Slum School
In Denpasar, the capital city of Bali, there are many small slum communities that are tucked away and out of view. The people who live there are mostly from Karangasem, a region of East Bali which is particularly poor and vulnerable to drought. Many mothers who are escaping domestic violence bring their children to live here and begin a life on the streets. The children spend their days begging or selling bracelets to the tourists in Kuta or selling newspapers or singing at the traffic lights. Not only do they suffer from the effects of extreme poverty including disease and malnutrition, but they are also vulnerable to human traffickers or become controlled by 'bosses' who exploit them for money and often abuse them. By the time the children are ten they are usually very 'street wise' and even though you can see many of them around they are hard to approach and even harder to engage in a project designed to help them. They consider themselves independent little people who have learned to survive and who usually belong to a make-shift family of other children all in the same situation. Peer pressure amongst them is strong and they easily become involved in crime as they grow older. It is rare that their parents went to school so they haven't learnt that education can be a means of breaking out of the cycle of poverty and they don't respond well to discipline so sponsoring them to go to the local schools doesn't work.
A few years ago Sacred Childhoods teamed up with a local organisation to run a 'beach school' in the hope that we could encourange the children away from selling the bracelets and begging and help them to get an education instead. But the project didn't do well; the 'bosses' were constantly pressurising the children to carry on working and attending the classes wasn't seen as 'cool' by their peers.
So we decided to change tack. Last year our team set up a joint project; a Slum School and a Sewing Project in the same building right next to a slum area. Knowing that we needed to engage the children from an earlier age, and knowing that we needed the support of the mothers, we designed a project to suit all. The Sewing Project now provides sewing lessons as well as literacty and maths classes to the mothers who learn how to make items that they can sell in the shops in Bali or though our e-shop. Whilst the mothers are progressing on their course, their children are in the room next door being taught by our talented and dedicated teacher, Anggie.
Anggie and a small group of volunteers teach the children literacy and numeracy, as well as having valuable play time and creative activities such as art and dance. If the children attend regularly they are rewarded by a trip to the beach/zoo etc once a month which they really enjoy.
The school also helps our team to develop a trusting relationship with the slum communities and over time we are able to increase our support. Now we provide treatments to the children for intestinal worms, scabies and nits; take them to the doctor/hospital when they are sick; and provide three nutritious meals a week to combat the malnutrition.
The long lasting relationship that we establish with the children enables them to feel more settled and self-confident and helps to instill a good value system so that hopefully they will go on to get a good job and live a happy life.
