Orphanages

The last couple weeks have been filled with getting involved and rekindling old friendships. It feels good to get out of the house more and to start doing some of the things I've been wanting to do since before even coming to Indonesia. And an added bonus? More interesting things to write about! I'm still tired, but LC is having more good nights than bad nights so my energy level is improving. And my to-do list is still unbearably long, but I'm whittling away at it little by little.

Last week I was able to catch up with an old friend. When I was in high school I was an exchange student in Australia for one year. The program (AFS) organized us into groups so that we'd have a group of other exchange students with whom we could share experiences and lean on. There were 7 of us in my group: a Venezuelan, Japanese, Thai, Italian, French Canadian, Dane, and me. I've kept in touch with a few of them, have visited a couple of them (in Caracas and Montreal and Milan) and been visited by a couple of them (Venezuelan and Japanese). My Japanese friend now lives in Bangkok and had to come to Jakarta last week for business. She generously braved the Jakarta traffic to come to dinner at our home, meet J and take a peek at my sleeping boys. It was great to catch up with her and hear about her family and her life now. Thailand is very high on my list of places to visit so I'm sure I'll be seeing her again in Thailand.

Last week I also attended a meeting of the American Women's Association (AWA) Social Welfare Committee. This group grants money to different social causes in and around Jakarta. For example, they give money to several orphanages, provide scholarships for children to go to school (public school here is not entirely free - you have to pay for school uniforms, workbooks, pens, school fees, etc.), give money to mentally and physically disabled homes for adults and children, etc. Some of these places receive money from the government, but of course it's never enough. And some of them are started by generous and philanthropic individuals or churches (I'm not aware of us working with any mosques but we may) to meet the needs of their communities. To help them make ends meet these places make an application to the AWA, for example, which is reviewed by the committee and funds are awarded (or not). The committee gets its money from membership fees and the majority from corporate donations. It was a very interesting meeting and I'm excited to become part of this group of women who are doing some really wonderful things in the communities.

Part of the committee's responsibility is to visit the group that has submitted an application for a grant, and to make follow-up visits to ensure that the money is being used for the stated purposes. This morning I went with a group of women to visit an orphanage and home for pregnant women in Bogor. This place was started by an Australian woman (doctor I think) and doesn't receive any government funds because it is Christian (I asked if it is the same for Muslim sponsored places but they didn't know the answer - I suspect not). The pregnant women are single or married women who do not feel comfortable or safe remaining with their families. There were 4 women there at the time. While staying in the home they are taught a skill like knitting, and while they are there they make various crafts that are sold in the community or at bazaars.

The orphanage had about 8 children under 1, another 15 1-4 year olds, and about 10 preschoolers/kindergartners. They teach the older children themselves in the orphanage because its actually cheaper to hire a teacher than to pay school fees and related costs for all of the children. Many of the children in the orphanage are not actually up for adoption. This is quite common in Indonesia and in many other countries. The families bring the child to the orphanage because they can't afford to keep them at that time, but hope to be able to afford to later in their life. And families do sometimes take their children back when their financial situation improves. But other times not. And unfortunately some families only take the children back when they're old enough to work. I suppose in most cases this is fine because realistically not all the children would be adopted anyway. However, I hate to think that there might be children out there who are desired by other families but their biological families have them on "reserve" until they're old enough to work. I also heard that it's difficult to adopt a girl from a Christian orphanage because there aren't enough up for adoption (they're in higher demand). You can only adopt a child from an orphanage of your religion, so a Muslim can only adopt a Muslim child, and a Christian can only adopt a Christian child.

The place I visited was quite well run and evidently one of the nicest ones I will see. It was very clean and the children had their own beds and it was spacious enough. There are about 20 staff so the staff don't seem too overwhelmed, although they welcome volunteers. The toddlers seemed to have quite a few toys to play with and they were reading books when we came. There was a backyard and it was in a very quiet, nice neighborhood. And most importantly, the children seemed happy and the staff very loving. It was nice to learn that the vision in my head of what orphanages must be like is not always true, and that sometimes the children are actually in a better situation in an orphanage than they would be in a home. However, I know they aren't all as nice as this one and that there are others I will see that will break my heart.