jakarta-kid-2

Ukraine

2005-12-10T03:31:00.000-08:00

http://www.sircharity.org/index.htm Scottish International Relief now helps street children in the Ukraine

http://www.wayhome.org.ua/estrch.html

Kiev's homeless kids find hope

http://www.kievstreetkids.org/gallery.htm

http://www.kievstreetkids.org/

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1380456
The Orange Revolution - Many Ukrainians now express disappointment at their nation's failure to improve living standards and battle corruption since the dramatic days of the street protests.There have been no demonstrable improvements in poverty rates, and Yushchenko's approval ratings have plunged.

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Snehasadan - Bombay

2005-12-05T13:58:00.000-08:00

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/afea.snehasadan/cadra.htm

BOMBAY//STREET CHILDREN //OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS//HOW TO HELP US//FURTHER INFORMATION

//THE HOMES//

http://www.rghr.net/mainfile.php/0535/597/

Children from all over India start life anew on the platforms of Mumbai's Victoria Terminus.

Victims of abuse, or abandoned by poor migrant parents, or simply orphans, they join the 100,000 already living on the streets of Mumbai, a city of 14 million people, which draws them like a magnet.

The lucky ones are picked up by Snehasadan, the centre that has worked with children for 40 years, attempting, through regular and personal links to rescue them from a life of thievery and drugs.

Only some can be taken and not all will stay; but those who do can go to technical school and equip themselves for life.

Children under 14 are put into one of the 17 homes run by the centre, four of which are for girls. The home takes full responsibility for them and tries to recreate their lost childhood. Here they live with a family that has its own children, and are required to respect the rules of the house.

Some just walk away through the doors always left open. "To help them, you need to build your own credibility," says Placido Fonseca SJ who, after 30 years with the youngsters as director of Snehasadan, still admits that he has a lot to learn. "Most of the public see these children as 'things to be used' or cheap labour to be exploited... I am still unable to fathom the mystery behind these children. But we have given them an identity and changed their destiny."

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/afea.snehasadan/page4a.htm

Toybox

2005-12-04T00:27:00.000-08:00

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Photos and tour:
http://www.toyboxcharity.org.uk/toybox_tour.htm

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“Diary of a Street Child”

This morning is one of those mornings when I’m awake, but afraid to open my eyes. Just a few seconds longer! I’m imagining myself wrapped in a lovely warm duvet, but the damp and the cold have soaked right through my bones. I open my eyes a tiny slit and watch pairs of feet marching past for a while. Suddenly one comes startlingly close to my forehead. I decide to sit up. I feel groggy and tired and lift my sleeve to my nose. There’s not very much solvent left, but it’s better than nothing. After a few seconds, I need more. That means money.

Winding through the morning crowds, I borrow a piece of bread from a street-side stand and a 5Q note from someone’s pocket. I hate stealing, but it’s the only way to survive. Sometimes I imagine what it would be like to earn your own money. I could have my own little house, with a warm bed and I could eat black beans and tortillas every single morning! But that will never happen to me.

I spend the stolen note on a bag of sweets from the supermarket. My day is spent hopping on and off the many buses charging around the city, attempting to sell the sweets. If I can sell them all, then I’ll have enough money to buy my glue and who knows, I may even have some for another piece of bread! No chance. The bus driver’s just realised that I’ve been sitting down in my daydream, not selling sweets and not paying. My pockets are emptied. I’m thrown off.
Never mind. The evening’s coming. Time to meet the others. There’s five other boys I know around here. We meet together just after six every night. This guy comes along to sell us our solvents. We sit there, sniffing and I forget everything. We chatter about the people we’ve seen and sometimes we talk about our families. I don’t like to tell them about mine.

Often, the Toybox street team come to visit. Those are my favourite parts of the week, as long as I’m not too doped up to take part! We play crazy games and colour in pictures – it’s so much fun! My favourite part is when they give us first aid. They are so caring and they want to know about me and how I am. Sometimes when I’m with them, it feels like everything will be ok. They tell me about God and I don’t always understand, but it sounds amazing. Last night we were looking at the stars for ages and talking about how big God is! They say that even though he made everything, he loves me!

But soon they’re gone. I feel so empty again. I wander around, looking for a doorway to lie down in. I snuggle up, my sleeve firmly against my nose, and soon the angry noise of the city fades away and I drift into an uneasy sleep.

The Toybox Charity supports a comprehensive rescue and rehabilitation programme for street children in Guatemala, giving them a loving home, education and hope for the future.

You can donate online securely using your credit card. donations area.

Should you wish to give by other means such as cheque/standing order, please use contact us.

To sponsor a child, click on http://www.toyboxcharity.org.uk/child_sponsorship.htm

If you send a donation, please consider leaving a comment on this site, anonymous or otherwise, stating how much has been donated. It would be good to raise a large sum of money!

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Emil - Kyrgyzstan

2005-11-22T11:47:00.000-08:00

http://www.everychild.org.uk/casestudy.php?viewby=country&id=10&csid=7

Emil spent most of his childhood living on the streets – his father died when he was very young and his mother is an alcoholic who has no interest in her son.

Through the Commission on Minor’s Affairs, Emil was brought to the Jal Centre in Bishkek, which offers temporary care and housing for street children.

The Family Support Workers in the Centre all participated in a two-year training programme by EveryChild.

At first Emil was very confused, he wanted to go school and often talked about his grandmother who he believed had moved to Russia.

When Rapiya, a Family Support Worker, met Emil, she felt it was important to try and get in touch with his grandmother.

To everyone’s surprise, it transpired that his grandmother actually still lived in Bishkek and she had no idea where Emil was.

Rapiya worked hard to rebuild the relationship between Emil and his grandmother.

At first short visits were organised and then Emil moved on to spending the night at his grandmother’s house.

They also met with the psychologist regularly to help them work through any problems.

Now Emil lives with his grandmother permanently and the family, with continued support from the Jal Centre, is coping well.

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http://uk.oneworld.net/imagecatalogue/imageview/13579/?RefererURL=/article/archive/6944
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Street childrenIn Osh Oblast.

EveryChild has been asked to support local authorities and NGOs to develop local initiatives that tackle the increasing numbers of children living and working on the streets.

Following a detailed piece of research and assessment involving street children themselves, EveryChild is working with local partners on a UK Government funded project (DFID) that will provide outreach support to children on the streets, provide community-based services to strengthen vulnerable families and train key workers, including law enforcement officers, in child-friendly approaches to working with children.

Currently Outreach and Protection teams are working directly with street children in Osh and Karasu cities in the recently opened Drop-in Centres.

The members of the teams include the social workers, inspectors of minors, department of education specialists.

Rehabilitation and Prevention teams are working in Osh Rehabilitation and Adaptation center for minors and in Boarding house “Boorukerdik” for children from marginalised families and street children.

http://www.everychild.org.uk/support.php
https://www.everychild.org.uk/donate.php

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childfirst.org.uk - Zambian street children

2005-11-19T05:25:00.000-08:00

http://www.childfirst.org.uk/page.cfm?pageid=childfirst-home

The main aim of this project is to establish an agriculturally based self-financing development initiative, based in the Mkushi District of Zambia, that will give older street children the chance of a bright future by providing them with trades and skills that will more or less guarantee them employment.

Training these youngsters in the type of skills needed in Zambia will not only help to meet some of the country's skill shortages but will also help society look more positively at street children.
The project will be community-based so that both the children and as many people in the surrounding area as possible will benefit and the children will re-learn what it means to be part of a community.

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Kiev's homeless kids find hope

2005-10-27T05:15:00.000-07:00

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0514/p07s02-woeu.html

From the Christian Science Monitor, 14 May 2003:

Off the street and into the Ark: Kiev's homeless kids find hope

By Arie Farnam.

On a sunny Saturday morning, Irina and Igor rake wood debris and leaves around an old house on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. At ages 12 and 13, the two are remarkably enthusiastic as they go about their task.

"This is our new home and it is really wonderful," Igor says, grinning broadly as he brushes wood chips off of his shirt. "I always wanted a family, and here we are very much like a family."

Until recently, these two youngsters were among some 100,000 abandoned and homeless children in Kiev, sleeping under bridges or in heating shafts and begging or stealing food to survive. Their lives changed when they were taken in by a children's shelter founded by American ex-patriates Jane Hyatt and Barbara Klaiber. Given a warm bed, clean clothes, healthy food, and frequent hugs, the children were also able to attend school for the first time.

That was two years ago, when the shelter, aptly named "the Ark," first opened. Since then both the home and its children have progressed. Irina has made it through the third grade, and Igor has passed state exams to enter the fifth.

The Ark has gone from a cramped rental house to a 10-acre property with eight buildings, thanks to a Swiss grant and donations from charities and individuals in the United States, including Monitor readers. Although the site, a former sanatorium, is in dire need of renovation after 20 years of disuse, eight children have already moved in. Once the compound is fully reconstructed, which will cost about $350,000, the Ark will be able to take in as many as 100 children.

"There is fresh air here and a lot of room to build forts and ride bikes," Igor adds, while he watches Ms. Hyatt trot around the makeshift playground bouncing 9-year-old Pav-lina on her shoulders. "I am going to plant a garden with cabbage and carrots, so we can have a few rabbits.

"There is sure a lot of work to do," Igor adds. "The roof on the kitchen has a big hole in it, and several of the buildings are really falling down, but we will fix it all up."

Igor points out where he lives in the one fully functional building on the property. He and another boy share a room with a bunk bed, a compact bathroom, and a window with a forest view.

In the cozy common room, Alyosha, an older boy, plays hymns on a piano. A hand-drawn sign on the front door bears the names of the children and the message "We're home!"

For Igor, whose mother abandoned him to beg on the streets of Kiev for three years, that is no small boast. Irina, too, found herself on the streets with her two sisters after their mother was put in prison when she was six years old. The three girls spent the next six years struggling to survive on their own during Ukraine's darkest years of economic upheaval following the USSR's collapse. All three are now at the Ark.

"I am glad we are away from all that and that my little sister is safe here," she says. "We can go to school here. We aren't hungry any more, and also the caregivers here are kind to us."

Sergei Mikitin, one of three Ukrainian adults hired to care for the children, says Irina has changed a lot since she came to the shelter.

"During such a long time on the street, she experienced terrible things - hunger, drugs, and physical abuse. When she first came here she was like a wild cat. No one could get close to her because she would lash out and scratch you. She was so afraid and angry. She ran away a few times but she kept coming back and trying to change her life for the better.

"Now, after two very difficult years, she is starting to thaw," Mr. Mikitin says. "She gives the other kids hugs. It is little miracles like that that keep me going in this job."

Mikitin, who has also worked at several state orphanages, says the Ark is unique in Kiev, where the overburdened state shelters house children behind bars and pay little attention to their emotional needs.

"The atmosphere in state shelters is often very aggressive," he says. "The big kids beat up the little ones, and the caregivers often don't behave any better. The orphanages are very crowded and the children don't get good quality education or food. The number of homeless children has risen to frightening levels and the state social system simply can't cope."

According to Ukrainian sociologists, Kiev has more homeless children today than during the desolate years just after World War II - some as young as three or four. It was this situation that the two American women felt compelled to battle.

Five years ago, they started a soup kitchen to feed street kids, and from there they began plans for the shelter. Their goal is that the Ark will eventually offer services ranging from addiction rehabilitation and care for children just off the street to education and vocational training over the long term.

"Living in Kiev, you can't help seeing the need, when there are children tugging on your sleeve every day in the market," Ms. Klaiber says, as two of the children hug her with their heads nestled into her coat. "There came a point when the burden of these kids weighed on my heart so much that I decided I had to do this."

The two women say they know dozens of children on the streets who want to live at the shelter as soon as there is room for them, including 14-year-old Denis and his younger brother Artyom, whom Monitor readers met last year when they were living in a Kiev sewer. The two boys are near the top of the list, but next in line is 8-year-old Yulia, who has to beg for food because her mother has joined a prostitution ring.

Most of the children on the street still have at least one parent, though these mothers and fathers are often overwhelmed by alcohol or drug addictions or simply too poor to support their children.

"This society has been through a series of shocks, especially after the Russian crisis in 1998," Hyatt says. "Many families fell apart as a result."

The phenomenon of street children in this former Soviet republic has so far only affected one generation, she says, adding: "We have to do everything we can to stop it before this despair is passed on to another generation."

During the past year, the two Americans have been able to reunite five children with their families. In most instances, the reunions took place after Hyatt and Klaiber helped the alcoholic parents get into treatment programs and the families obtained housing. In one case the Ark helped by hiring one of the fathers - who is not an alcoholic - to do maintenance at the shelter.

Interested readers can contact the shelter at: The Ark c/o Father's Care; 3754 Canvasback Ct.; Marietta, GA 30062

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KievStreetKids.org
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Loves Bridge
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Street Children - Russia Pangaea
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'Child by child,' group aids homeless street kids CNNfyi

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http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0408/p01s04-woeu.html

8 April 2002

Help for Ukraine's street kids.
By Arie Farnam

In the narrow space around the pipes in a Kiev sewer, 15 ragged children sleep huddled together for warmth. They range from 9-year-old Artyom Selivanov, the tough ringleader, to 16-year-old Natasha Dzuley, who crouches in a corner, clutching a small cloth doll.

"Wake up!" Artyom's brother Denis calls from the street above. "The aunties are here, and they brought food." Slowly, the children roll out, coughing from the stench of sewage and sweat and the glue they sniff to keep their hunger at bay.

Denis's "aunties" are American missionaries Jane Hyatt and Barbara Klaiber, who have devoted the past four years to a lonely struggle to feed Kiev's unwanted youth.

The children in the sewers say they don't trust adults, then add, "except Auntie Jane and Auntie Barbara."

The two women, who come from different American churches, are united by their cause. Their soup kitchen can give 30 to 40 children a bowl of soup each day. A house they have staffed with Ukrainian teachers provides the only nongovernmental shelter for street children in the country, though so far it only houses five.

Ms. Hyatt and Ms. Klaiber also walk the streets and bring bread and milk to the children's hideouts. Denis and Artyom take the bread and pass it out, while the women learn that Natasha is several months pregnant. She and another girl have started to work for a prostitution ring.

"We will come back again, but I'm not sure what we can do," Hyatt says, shaking her head. "What we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. There are so many of them."

American 'Aunties'

Hyatt says she used to live a comfortable middle-class life in Atlanta, Ga. But eight years ago, she was invited to teach a seminar for church workers in the Ukraine and ended up staying. Klaiber left upstate New York 15 years ago to become a Swiss citizen and work on a series of risky Christian projects, including smuggling Bibles into China.

"When I first visited this country, I knew in my heart that Ukraine was where I was supposed to be," Hyatt says. "I started working with street children, because I can imagine what this country will be like if something is not done about these children now. They have no future without education."

A glimmer of hope

For Klaiber and Hyatt every day is a crisis, with children often coming to their apartment in the middle of the night. Stas Gorchenko came to them at 3 o'clock in the morning with a gash in his leg. He now studies at a school desk at The Ark, the little house that serves as a shelter.

"My mother told me she didn't want me and threw me out," he says with a shrug when asked why he ended up living on the street. Even living in the sewers for two years, he was still able to finish the fifth grade and then find his way to the shelter.

"This is a good start," Klaiber says. "If they want to go to college, that is in the realm of possibility. We have a 13-year-old who didn't know the alphabet, but then finished the sixth grade in one year. It all depends on their motivation."

Stas, surrounded by warmth and the laughter of other children at The Ark, has become a gifted artist, sketching the faces of his teachers and classmates in exact detail. "When I grow up, I'll be an architect and also invent a new and better kind of electric engine," he says with a grin. He then hugs Hyatt fiercely and won't let go for several minutes.

He is one of the lucky ones. Local analysts estimate that as many as 100,000 children live in the sewers and doorways of Ukraine's capital, while some 800,000 children are homeless across the country.

Forced from their homes and families by poverty, alcoholism, and violence, they eke out an existence by begging, stealing, and working as porters or prostitutes.

Although the Ukrainian economy grew faster than any other in Europe last year, its problems are growing equally fast. The government-sponsored Institute for Social Research estimates that 10 percent of Ukrainian children are homeless, orphaned, or abandoned.

"At this rate, I would expect the worst for the next 50 years," warns German economist Stefan Lutz of the Economics Education Research Center in Kiev. "If 10 percent of the children in this country are growing up without families or education, that will have a significant impact on the productive capacity of the country."

The government's feeble efforts to help have had little impact, as the numbers of homeless rise each year. Police often arrest street children and bring them to government shelters, where they are held in quarantine until they can be sent to one of the chronically under-funded state orphanages.

Out of sight, out of mind

"Before big holidays, it is necessary to clean the beggars off the streets so they won't bother anyone," says Tatiana Galchinska, head of the Maykovskovo Street Quarantine in Kiev. "Then we have two or three children to a cot."

Given a chance, many children run away, citing starvation and abuse in the government homes. Although physical punishment is officially forbidden, Kurt Vinion, the photographer working on this article, witnessed a child being beaten at the government's showcase shelter at Maykovskovo.

The Ark, which is the only shelter children can enter in Kiev without passing through the Maykovskovo quarantine, functions on a budget of about $80 per month from US and Swiss churches. It is only legally allowed to keep Stas and the other children for 18 months. Then, they must be placed in either a government institution or with a Ukrainian family. Hyatt says her goal is to expand the house and find Ukrainian funding to partner with foreign aid.

"It won't be easy," she says. "Most Ukrainians don't want to see or can't see these children around their own problems, but there are exceptions."

One such exception is Stella Petrushenko, a social worker at the Kiev department of social affairs. Two years ago, after homeless children began approaching her on the street asking for help, she noted that her district had no program to deal with them. She told this to her superior and was fired.

Helping, a sandwich at a time

Undaunted, Ms. Petrushenko began taking sandwiches and old clothes to the children in her neighborhood on her own, while living on $24 per month from another job. "My friends tell me this is a lost cause, but I can't simply do nothing," she says. "If we don't do something about it now, we will pay for abandoning this generation sooner or later, when they grow up to be angry."

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Charities helped by the British International School

2005-10-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

http://www.bisj-charities.org/

Since 2000 the British International School has raised a total of Rp2.169.000.000.00 (two billion, one hundred and sixty-nine million) for charities.

Charities that have been helped:

Citra Baru Facial Reconstruction - Provides funds in order to allow facial reconstruction for children who are born with facial deformities.

Sitinala Leprosy Hospital - Provided wheelchairs and physiotherapy equipment for rehabilitation, as well as recreational items such as cards, carom boards etc. Also occasional visits by selected students. PHOTOS: http://www.bisj-charities.org/index.php?id=mc_sitinala

Ciptomangankusumo Hospital - This is a hospital that provides treatments for children with cancer.There were a number of private donations to help a boy called Arianto who had a tumour in his face. Arianto was fortunate enough to receive sufficient sponsorship to visit the UK to undergo his operation with some of the best surgeons. This would not have been possible without the support of the members of the BIS community. PHOTOS: http://www.bisj-charities.org/index.php?id=mc_cipto

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Jakarta flood - For a few years now, there have been devastating floods in Jakarta, rendering many homeless, or without provisions or medical care. The school provided some food relief to the affected areas of Jakarta.

Tsunami - Rp81 million in personal donations.

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Helping Street Children -

Yayasan Usaha MuliaYayasan Usahan Mulia (YUM) or "Noble Purpose Organisation" is a toddlers and baby feeding program. http://www.bisj-charities.org/index.php?id=hsc_yum

Students and staff have continued to support the work the Jakarta Transit House for street children in Jakarta to play games and support the street children living there. The transit house provides education and accommodation for children without family support to help them move from the street to a more stable existence and hopefully into work. Children from the Transit House also came to BIS to take part in various activities.
http://www.bisj-charities.org/index.php?id=hsc_jkt

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Scavenger's Program - Helping and providing medical care for people living in "scavenger sites" who make a living selling rubbish. Also once in a while taking the children on trips (e.g. to the zoo) http://www.bisj-charities.org/index.php?id=mc_scavengers

Yipima SchoolYipima is a small school located not far from BIS, and was in very bad condition (no decorations, no playground or creative equipment, unsound infrastructure). This particular charity is delegated to the Yr 12 and 13 IB students in BIS and aims to provide better school equipment and improve the classrooms. http://www.bisj-charities.org/index.php?id=lc_yipima

Yayasan Wisma Cheshire - A home for disabled adults. They create stuffed toys, dollhouses and various other items for sale.

Yayasan Panti Asuhan Balita - This orphanage provides for predominantly younger children and babies. The emphasis, wherever possible, is to relocate the children through adoption services.

Surya Wiyata - BIS provided musical equipment for the special school Surya Wiyata (which teaches children with a variety of disabilities including hearing and sight impairment and also downs syndrome ). http://www.bisj-charities.org/index.php?id=ss_suryawiyata

Yayasan Sumber Budi - A special school for children with learning difficulties such as sight and hearing impairment, as well as Down's Syndrome.

Scholarship program - Providing funds for university level students for completion of their last year of education. So far we have sponsored 2 university level students (through Yayasan Goodwill), one of whom has already completed a course in veterinary medicine.

Gift Drop - Boxes are provided with a standard set of clothes, food, toiletries etc.

BIS provided the gear for the Special Olympics team.

Lombok School -Donated school uniforms to the school.

Yayasan Belita Sehat - This organisation helps to sponsor children to go to school as well as provides education for local mothers with children on nutrition and health issues. It also possesses an Early Years program for the younger children.

Caprisonne project - The Caprisonne Project is a home industry project where used packets of Caprisonne are collected in school at BIS and delivered to Yayasan Belita Sehat for cleaning and making into bags. These are then sold to provide an income for the families. The project also involves the Primary School, whereby the Year 6 students have continued to collect Caprisonne Packets to donate to ladies from a village working to make bags and other products to sell.

Yayasan Keluarga Kasih - An orphanage which provides a sanctuary for children of all ages. BIS students regularly visit this orphanage and also invite children to the school and engage in various activities. http://www.bisj-charities.org/index.php?id=so_keluarga

Yayasan Mama Sayang - Mama Sayang are an independent, nonprofit, social foundation founded 'out of our love and concern for the large number of orphans that are from the streets of major cities and rural areas throughout Indonesia'. At the present time they have 47 children ranging in age from 4 to18 years, many are from Kalimantan where so much poverty exists. Some of these children as babies, were abandoned in the forests, as their single mothers were helpless to provide the needs to raise them, others whose mother died at childbirth were also left in the woods to die as it was thought the child was a product of “evil”… The children, who were later rescued by neighbors, soon were out begging, due to the abject poverty of this region and so the cycle of poverty continues. Mama Sayang Citra Indah Bukit Menteng Blok A8/30 Jl., Raya Cileungsi, Jonggol, Jakarta, Indonesia. Tel/Fax: (021) 8993 1026 – Mobile: 0811 855613 – Email:waduh@centrin.net.id. http://www.bisj-charities.org/index.php?id=so_mamasayang

Yayasan Sayap Ibu - Yayasan Sayap Ibu meaning "mother's wing" is an orphanage that provides a home for many children. http://www.bisj-charities.org/index.php?id=so_sayap

Local Community - Habitat for Humanity (Tanjur/Bekasi) -This program provides funds and other things necessary to build a school and homes in these areas.The school also organises “builds” where members of the school community go out to help the local village with the construction of homes for Indonesian families. The cost of the construction of one of these homes is in the region of Rp.7-9m. http://www.bisj-charities.org/index.php?id=lc_habitat

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Medan street children

2005-10-10T06:36:00.000-07:00

http://www.kksp.or.id/

Street Children Program

KKSP runs Open Houses and other programs to support hundreds of street children in Medan, Indonesia's third most populous city.

Bondage child labour is still being used on hundreds of makeshift fishing platforms built off the east coast of North Sumatra, Indonesia.

~

From the KKSP site:

The Trashing of a KKSP street children's facilitator by an officer From Medan Baru Police

Post: 2005-08-22 by admin

On Friday, August 24, 2001, Irwan, one of street children's facilitators from KKSP, was assaulted by an officer from Medan Baru Police Sector.

It happened at Medan Baru police sector office when Irwan was asking for clarification about the arrest of the street children in Petisah market.

Irwan was injured in the head, lips, left cheek and chest.

Irwan and Amir (Street children's facilitator from KKSP) went to Jln(Street) Gajah Mada and met 2 children, namely Ucok (12) and Imes (10) at 17:15 p.m.

The children were sniffing glue (ngelem) and the facilitators seized the glue and advised the children to quit glue sniffing.

A police officer (not in uniform) and a man stepped down from a vehicle. They forced the children who are still being advised by the facilitators to get into the car.

The facilitators went to Medan Baru police sector to learn about the motive of the arrest.

In Medan Baru police sector office, the facilitators saw some children (Ucok Tato, Darwis and Jawa) through an open window.Then, both facilitators approached the children and asked why they were arrested. The children answer, "we are sleeping on jalan Gajah Mada, suddenly, and we were arrested".

After hearing the explanation from the children, the facilitator went to see a guard and asked the motive for the arrest. The facilitator had shown his ID card as the facilitator of street children from KKSP to the guard.

The facilitator asked again, "is it possible for us to meet our children?".

The guard answer, "You can not do anything now, later you can negotiate with the people who arrested those children".

The facilitator insisted on seeing the children. Finally, the guard said," You can ask the policewoman who is in-charge of the case."

A policeman appeared and insisted that Irwan leave.

Outside the building, Irwan is punched and kicked.

~~

Turkey: 'half the children at the country's biggest child psychiatric hospital die every year'.

2005-09-28T04:24:00.000-07:00

http://www.mdri.org/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/turkey/story/0,12700,1579874,00.html

The Guardian, September 28, 2005, quotes a report on Turkey by Mental Disability Rights International:

The report estimates that half the children at the country's biggest child psychiatric hospital, near Ankara, die every year.

"Staff reported children dying from starvation and dehydration."

"Infants were locked alone in small rooms. Others were tied by their hands and legs to their cots."

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Thousands of people are detained arbitrarily and illegally, often for life.

"Inhuman and degrading conditions of confinement are widespread throughout the Turkish mental health system.

"People with psychiatric disorders and people with intellectual disabilities are subject to treatment practices that are tantamount to torture."

"The prison-like incarceration of Turkey's most vulnerable citizens is dangerous and life-threatening.

"What's unique about Turkey is the abusive use of shock therapy and the conditions for children which result in high mortality rates."

The authors single out the abuse of ECT as especially alarming. The treatment is used routinely without anaesthetic, a practice that the authors describe as torture inducing feelings of terror.

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Turkey's military, 'the power behind the throne', is closely allied to the USA and Israel.

~

Gheorghe

2005-09-22T09:20:00.000-07:00

http://www.everychild.org.uk/casestudy.php?viewby=country&id=12&csid=6

Gheorghe was found in a rubbish bin when he was just a few weeks old. He was placed in the Municipal Children’s Home and was diagnosed with minimal cerebral dysfunction. His development in the institution was slow; although he would try and interact with other children, his speech difficulties would often cause him to become withdrawn and angry.

The EveryChild Family Support Worker knew it was imperative to place Gheorghe in a family environment. When he was three years old, a suitable foster family was found. The first few weeks of living together were hard: Gheorghe, unused to family life, was unpredictable and aggressive towards his foster parents. But slowly, with the help of the Family Support Worker Gheorghe began to trust his new family and these incidents became less frequent.

He grew closer to the family and formed a bond with his foster mother. The loving family environment, and the work of the speech therapist, has meant Gheorghe has made huge progress. He can communicate much more clearly and as a result, is a confident and happy child who loves to draw and dance. The foster family are now considering the possibility of adopting Gheorghe.

~~

SOS

2005-09-22T08:44:00.000-07:00

http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/sponsor-a-child/asian-child-sponsorship/indonesia.htm

SOS Children

Charity UK Homepage

IndonesiaSOS Children in IndonesiaSOS Desa Taruna Indonesia, PO Box 1171, Bandung 40011, Indonesiatel +62/22/201 28 81 e-mail sosindo@bdg.centrin.net.id

SOS Children began working in Indonesia in 1972 when the first village was built in Lembang, 16 km north of Bandung on West Java.

SOS Children’s Village Lembang began with thirteen family houses. It now has a kindergarten, a primary school for over 600 pupils, two vocational training centres providing courses in computer technology, carpentry and metalwork, a social centre and a medical centre.

A youth house in Bandung provides accommodation for older children on the verge of independence and finishing their education or vocational training.

The charity built a community in Jakarta in 1984 in Cibubur, on the outskirts of the capital of Jakarta. It has fifteen family houses and a youth house, as well as a kindergarten for 75 children, both from the village and the neighbourhood. 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 even sports events.

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 fourteen family houses and a youth house for the older boys, as well as a kindergarten for 75 children. In one corner of the village there are a number of ponds which supply the village with fresh fish, and each SOS family has its own vegetable patch. Some of the young people are running a small chicken farm.

SOS Children Bali is situated on the main road from Java to the Balinese capital of Denpasar. It has twelve family houses. A large orchard provides the village with fresh fruit, and two small ponds supply fresh fish. Children are brought up in Balinese cultural traditions. Sport is very popular at this village and the girls' volleyball team has been very successful. The SOS kindergarten provides pre-school education for 75 children from the village and the neighbourhood, and there are three youth houses in Denpasar for adolescents taking their first steps towards independence. The charity decided to build a village on the island of Flores was taken after the devastating earthquake in December 1992.

SOS Children Flores opened in 1995 in the village of Waturia, 14 km west of the district capital of Maumere. 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 seaquake. There are twelve family houses and a youth house for the older boys. Vegetable gardens have been laid out for each house to provide the families with fresh vegetables and fruit trees planted. In 1997 the SOS kindergarten was opened for children from the village and the neighbourhood.

In 1999, heavy fighting in East Timor between government troops and independence fighters caused SOS Children's Villages to establish an emergency relief programme in which a group of 130 children from an orphanage in the East Timorese capital of Dili were given shelter in SOS Children's Flores community for the duration of the war.

~~

SUPRIONO and NUR

2005-08-05T11:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/07/26/opinion/edvatik.php
http://www.republika.co.id/koran_detail.asp?id=201615&kat_id=19&kat_id1=&kat_id2=

The International Herald Tribune, 27 July 2005, had an article entitled Death in Jakarta.

The story was about a poor garbage collector called Supriono.

Supriono owns a cart which he uses to collect plastic bottles and cardboard for recycling. He does not own much else.

Supriono's three-year old daughter, Nur, became ill with diarrhea.

Supriono's daily wage is a little over a dollar, while a visit to the local clinic cost him 50 cents.

Michael Vatikiotis, of the IHT, wrote:

'Poor and uneducated, Supriono did not understand what he needed to do for his dehydrated girl, nor could he afford another visit to the clinic.

'Nur died as he carried her fever-wracked body in the back of his filthy plywood cart early in the morning on June 5th.'

Supriono had no money to pay for an ambulance to take Nur to a cemetery.

Supriono carried Nur to a train station. Someone called the police. The police questioned Supriono for hours.

In the end, a group of neighbors pooled the money to pay for the ambulance that eventually took her for burial at a city cemetery. It cost about 50 dollars.

A tabloid newspaper reported Supriono's story. Supriono was interviewed on the radio.

The following week dozens of demonstrators carrying dummy corpses wrapped in white sheets appeared outside the presidential palace.

Indonesia's rate of infant and maternity mortality is the highest in Southeast Asia.

Patients at city hospitals in Jakarta are usually asked to make cash down payments before being treated.

~~

http://jakarta-kid.blogspot.com/

~~

Export of children

2005-08-05T06:08:00.000-07:00

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=4043

Devi Asmarani, in The Straits Times, 8 June 2004, wrote about Indonesia's sex industry which has sold 70,000 children into prostitution overseas.

Indonesia is one of the world's largest exporters of sex workers.

The Unicef says as many as 70,000 Indonesian children have been sold across the country's borders as sex commodities. They are employed in countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore.

...

The large cross-border syndicates recruit girls through deceptive means. The industry generates millions of rupiah a year.

With the authorities, such as some police and immigration officials, on their payroll, the syndicates target Indonesia as a place for recruitment.

Source:The Straits Times Rights:Copyright @ 2004 Singapore Press Holdings.

Children at Work

2005-08-04T08:21:00.000-07:00

http://www.insideindonesia.org/edit46/sharon.htm

Sharon Bessell, in Inside Indonesia, March 1996, wrote about Children at Work:

Officially, 2.4 million Indonesian children work in factories or on the streets, instead of being at school. Unofficially, the number could be 10 million...

We know that young boys are forced to work for several months at a time on the fishing platforms (jermals) of North Sumatra. These children live and work in appalling conditions. They must remain on the platform for up to three months at a time, have an inadequate diet and face physical, verbal and sexual abuse from older fishermen.

Death by drowning is a constant danger for these children, the majority of whom have never learned to swim.

~~

In Jakarta recently I spoke with the mother of a three year old girl. Both mother and child work for up to 12 hours a day and then sleep in the dusty confines of a traditional vegetable market. Having migrated from the countryside in search of a better life after the death of her husband, this woman earns only Rp 2,000 per day (about A$1.25).

~~~

School drop-out rates remain a significant problem. In 1990 only 79% of children completed 6 years of primary school, and only 55% of primary school graduates continued to junior secondary school.

Irrelevant curriculums, poorly trained teachers - particularly in remote and poor areas - and inaccessibility in some remote regions all contribute to the decision of parents, or children themselves, to drop out of school.

Children who live and work on the streets, and many who have migrated to the big cities alone or with their families, do not have a permanent address and therefore cannot obtain an identity card. Consequently, the formal schooling system is completely closed to them.

~~

One 14-year old girl explained, 'my parents are dead, I have to support myself, how can I go to school when I must work?'.

~~~

Factory children, usually girls aged between twelve and fourteen years, routinely work eight to fourteen hours a day, six days a week.

~~~

Child scavengers at Bantar Gebung, the major dump site servicing Jakarta, work and live in conditions that expose them to accidents, disease and long-term health problems.

~~

One group of working children to receive very little attention are the pembantu, or domestic servants. A recent study, the first of its kind in Indonesia, indicated that as many as 1.5 million children, usually girls, are employed as pembantu. Earning as little as Rp 20,000 to Rp 50,000 (A$12.50 to A$31.25) a month, they are on call virtually 24 hours a day. Isolated from their families and often far from home, they are extremely vulnerable not only to exploitation but to verbal, physical and even sexual abuse.

~~

Harassment and violence from officialdom is a constant threat. Nothing illustrates these dangers as clearly as the twelve-year old boy, who has lived and worked on the streets since the age of nine, selling water and lollies at a busy train station in Jakarta. One day he spotted the policeman who had abused him and confiscated his wares many times in the past. Running away to avoid arrest, or at least trouble, he slipped and fell under oncoming traffic that severed his leg above the knee. He has nowhere to go for care and comfort - the streets are his only home - and earning a living will now be more difficult than ever.

~~

Sharon Bessell teaches in the Politics Department at Monash University, Melbourne. She expresses her thanks to Sekretariat Anak Merdeka Indonesia (SAMIN), KOMPAK, Institut Sosial Jakarta and Yayasan Kesejahteraan Anak Indonesia for information used in her article.

Shelter for street children is closed.

2005-03-18T12:40:00.000-08:00

http://www.insideindonesia.org/edit57/jane.htm

There are now over 2000 street kids in Semarang.

A shelter was established in early 1997 as a joint project between the United Nations Development Program, the Indonesian Department of Welfare, and local charities. Shelters were set up in all major cities with enough funding for two years of operation.

Seven months after it started, the Semarang shelter closed its doors.

Politics and corruption closed the shelter. In July 1997, the shelter's guardian quit in disgust at the corrupt management practices of the local Welfare Department.

Without any officers to monitor the shelter, local thugs moved in, and the children moved back onto the streets.

Another shelter in Semarang had also been forced to close its doors after being attacked in a midnight raid by local thugs.

The national authorities as well as regional and local authorities have little patience for the plight of street children.

Around 15,000 people are losing their jobs every day in Indonesia. As the economy contracts so too does the ability of the family to afford their children's welfare.

In August the Education Minister revealed that only 54% of school aged children had actually enrolled.

Research by the Jakarta based Atma Jaya University revealed that within the first three months of living on the streets in Indonesia children are sexually abused at least once.

Information about Street Children in Indonesia

2005-03-18T11:33:00.000-08:00

www.streetchildren.org.uk/reports/Indonesia%20Child.doc

Background: The issue of street children first emerged in early 1980s when less than ten NGOs were working in this area and the government refused to acknowledge the existence of street children.

Post-1997 (economic crisis) larger numbers of children, with younger children and a larger proportion of girls, started seeking a livelihood in the streets as evidenced by 1998 Asian Development Bank (ADB) mapping.

The government finally acknowledged the problem of ‘street children’ and with the support of a UNDP grant and ADB loan, their ‘Rumah Singgahh’ (drop-in shelter) was launched.

Before the crisis most street children were separated from parents and living on the streets. After the crisis about 70% of ‘street children’ are working on the streets, but living at home. Push factors: 23% mention psychosocial problems at home, particularly violence and negligence, as their main reason to leave home (1995 study of homeless street children); in East Java and Aceh, NGOs report children fleeing ethnic conflict / being separated from their parents by conflict.

Definitions and statistics:

The term "anak jalanan" (street children) was once a taboo word in Indonesia – considered "subversive", or anti-development in 1980s but is now accepted. All children who live outside their homes and do economic activities in the street are now called street children. With this definition, children forced into prostitution and working children can also be called street children. Even some teenagers hanging out in the street are sometimes called street children.

Street children’s own terms include: "gembel" (‘vagrant’); "glanet" (‘a well dressed vagrant’); "tikyan" (‘a little but enough’); "rendan" for female street children.

Statistics vary widely according to definition, e.g. at least 39,861 street children in 12 big cities in Indonesia (1998); 75,000 street children nationwide (1993- 2003); 50,761 street children nationwide (2003, Department of Social Welfare). 90% of total street children were boys according to 1995 research. However, more recent surveys through Save the Children’s programmes found that around 40% of street children engaged in NGO programmes are girls.

Achievements: The government has not decreed any special law / act on street children.

Since 1992, USAID, UNDP, UNICEF, ADB, AusAID, ILO-IPEC, CIDA, Japanese and British Embassies have funded projects on (e.g.) model protection for street children with special needs; establishing and improving LPA (Child Protection Association) at provincial level; prevention and health services for prostituted children; supporting NGO work with street children in Indonesia’s four largest cities.

NGO networks that specifically address work with street children are: Consortium for Indonesian Street Children, National Forum for Shelter Communication, Forumaji (list-serv on the internet at www.forumaji.or.id), Gejayan Caucus, litigation and paralegal networks, advocacy networks, campaign networks. Five conferences on street children were held in Indonesia between 1995 and 2002.

Constraints and challenges: Negative stigma; lack of economic opportunities – linked to economic crisis – for street children and their parents which causes particular programming obstacles / dead end for children when they reach 18; unable to access government facilities or services, such as education and healthcare due to lack of birth certificate; lack of clear definition of ‘street children’ results in lack of proper demographic data impeding advocacy; alternative care for children separated from families is not yet an important consideration in street children programmes.

Lessons learned: Stigmatisation can only be overcome by active community participation in street children programmes, meaning that such programmes should be inclusive and facilitate local responses to street children’s needs.

Shelter programme undertaken by the Indonesian government is considered ineffective because street children are seen merely as objects. It is also considered insensitive in the local context of street children (the programme was designed by the central government in Jakarta); allegations of corruption.

Vocational training programmes have had limited success: the Social Safety Net programme provided both training and credit, with very few cases of success; Save the Children’s support for vocational training through NGOs has also seen few children successfully making the transition from the street into productive jobs; of eight NGO programmes reviewed, only 53 of 322 (16%) children who received vocational training were able to secure an alternative income as a result of the vocational course.

Street children programmes should be sensitive to characteristics of street children themselves whose living pattern is distinct from other children in general, e.g. the Indonesian Ministry of Education out-of-school learning method that allows children the freedom to determine their school hours and decide when they feel ready to take exams.

Projects for street children should be differentiated on the grounds of age, residential status and school status: given that many street children live at home and still attend school, programmes to prevent family separation and school dropout are more relevant for most of Indonesia’s street children. The focus for older, homeless youth should be transition off the streets into productive adulthood.

Recommendations: For national government: the ratification of CRC should be by law act, not by only presidential decree which ranks much lower in the hierarchy of national legislation; develop the policy on alternative care for street children who generally live separately from their family; facilitate national level helplines for children.

For local government: facilitate the establishment of children’s centres and helplines at local level; increase access to government services, such as healthcare, free schooling, birth certificates and identity cards.

For civil society: strengthen the networks of NGOs working with street children at local level; involve the community in street children care programmes; give space for children to participate actively in the programmes.

For local donors: facilitate employment of street children as apprentices or in jobs; support alternative education for street children; provide support to children to stay in school, and seek jobs as appropriate.

Direct words from street children (Yayasan Anak Nusantara, Jakarta, June 2002):

"What’s the use of my getting higher education if I don’t get a job in the end anyway? I’d better make money from now on";

"NGOs and government people just want to make money for themselves by making projects on street children. Those people are getting richer and street children are still poor and living in the street";

"It’s no use to take me back to my parents. They are divorced and married to someone else now. Where to go home?";

"Before I had no purpose; I had no idea; I wouldn’t acknowledge this life, just followed my feet, step by step - the broken wings of my dreams".

Why are you on the streets?:

"My parents liked to fight, I couldn’t stand it in the house anymore so I took off for Jakarta" (16-year-old boy);

"My parents died. I lived at an Islamic boarding school for five years and never saw my family. So I bolted from the boarding school" (12- year-old boy);

"Because things were tough economically I was often beaten by my parents. That’s why I fled from home" (16-year-old boy);

"My older brother urged me to hit the streets because of the economy" (12-year-old girl);

"My parents divorced, so I caught the train to Jakarta"
(13-year-old boy).

What do you do to survive?: "I busk and sell papers, polish shoes, and help out at a
restaurant" (16-year-old boy);

"Busk, jump car rides for tips, I’ve slept in front of the bus terminal" (13-year-old boy);

"I beg, sing on the streets, umbrella boy and scavenge" (17-year-old boy);

What kind of problems do you experience on the streets?:

"I’ve been raped, and I have to clean the train if I want to sell food on the train" (16-year-old boy);

"My friend got all busted up with a bamboo stick, and now the other kids make fun of him because he’s crippled" (17-year-old boy);

"I’m always forced to hand over money, and my friends want to kiss me" (16-year-old girl);

"I been raped and I’ve been bashed up" (17-year-old boy);

What do you do to handle the violence, and who helps you?:

"You have to struggle when someone wants to rape you, and you have to fight when the cops try and grab you. Nobody can help you, you’ve got to help yourself " (16-year-old boy);

"Just keep your mouth shut. The mosque manager can help you out. Also, make a stick out of wood" (17-year-old boy);

"Give them what they want. But you have to fight them off when they try and kiss you" (16-year-old girl).

Case studies

• Delik is 15 years old and his daily work is busking and scavenging. He first went to the street with his father, who worked as a scavenger. KAKI (NGO) has been working with him since 1999. At the age of 13, Delik was arrested for stealing and spent one year in jail. As a result of support by KAKI’s outreach workers, Delik has started a savings account and participated in informal education programmes. (KAKI Jakarta, November 2002)

• "The benefits I feel from being a part of the study group, I can read better and I’m no longer scared to get homework from school. I go to school, but before I never cared about school. Before I went to school I would sing in the streets for money, and then when I got home from school I never had time to study. My parents don’t really care about my school. They never ask about what I study. I can’t blame them because they are busy working, so they don’t have time to care about whether I study. Even though they work all the time, they can’t meet our needs so I sing for money to help my parents out.

Actually, not only I sing for money but also my three brothers and sisters. But now I don’t worry about studying, because Yasin (outreach worker, SPMAA) always comes by and asks about my homework. He helps me study, and gives me motivation and other information that really helps me out. I am thankful to SPMAA, who cares about me. And hopefully my next report card is good so that they aren’t disappointed… pray for me!" (Arista Rahayu, female, 10 years old, Surabaya (SPMAA), October 2001)

This report is taken from "A Civil Society Forum for East and South East Asia on Promoting and Protecting the Rights of Street Children", 12-14 March 2003 – Bangkok, Thailand. A full version of the Civil Society forum report is also available on the CSC website.

Griya Asih

2005-03-17T11:53:00.000-08:00

http://www.expat.or.id/givingback/griyaasih.html

Griya Asih, located close to Cempaka Putih Barat, started in 1996. It is a large two-story building with an interior long in need of a coat of paint. The children share grim and dingy rooms accommodating up to six bunk beds with grubby, threadbare mattresses and hardly any other furnishings. But it is still their home.

Ibu Pandaya and her team of five social workers have had to be imaginative in their attempt to keep the children fed, housed and educated as they rely only on their own small income generation projects, along with funding and material donations from NGOs that provide rice and other staples. An international NGO pays the salaries of the five full-time social workers.
The children rear chickens in the backyard for eggs and meat as well keeping catfish in tanks, which they sell to local warung (food stalls).

The catfish project has been a success and new tanks have been built to breed more of the popular delight. Mushrooms are grown in a humid darkened room and these also sell well on the market.

The foundation provides education and training, which are offered in conjunction with a Catholic organization known as Salesian Don Bosco, where the children can learn engineering, electronics, mechanics and other technical skills. There is also a sewing project run together with Dian Mitra, a small foundation working with the poor in Senen.

In addition to these, due to the generosity of a large multinational company, the young people have access to on-site computers and the foundation's social workers are provided with free training in computing which they in turn impart to the youngsters.

On one Sunday morning, despite the air of decay, there is joy and excitement amongst the young people as three trainee Catholic priests spend the day with the children engaging them in creative activities and sport. Brother Dydu has been coming to Griya Asih almost every Sunday for the past two years and has never grown tired of working with the youngsters.

Today, the children are divided up into small groups and compete against each other to make funny things out of a plastic bottle and other bits and pieces. Though Brother Dydu sees a part of his mission as saving the children from sin, this is by no means his main aim.

"We want to help the children and increase their confidence. We try to keep them away from criminality and help them to do something for their future."

"We play musical instruments together, play football and basketball. There's no field nearby so we take them to Sunter in North Jakarta where we can use the facilities there. In today's activity we can share our happiness and motivate the children. The kids have a chance to interact with 'ordinary' people and they are free to express themselves."

Edi, who appears decidedly small for his 15 years, was one of the children who expressed himself eloquently in words today in front of the other children and volunteers.

"We never dream of becoming a Joshua who at a young age has become a millionaire," he said of the child singer.

"We just want to sleep well on a bed and dream about our world. God, please listen to our prayers. We are the children of the street- we are the nation's gray generation."
Edi comes from Tasikmalaya, West Java, and lost his mother when he was small. His stepmother had difficulties accepting him and he subsequently found himself on his way to Bogor where he earned money collecting and selling plastic. From Bogor he went to Jakarta and sold newspapers until he heard about the foundation from a street friend.

Nowadays, the foundation's social workers invest time and resources attempting to return some of the children to parents back home and offer solutions to the financial difficulties many of the children's families find themselves in. Some parents receive money to pay for school fees, uniforms and books- funded by Griya Asih via individual sponsors. In other cases it may be more appropriate to give the parents the equipment required to start a warung (sidewalk food stall) which might sell chicken noodles or fried rice.

Kampung Kids

2005-03-16T12:00:00.000-08:00

http://www.expat.or.id/givingback/kampungkids.html

Jane Lewis, in the heart of Kampung Pejaten Barat IV, began cooking soup and providing fruit for her son's little friends every Thursday night.

The number grew from 10 to 30 regulars quite quickly.

And so began Pejaten Barat IV soup kitchen closely followed by Yayasan Kampung Kids legally being formed on November 7, 1999.

http://www.kampungkids.org/

The world's first street university

2005-03-12T12:18:00.000-08:00

http://www.insideindonesia.org/edit50/girli.htm

LAINE BERMAN and HARRIOTT BEAZLEY have written about street children.

Most street children in Indonesia have no identity cards, so officially they do not exist.

Many street children are scavengers, rubbish collectors or recyclers.

Nationally sponsored 'cleansing operations' insure that scavengers, street children, street peddlars are removed from the public eye.

Street children all know what it feels like to be beaten by security officers at railway stations and kicked by the heavy boots of the police. They also know the smell of the prison cell where they are confined and beaten 'for the good of national stability'.

Girli is an organisation that looks after street children
http://www.geocities.com/laineberman/family_of_girli.htm

The Universitas Jalanan, Street University, was started in a house owned by Girli on the outskirts of Yogyakarta. This educational institute for street children is the first street university in the world.

There are currently 17 boys, aged between 12-19 years who have been sent by non-government organisations from various cities (Bandung, Medan, Malang, Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Surabaya) to attend the university.

The 13 teachers, including the 'rector', are all volunteers.

The university's main aim is to strengthen self esteem, learn skills for the future and build a stronger community of street children. It is the brain child of Girli and the Consortium for Street Children, of which Girli is a member. The consortium brings together non-government organisations working with street children in several cities.

The academic year is nine months long and classes are geared to vocational skills, such as batik making, silk screening, ceramics and handicrafts. They also learn English from foreign volunteers.