Life five years after the big wave
SOS Children in Indonesia
Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago, located between Asia and Australia. It is a country where stunning scenery, lush rainforests and endangered animals are found alongside natural disasters; disasters which have harmed, traumatised and displaced hundreds of thousands of women and children. Indonesia's population is concentrated in urban areas, putting great strain on the capacity of cities to provide housing and social services.
In addition to displacement, children in Indonesia face other challenges. Each year, thousands of women and children fall victim to human trafficking, including being forced or lured into the commercial sex trade. Child labour is also a major issue: there are nearly three million children in the labour force, many in dangerous occupations.
SOS Children's Villages provides orphaned and abandoned children in Indonesia
with a new mother, a family and a home where they can live until they
are ready for independent life (each family house can give a home to up
to 12 children). The charity began its work in Indonesia in 1970. It currently cares for over 825 children
at its eight purpose-built Children's Villages, and a further 149
teenagers at its seven SOS Youth Homes, where young adults live while
they complete their college studies or vocational training, and where
they are taught the life skills needed for independent living. A ninth Children's Village is currently under construction in Yogyakarta, south-east of Jakarta, the capital.
SOS Children also runs SOS Schools, Vocational Training Centres and Family Strengthening Programmes (FSPs). FSPs aim to prevent child
abandonment and to keep vulnerable families together by providing
childcare, counselling, vocational training and medical support. Through all of its Villages, Youth Homes, Schools, Training Centres and FSPs the charity is providing support to nearly 10,000 people in Indonesia.
SOS Children's first Indonesian Children's Village was built in Lembang, approximately 10 miles north of Bandung in western Java. SOS Children's Village Lembang has 13 family houses for 130 children, an SOS Nursery School for 60 little children, an SOS Primary School for over 600 pupils, and an SOS Vocational Training Centre where SOS mothers and staff receive ongoing training. An SOS FSP offers support to 2,000 people in Lembang, and they also benefit from the FSP's small clinic and dental surgery. An SOS Youth Home in Bandung provides accommodation for older SOS children while they finish their education or vocational training.
In 1984 the charity built a Village in Cibubur, on the outskirts of Jakarta. It has 15 family houses and an SOS Youth Home, as well as an SOS Nursery School for 75 children. The older children attend private or state elementary and secondary schools. At the centre of the Village is a 'pendopo', a traditional Indonesian assembly hall, which is used for meetings, parties, dancing and sports events. Over 250 local children and their caregivers also receive support from the SOS FSP in Jakarta. An SOS Playbus and SOS Mobile Library travel round the poorer areas of Jakarta and provide books, audiovisual materials, and they simply allow children to be children.
Semarang was the site for the next charity village in 1984, in the capital of central Java, on the north coast of the island. The village has 14 family homes for 140 children and an SOS Youth Home for the older boys, as well as a small SOS Nursery School. In one corner of the Village are a number of ponds which supply the Village with fresh fish, and each SOS family has its own vegetable patch. Some of the children also run a little chicken farm. To ensure that 250 local children do not lose the support of their biological families, an SOS FSP began in Semarang in 2005.
SOS Children Bali is situated 20 miles west of the island's capital of Denpasar and has 12 family homes. A large orchard provides the Village with fresh fruit, and two small ponds supply fresh fish. Children are brought up following Balinese cultural traditions. Sport is very popular at this village and the girls' volleyball team has been very successful. The SOS Nursery School provides 75 children from the village and the surrounding neighbourhood with a high-quality and fun pre-school education. Three SOS Youth Homes in Denpasar support 36 SOS teenagers on their first steps towards independence, and over 100 children in Bali also receive care through the SOS FSP.
Following
the devastating earthquake on the island of Flores in December 1992, SOS Children built a Village in Waturia, nine miles west of the district capital of Maumere. The village, which opened in 1995, has 15 family houses, a playground, an SOS Youth Home and an SOS Nursery School. As the island is frequently struck by earthquakes, the Village buildings have special earthquake-proof roof constructions and the floors have been raised to provide protection in the event of a tsunami. Vegetable gardens have been laid out for each house to provide the families with fresh vegetables and fruit trees have been planted. Over 200 local families also benefit from the SOS FSP.
In 1999, heavy fighting in East Timor between government troops and independence fighters led SOS Children to establish an emergency relief programme. The charity provided shelter at SOS Children's Village Flores to 130 children from an orphanage in Dili, the capital of East Timor. The children stayed in the charity's care for the duration of the war.
SOS Children and the Boxing Day Tsunami
On the morning of 26 December 2004, a tsunami, caused by an earthquake off the coast of Indonesia, struck the coastal areas of the Indian Ocean. More than 130,000 people died in Indonesia and thousands of children were separated from their parents. The 124-mile stretch of coastline between the cities of Banda Aceh and Meulaboh was the worst-affected area and many families fled the peninsula to seek refuge in nearby Medan.
SOS Children was one of the first NGOs to offer support to the survivors in Aceh province after the tsunami struck and the charity continues to provide long-term assistance in the area. Many children were orphaned and the loss of homes, infrastructure and belongings continues to affect communities.
SOS Children is still working to provide communities with the support they need to regain their livelihoods, and has constructed three new SOS Children's Villages in the Aceh region. The Villages, each with 15 houses, are located in Meulaboh, Medan and Banda Aceh and provide 450 children with a new family home. Also constructed were three SOS Nursery Schools, where children from the new Villages and the local community receive a basic education, and two mosques, to enable the continuation of traditional cultural and spiritual practices. FSPs also began in each of the three areas.
How you can help
The best way to help us is to sponsor a child or village. Click the button at the top of the page to sponsor online and learn about child sponsorship.
Twin brothers Yusri and Yusrani, like most of the children who live at SOS Children's Village Meulaboh, are survivors of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. They were just five when the powerful tsunami killed many people in their home town of Tanom, including their parents. Following the tragedy, their elderly grandmother did her best to care for them, but grief-stricken and poor, she found it difficult to cope. She decided the best thing to do was to bring them to live with a new mother and family at the SOS Children’s Village in Meulaboh, one of six built in Asia following the tragedy.
At the SOS Children's Village the boys have found a loving and caring home where they now live with their new siblings and SOS mother, who is also a tsunami survivor. They enjoy regular visits from their grandmother and are doing well at school.
Local contacts
SOS Desa Taruna Indonesia
JI. Sari Endah 9
Gegerkalong
Bandung 40152
Indonesia
Tel +62/22/201 28 81
Fax +62/22/201 10 26
E-mail nco@sos.or.id
Web: www.sos.or.id
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