...the beautiful past...

1998 - 2013

The first time I went to Pulau Seraya Kecil was in 1998, together with Pak Fransis Oan.

Fransis was the owner of Gardena Hotel in Labuan Bajo and I was working at R.S. St. Rafael Hospital in Cancar, taking care of handicapped children living in a small rehabilitation center in Cancar. Most of these kids were ill in poliomyelitis, leprosy, or they had disabilities or mental disorders.

Workaday life on Flores 1998/1999

Tuberculosis	HighLIGHT at OT	Severe burns

In 1998, the people on Flores did not accepted handicapped people in public or next to their privacy and social life and so it was not easy to find a place where I could do some recreation with my youngest patients. Once a month I left the mountainous and rainy region some km away from Ruteng, to relax and meeting friends and "Ayam Putih" (tourists) in Labuan Bajo.

During a short holiday weekend at Gardena Hotel, Fransis offered the opportunity doing some recreation with "my patients" at a nice beach in the northern part of Labuan Bajo, on a small island called "Seraya Kecil".
Just some fishing families were living there and they allowed us to stay at their island without disturbing or acting unfair (at this time, it was quite common to hit or kick handicapped people in public).
Together with Fransis, I went there and talked to the head of the small villiage and we started "an agreement" ;-)

Each month I visited Seraya Kecil together with about 15 to 30 handcapped children for a weekend. We enjoyed swimming, playing at the beach,..., and during the time my young patients needed a rest, I visited the fishing village on Seraya Kecil and took care of ill people living there.

I left Flores at the beginning of the year 2000 because I started a new job in Europe.
And Fransis did an agreement with people of Seraya Kecil village, planning a small bungalow resort for backpackers at the beach I've been before with my patients.

Support Party at EXPO2000

Since the bungalows have been finished at the beach, each year I travelled to the island and visited "my old patients from Seraya Kecil village" and I met new patients there.

Support Party at University Hospital 2001

In 2009 I was on holiday again in Labuan Bajo, and invited my old friend Fransis and his wife to my wedding party planned for the beginning of the year 2010 in Germany. Fransis smiled and said: "Why don't you plan your wedding ceremony here in Labuan Bajo or on Seraya Kecil island?

Some minutes later, my wife and me decided to take that idea and we invited our european and asian friends to Serya Kecil, while Fransis and his team with help of Seraya Kecil village people organized our wedding here in May 2010.

We did a one week wedding party on Seraya Kecil and it was perfect.

Wedding Party 2010

In 2013, a new investor visited Seraya Kecil and rent Seraya Kecil beach area, so Seraya Kecil Bungalows were closed at the end of 2013...

Now, it's a website just to bear Seraya Island Bungalows in remembrance!

and

to promote the new bungalows of Seraya Sunset Beach, the new place for backpacker's interested in visiting Seraya Kecil Island!