Displaced children want to study<\/p>\n
M. Azis Tunny, The Jakarta Post, Ambon<\/p>\n
Ambonese refugees La Hali and his wife Wa Uhi may be poor and
\nilliterate but they do understand the importance of a good
\neducation.<\/p>\n
In fact, Wa Uhi made enquiries as to how much it would cost to
\nsend her two girls, nine-year-old Wa Amala and seven-year-old Wa
\nLabi, to school.<\/p>\n
\"They want to go to school, but we can't afford it\" she told
\nThe Jakarta Post at her modest home.<\/p>\n
She was forced to forget the idea when she learned there was a
\nRp 75,000 (US$8) admittance fee -- plus the cost of uniforms and
\nbooks.<\/p>\n
As a pedicab driver, La Hali, the sole breadwinner of the
\nfamily, brings home barely enough for food, Rp 15,000 a day at
\nmost.<\/p>\n
The family, who were displaced by the communal conflicts in
\nAmbon in 1999, has nothing left.<\/p>\n
After the conflicts, they returned to La Hali's hometown in
\nButon, Southeast Sulawesi, hoping to find jobs. When their
\nsituation did not improve, they returned to Ambon and have been
\nrenting a simple three-by-two-and-a-half-meter house in Waihaong
\npark -- where many other refugees are staying -- for Rp 100,000 a
\nmonth since May.<\/p>\n
When the Post visited the house, four-month-old La Rahman, the
\ncouple's youngest child, was sleeping. His mother said she had no
\nbreast-milk and had resorted to rice porridge.<\/p>\n
\"My neighbor also has a baby and she used to give his leftover
\nporridge to Rahman,\" said the woman, who lost two babies in their
\nfirst year of life.
\n According to data from the Institute for the Empowerment of
\nWomen and Children (LAPPAN) -- which assists displaced people
\nliving in the Waihaong park area -- many school-age refugee
\nchildren have never been to school.<\/p>\n
\"We found some 100 children had dropped out, or never attended
\nschool due to financial reasons,\" the organization's coordinator,
\nBaihajar Tualeka told the Post on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Set up in 2002, the organization has run several programs that
\nfocus on the problems of women and children, primarily children's
\neducation.<\/p>\n
Amid Waihaong's makeshift houses, the organization has
\nestablished classroom and a library. However, not all parents are
\nas keen to enroll their children in school as La Hali and Wa Uli.<\/p>\n
The institution has also deployed 18 volunteers to other
\nshelters in Ambon, such as in Waiheru, Waringin and Tulehi. Some
\nof the volunteers are refugees who have been trained as
\neducators.<\/p>\n
With assistance from Terre de Hommes of the Netherlands,
\nLAPPAN has, for three years now, been providing alternative
\neducation, uniforms and books for refugee children. Some 250
\nchildren in Ambon are the recipients of scholarships from the
\nfoundation.<\/p>\n
\"If the children have never attended school, we first teach
\nthem how to read and write and (after they can) then enroll them
\nin an elementary school. If they are dropout students, we
\napproach the school, (encouraging it) to take them,\" Baihajar
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Of 3,000 residents living in Waihaong park, 85 percent are
\nunder the age of 18, but the organization is only able to assist
\n436 of them.<\/p>\n
Baihajar said the government needed to give children living in
\nshelters for displaced people an education.<\/p>\n
\"The government (officials) should visit the shelters to see
\nfor themselves what the children need. It's not just a matter of
\nrelocating them, the children's real problem is their education,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/displaced-children-want-to-study-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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