Set amidst the rice fields on the pristine island of Lombok is the child development center called Peduli Anak, which was built in 2006 to care for disadvantaged children. Ten years after its creation, the foundation has helped hundreds of street children to go to school and live a fulfilling life. This all started when a man made a trip in a rural area of Indonesia.
Chaim Fetter, founder of Peduli Anak | Photo courtesy of Ahmad Zamroni
In 2005, the Dutch founder of Peduli Anak, Chaim Fetter, traveled to Lombok where he discovers the unfortunate lives of street children. Fetter's story caught the attention of many people when he made an appearance on the talk show Indonesian popular TV Kick Andy 2015 where it was invited as a guest to discuss giving opportunities to marginalized communities groups. Speaking to welcome Andy Noya, Fetter revealed that his family had a long history of living in Indonesia.
"When I was a child, my grandmother often told me stories of Indonesia, cooked me fried rice and fried banana, and the house was filled with memories of 'Indonesia. So since I was a child, I felt a connection to Indonesia, "he said.
This link materialized when the Dutch visited Lombok and became concerned about bad living conditions street children.
troubled by what he found, Chatter encouraged his friends in the Netherlands and Lombok to help make a difference and together decided to buy 1.5 hectares of land to build a project area including shelters, schools and medical facilities.
a year later, Peduli Anak was officially born and little fact that its founder travel later transform hundreds of children in the life of the various sectors in Indonesia including Lombok, Surabaya and Sumbawa.
Today Peduli Anak has three permanent houses, a primary school, recreation areas, which include a swimming pool, clinic, kitchen and other support facilities. In addition to his 90 children in residential care, the center is also open to other children who wish to join their primary school and cares for 200 in their family care program.
Photo Courtesy of Peduli Anak
Talk to Indonesia Expat is the director of Peduli Anak Dian Nurdiana , which is part of the foundation since 2009 when she joined as secretary. After a year, she was promoted as director, that came naturally with greater responsibilities and more challenges. Regardless, she considers her work as very special because it has the possibility of being a "mother" of 90 children who come from different backgrounds.
Nurdiana reveals that the center is part of the island because there are not too many organizations in Lombok with a similar function. It further stresses that the mission of the foundation is to raise awareness of children's rights, which go beyond their basic needs.
"The message we are trying to spread is providing learning about the importance of children's rights. It concerns not only basic needs but also the most important thing is to know how to fulfill the rights of the child for parenting, education, health and identity, "said Nurdiana
Although their main purpose is to improve the quality of life for children. Peduli Anak also found a number of issues surrounding Lombok, which led to the decision to build the center.
"There was a trend for higher rates of marriage problems and divorce early due low levels of education have caused many parents to abandon their children. In addition, high unemployment and limited job opportunities caused parents to choose to work as migrant workers (better known Tenaga Kerja Indonesia or in Indonesian TKI) overseas who resulted in the abandonment of their children, "says Nurdiana.
For this reason, Peduli Anak has developed several programs that include health care, primary education, institutional care and family care, which aims to ensure that children can still have fulfilling lives, despite the negligence of their parents. Their work has also been recognized as the only organization in the West Nusa Tenggara province for Grade A accreditation in the category of the child welfare institution.
Thanks to the staff as Nurdiana and 59 others involved in the center, children's lives have changed significantly, as they become more motivated in their studies, creative and determined about their to come up. Not only the children affected, but some of their relatives have also learned to understand their responsibilities after being involved in the care of family Peduli Anak program.
Despite their achievements, Peduli Anak admits there is still work to do to help the most disadvantaged children. A number of children still need sponsors that they must continue to find new partnerships. Renée Corstens is one of the fundraisers who took this task to ensure that the lives of children in the foundation are supported.
Also came from the Netherlands, the Corstens actions fundraising for Peduli Anak was an exciting trip. "My first two weeks [of joining] this project, I was really impressed. It is really a running organization, "she muses while describing his experience in the foundation.
Corstens is not the only foreigner who helps Peduli Anak, the foundation holds volunteer programs, which so far has attracted people of Indonesia and abroad, there including from China and Malaysia. This further shows that the setting change can be made by everyone and everywhere, regardless of your nationality.
For more information and how you can help, please visit www.pedulianak.org