Orphanage and Maternal Health

Hello!  Yesterday Keyla and I traveled to an orphanage in a village outside of Jakarta called Bogor.  In this beautiful and peaceful town, we had the rare opportunity to witness the adoption of a little baby boy named Rafael….he’s sooo cute and has been handed off to a very loving family.  He was the 101st baby to have been adopted through this orphanage.  It was a great day!

Here is a picture of the adoption ceremony.  Baby Rafael is in the center on the lap of his new father and surrounded by his new family.  We went around the circle giving thanks for this special occasion and to wish the family well and then we all ate together.

Today Keyla and I got to go to a slum village in Jakarta and see the place that HOPE administers ultasounds and educates women during their pregnancies.  Even though these women have very little, they have very big hearts and warm personalities.  Without this free service that HOPE provides, the pregnant women would not have the means to maintain a healthy pregnancy or be given basic necessities.  Another great day in the field!

This is a photo of a new mother who accessed services from HOPE.

Out in the field

Week 1 of our internship is great because it is dedicated to getting us acquainted and familiar with all the programs that HOPE Worldwide Indonesia has to offer.  There are many programs that help the poor at this organization.  It is difficult to keep them all straight.  They range from TB clinics, to disaster relief and preparedness, to educating children that cannot afford school, to maternal healthcare education, to mention a few.  HOPE Worldwide constantly has volunteers coming from all over the globe to help out with these programs for the amount of time they are able to contribute and it has many large donors that enable the programs to continue. 

Today was a jammed packed day with a briefing on the maternal health program which helps educate young mothers through their pregnancies and teach them about family planning.  Then we headed off to the Computer Training Center and TB clinic in Jakarta.  The bottom floor is used for people who have TB to come into the clinic and receive medicine and education on how to treat the disease.  There is also staff that personally goes to patients’ homes and checks on their progress and monitors their treatment regimen.  We were told a startling statistic by the manager of the clinic, John, that in Indonesia all people who are HIV positive have Tuberculosis because the HIV virus weakens the immune system so much that everyone easily contracts TB as well.  Therefore this program serves an invaluable place in the community as people infected with HIV are increasing.

Here is a picture of Keyla and me with a nurse at the clinic who is testing to see which patients have contracted TB.

Upstairs from the clinic is the Computer Training Center where everything about the computer is taught– from Windows, to Microsoft 2007, to fixing your computer, HOPE covers it all.  They began the program by accepting everyone that applied and now they only admit 38% of the people that apply.  Priority is given to those applicants that show motivation and need. 

Here is a photo of one of the computer training classes.

Many alumnus of the program turn around and give the service back to others by teaching it themselves or are able to obtain jobs after.  A major success story from the program is a man named August.  When he graduated from the program, he used the skills he learned ot open two internet shops and now has five people working for him who have also graduated from the same program.  In addition, he maintains a sizable group of regular customers – many of which are children that come in all the time to play video games.

From the Computer Center we headed off to a very low income area in North Jakarta called Cilincing which is the sight of another program at HOPE called Saturday Academy.  This program gives children with little opportunity for education in their lives the ability to read books from a preschool level to Macroeconomics and Physics. 

Here is a picture taken inside the home that they operate Saturday Academy.

Located right on the water, this fishing community is quite beautiful (indah in Indonesian) however it is contaminated by loads of trash.  Children love playing in the water here and love seeing foreigners like Keyla and me.  At the sight of us they jumped and shouted every English word they knew.  It was an amazing experience to walk through such tight quarters where people live filled with millions of flies and tens of cats attracted to the fish, where the poverty is so vivid and see the people with so much soul and spirit. 

Right outside of the Saturday Academy house, you can hear the blaring music of traditional Indonesian music called “dangdut” which had an inlander vibe mixed with great beats…great music to my hears.  I can’t wait to buy some of this “dangdut”  and share it with friends in the States.

All in all, it was a jammed-packed wonderful day where we saw new places within Jakarta and met more of the warm-hearted Indonesians.  Tomorrow we venture to HOPE’s orphanage located in Bogor – will report soon.

Foooood

This is quick blog entry dedicated to the food of Indonesia.  I would like to report that all is very well in the food department.  The basic overview of Indonesian food so far is a variety of dishes that include vibrant flavors and spices making rice, meat, and vegetables taste delicious.  Tea is the drink of choice of Indonesians which, thanks to lemon tea, is turning a girl who used to hate tea actually really enjoy it.  Indonesians are also very big on vegetables, my favorite being something leafy and green with a soy-garlic sauce called “kangkung”.  Desserts are often times a choice to be made from a wide array of fruit sold on the side of the road (of course you have to remember to wash it before you eat).  I enjoyed the Balinese orange which looked like a brain but tasted like a grapefruit and Keyla had something called star fruit where the pieces looked like stars but it tasted like a refreshing flower. 

Just yesterday staff from HOPE took Keyla and me to lunch which was actually a woman’s home who opens it up during the day to sell home-cooked meals.  This was quite surprising to me as kids ran in and out of the living room as we were eating our lunch, but what a cultural experience and tastey meal!

Check out Mama’s House below.  This is where the HOPE staff goes to lunch everyday.

You can also find a lot of these on the side of the road if your looking for some quick, cheap, and delicious food.  This is where I bought the Balinese orange.

Just arrived!

It is our first day here in Jakarta and we are grateful to have arrived in safe and sound after a 20+ hour flight.  We were picked up from the airport by the people of HOPE and were taken to the home we will be living in for the next 81 days.  Luckily, we are fortunate enough to be living with one of the most generous and warm family of four ever: Awinney, Sembanag, Shera, and Albert. 

This is a photo of their beautiful home.

The home is beautiful and is much more than I expected.  Not only do we live with a family, there are others who live here too: 2 teachers, 1 Chinese woman, and 1 maid.  This makes for a very culturally diverse and interesting environment especially when we are all together trying to communicate…somehow with dictionaries and charades we make it work.

Hi

Hello People! I am writing this blog to share my internship experience in Indonesia. I am here with a wonderful friend, Keyla, and we are taking over the island of Java. We are working for the NGO called HOPE Worldwide Indonesia by helping them with the programs they offer. I will be working on a program in development called Positive Choice, an HIV-drug prevention program, and Keyla will be sharing her expertise in communication and marketing covering all programs.