Aipda Yanrus Pake, a sergeant of East Sumba Police District (Polres\nSumba Timur), has established an orphanage and school in Tana Mbanas\nVillage, Central Sumba, Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) together with his\nwife. His commitment to providing quality education for children in\nremote, frontier and outermost (3T) areas has earned him a nomination\nfor the 2026 Hoegeng Awards by Yustina Denga.<\/p>\n
According to Yustina\u2019s nomination, Yanrus and his wife founded the\nIman Pengharapan dan Kasih (Faith, Hope and Love) Foundation in Tana\nMbanas to support disadvantaged and neglected children by providing\ncomfortable and dignified housing. The couple also established schools\nfrom kindergarten through junior secondary school to deliver adequate\neducation to children in isolated villages, with dormitory accommodation\nfor pupils whose homes are far from school. All dormitory and\neducational facilities are provided free of charge.<\/p>\n
Yanrus actively teaches adopted children vocational skills including\nfarming and animal husbandry in his spare time outside his duties as a\npolice officer at Haharu Police Station. Yustina, who is both a\nprogramme manager and teacher at the foundation, previously lived in the\norphanage herself before returning to serve the organisation after\ncompleting university.<\/p>\n
Currently, approximately 300 children live in the orphanage or attend\nschools under the foundation. The foundation operates schools from\nkindergarten through junior secondary level with official approval from\nthe Education Department. Beyond school hours, children receive\ninstruction in agriculture and livestock farming.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsually Pak Yanrus teaches them welding skills, so children with\nhearing and speech difficulties\u2014he trains them in welding, and now they\ncan work independently and earn money. For boys, they are typically\ntrained in electrical installation,\u201d Yustina explained. \u201cFor girls, we\nhave many activities including gardening and chicken farming. We raise\nlaying hens, broilers, and village chickens, plus cattle. We train them\nin all these skills because they are close to the children\u2019s lives, and\nwhen they eventually return to their families, they can do all of this\nthemselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Yustina, the foundation\u2019s operational costs come from\ndonors, personal funds from Aipda Yanrus, and family business ventures,\nsupplemented by government grants. Monthly operational expenses,\nincluding food costs alone, amount to approximately 200 million rupiah,\nwith the figure recently increasing as the foundation consumes 450\nkilogrammes of rice daily.<\/p>\n
Aipda Yanrus, originally from Kupang, married Christina Sihombing,\nwho is from Medan, North Sumatra. In 1999, Christina volunteered in Tana\nMbanas village with a Canadian volunteer known as Opa, where they\ndeveloped the village including constructing a borehole well. Christina\ninitially planned to stay for two years but became attached to the\ncommunity and took on teaching at the local school, which was short of\nstaff.<\/p>\n
Yanrus met Christina in 2006 when he was assigned to the local police\nstation. Impressed by her educational activities, they began working\ntogether as friends to help disadvantaged children in the area. In 2006,\nthey formalised the foundation and orphanage. The organisation continued\nto expand, and they established a junior secondary school. They married\nin 2013 after years of working together on the same mission.<\/p>\n
Yanrus acknowledged facing various challenges in developing the\nfoundation, particularly regarding funding. He has made appeals to\nvarious parties and donors, though he noted that living within the same\ncommunity helped sustain the work despite difficult years.<\/p>\n
Since its inception, the foundation has been supported by Opa from\nCanada, who had connections to church communities in Canada and the\nNetherlands. Opa lived with them until 2017. Following his death, he\ncontinued to support the foundation through churches in Canada and the\nNetherlands. Donors from these countries regularly visit the foundation\nto provide assistance, with the most recent support received in\n2025.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/police-officers-commitment-building-orphanage-and-school-in-remote-sumba-region-1773809758", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }