Help bring Palliative Care to Indonesia's children

While many families around the world pause to embrace this wonderful season of gratitude and togetherness, in another part of the world there are children whose lives tell a different story — children like Billa.

Billa is an eight-year-old girl who was born with a serious immunocompromised illness that requires careful attention every day. While her older brother and younger sister run and play freely, Billa often stays indoors, wrapped in a soft blanket, her body needing extra protection and care.

Her family lives with an uncertain and unstable income. Some days, there isn’t enough food to prepare a full meal for a family of five. Other days, they depend on the generosity of their neighbors who share what little they have.

When Billa was first referred by her physician to Rachel House for palliative care at home, it was because her illness was becoming harder for her family to manage without assistance. Her daily complex medication regime has increased in dosages, with a demanding routine and overwhelming side effects. Some days, she turns away from the medicine spoon, tears welling up.

“I don’t want it,” she whispers, her small voice filled with frustration and fatigue.

Her mother does her best to comfort and coax her, but often feels overwhelmed. Caring for three children, especially one that requires special attention, is difficult when the family’s income is uncertain and she is without help.

And that is where Rachel House steps in — not just in medical support, but as a family of choice.

Our nurses provide home-based palliative care for Billa. We don’t just check Billa’s symptoms and leave. We stay. We sit with her. We patiently talk her through her fears, using stories and gentle humor to help her manage the complex medication routine; the nurses even help her name her feelings when everything feels too big for an eight-year-old's heart.

Our nurses also listen to her mother — to the exhaustion in her voice, the heaviness in her sigh. We offer food support when the kitchen shelves are bare, guidance when decisions feel impossible, and companionship on days when loneliness creeps in.

Over time, something beautiful happened:

Billa and her family didn’t just accept Rachel House into their lives — they chose us.

The family chose to trust our nurses.

The family chose to lean on our nurses.

The family chose to let our nurses in as part of their inner circle.

And Rachel House, in return, embraced them — fully, compassionately, wholeheartedly.

In a world where so much feels uncertain, this becomes the one place where Billa’s family feels held, understood, and never alone.

And that is what this season of gratitude is truly about:

The family we choose, and the people who choose us back.

Your support helps ensure that families like Billa’s never face these challenges alone.

It helps fill empty plates and quiet evenings with warmth.

It turns difficult days into moments of comfort, courage, and connection.

Billa may not celebrate the season the same way others do, but she knows this:

When people choose to care — even from far away — it feels like love.

It feels like hope.

It feels like family.

This season, you can be part of that chosen family.

Your generosity can bring warmth into a child’s home, light into a mother’s forlorn heart, and hope into the life of a family facing unimaginable challenges.

Thank you for helping children like Billa feel seen, supported, and deeply loved — especially when they need it most.

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