today, the school provides primary education to 117 students who would have been otherwise deprived of an education, given that the nearest school is an hour’s walk away down a very steep slope.

Some other projects Charles organized and found financing for include:

• The Serba Guna Community Hall in the middle of the village used for meetings, music rehearsals, and badminton
• A complete set of gamelan orchestra instruments and funding for a teacher. This music group was able to represent the village in 2015, 2017, and 2018
• Monthly gifts of rice, sugar, coffee, and other condiments for older people in the village
• Scholarships for over 120 students ranging from Primary School through to university
• Helping to create a road to the Yeh Mampeh Waterfall
• Helping to create a road to SD 5 in Butiyang
• Providing garbage bins for the village of Les
• Purchasing uniforms for 40 Pecalang or traditional bodyguards
• Donating a number of computers to Desa Les official and traditional apparatus
• Computer classes for children
• He donated funds to build a water reservoir south of the Pura Desa temple
• Working alongside Sebastiaan van der Veer, a former Amicorp Group employee, and local villagers, various storefronts were refurbished, and a small garden area was grown at the foot of the lion statue. Also, areas at the waterfall were beautified
• Renovations to the Head of the village’s office
• Yearly donations to the August 17 festival for Independence Day
• Provided entertainment from a prominent comedy group Gong Dwi Mekar for the Galungan holy days
• The sanitation program that provided 725 bathhouses (including toilets) to homes where toilets were nonexistent or not viable. The project resulted in him being given the nickname “Mr. Toilet”

Not to mention the almost daily opening of his wallet to help those with medical needs, food, or a ride to a nearby village. He provided so much to others and took nothing for himself. His home is a simple abode with a two-plate burner stove; his library contains Dutch books about the war and novels.

Charles dedicated his life to improving the lives of the people of Desa Les through various projects. He was a steadfast humanitarian who opened his heart to those in need, and his legacy lives on through the many lives he touched. The installation of his statue serves as a reminder of the impact he made on the community and is a fitting tribute to a man who gave so much of himself to others. He will be deeply missed, but his contributions to Desa Les will never be forgotten.

Vale Pak Charles.