Helping out others brings its own rewards<\/p>\n
Monique Natalia, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
During February and March it was an everyday sight to see
\nyoung people hauling boxes and soliciting donations at traffic
\nlights to help Jakarta's flood victims.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, this kind of \"social work\" done by young
\nIndonesians on a regular basis is a rarity. It seems it takes a
\ndisaster for most young people to rally round a cause.<\/p>\n
Some kids said that it is not that they don't care what is
\ngoing on around them.<\/p>\n
\"Even if we want to do something good, the facilities just
\ndon't exist for us to do that,\" said Rani, 16, who attends a
\nprivate school in Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
What she means by facilities are organizations and organized
\nactivities that invite youths to help out in social work. This is
\nvery different from countries like the United States, for
\nexample, where there are lots of organizations that are available
\nfor youths to volunteer for.<\/p>\n
There are the few exceptions though, those young people who
\nhave the initiative to go and start something of their own to
\ncontribute something to the society.<\/p>\n
Titin, a student of the University of Indonesia, joined with
\nsome of her friends in setting up a creativity workshop for the
\nchildren of Kapuk village in North Jakarta. The workshop, Sanggar
\nAnak Kapuk (Kapuk Children's Creative Workshop), was established
\nin 1999, when the average age of the founding members was 19.<\/p>\n
\"At first we were a part of another social organization,\"
\nTitin, the vice president of the group, explained. \"But now we
\nhave become our own independent group called Lentera Anak
\nBangsa.\"<\/p>\n
Sanggar Anak Kapuk is just one of their projects.<\/p>\n
\"We've all chipped in to rent a small house there to provide
\nthe children with a place where they can be creative and express
\nthemselves in their drawings and other artistic activities. We
\nare planning to expand our activities and membership so that we
\ncan help more children.\"<\/p>\n
The children of Kapuk village are from working-class families.
\nThey are not homeless nor orphans, but they are poor.<\/p>\n
Why help them instead of, say, street kids?<\/p>\n
\"There are already a lot of organizations that are doing
\nthings for street children, like building shelters. There are
\nalso others who take care of orphans. We want to do something
\nnew,\" Titin, 22, said.<\/p>\n
She said that these children still have families to support
\nthem, they cannot enjoy their childhood. Their playgrounds are
\ngarbage dumps where they hunt for discarded toys they can play
\nwith.<\/p>\n
Some of them do not go to school because they simply cannot
\nafford it. Titin and her friends are trying to put some joy and
\ncreativity into those children's lives. By teaching them drawing,
\ndancing and singing, they are hoping to broaden the children's
\nhorizons and improve their chances for the future.<\/p>\n
\"For most of them it's a vicious circle,\" the student of the
\nSchool of Social and Political Sciences explained. \"Most of their
\nparents are factory workers. If they don't do anything to better
\ntheir chances for the future they will inevitably end up like
\ntheir fathers, which is becoming a factory worker.\"<\/p>\n
Their aim is to put a stop to this cycle.<\/p>\n
The children are encouraged to enter into drawing competitions
\nas one of their regular activities. It is not without a
\nchallenge, however, for every competition that they choose to
\nenter, they have to think of a way to bring around 50 kids of all
\nages in rented buses with just around five chaperones.<\/p>\n
But, all that trouble is worth it when they hear the name of
\none of their kids being announced as a winner. It is also a pride
\nin itself to arrive at the village with a trophy and a parade of
\nhappy children that can be heard from miles off.<\/p>\n
\"These are the kind of things that motivate me,\" Titin
\nanswered referring to the happy faces of the \"champions\".<\/p>\n
\"I love children and I just wanted to do something useful for
\nthem.\"<\/p>\n
Helping others while also helping himself is one of the main
\ndrives of Gary, 22, a peer counselor at a drug rehab center in
\nBogor.<\/p>\n
Although he is the young peer counselor at the facility, Gary,
\nhas already been entrusted with the responsibility of being a
\nhouse manager for the center and also a full-time peer counselor.<\/p>\n
His tasks include developing daily activity programs for the
\nresidents and also teaching. But instead of teaching economics,
\nwhich he studied in college, the recovering addict has to teach
\nthe subject of addiction which he learned during his training and
\nthrough reading psychological books.<\/p>\n
He became an addict when he entered junior high school.<\/p>\n
\"I started with marijuana, after that I moved on to pills and
\nthen in 1996 I started to get addicted to putauw (low-grade
\nheroin).\"<\/p>\n
His addiction led him to do things like lie to his parents to
\nget money to buy drugs and also sell his possessions.<\/p>\n
\"I used to think that I was the one controlling the drugs that
\nI was using, but I was wrong. They were the ones controlling my
\nlife!\"<\/p>\n
When his frustrations with himself got the better of him, he
\nstarted to look for a cure. He tried detoxification that involved
\ntaking other medication in order to get rid of his addiction.<\/p>\n
However, after three unsuccessful years of detox he decided to
\nenter himself into a rehabilitation center. He was a resident at
\nthe center for six months, and afterwards was trained to be an
\nassistant peer counselor.<\/p>\n
From the first day he entered the center one and a half years
\nago, he has not left the place, except for his few days off. He
\nis staying there to help other residents who need his guidance.<\/p>\n
\"I am learning a lot here. Before, it was really hard for me
\nto keep clean,\" Gary said. \"By working here and helping out other
\njunkies I am also helping myself to stay clean.\"<\/p>\n
His scope now is not limited to the center's residents for he
\noften gets invited to talk on local radio shows and also at
\nseminars organized by schools.<\/p>\n
He sees his work as a means to lead other young people away
\nfrom the threats of drugs and to help those who have already
\nbecome addicts. He claims that recovering junkies are the best
\ncounselors because they themselves have experienced the suffering
\nand torture of trying to quit, and are thus able to sympathize
\nwith them and give them the support they do not get from others.<\/p>\n
He also sees a reflection of himself in those addicts' wasted
\nlives. That is his other motivation for abandoning his life to
\nhelp other people start a new life of their own.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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