WVI is feeding the hungry and building a village<\/p>\n
By Danielle Bray<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Buoyant laughter, and ear to ear smiles filter
\nthrough the hallway of an elementary school located in North
\nJakarta. The classrooms are spartan, housing no more than two
\npictures on their cold stone walls. Children sit diligently
\nbehind their desks, enjoying their morning snack. Their uniforms
\nare slightly soiled and their shoes may not be brand new, but
\nunderneath all the lack of material possessions, these children
\nwant nothing other than the warm meal that is provided to them
\nevery morning.<\/p>\n
At 9 a.m. on school days, a crowd of nearly 300 elementary
\nstudents form a line in front of a small makeshift kitchen where
\nthey are served rice, vegetables, meat and eggs by the
\nhumanitarian group World Vision Indonesia (WFI).<\/p>\n
During the economic crisis, a lack of food in the urban
\ncontext created \"new poor\" populations around Jakarta. There were
\na large number of families that were unable to maintain their
\ndaily diets, and nutritional standards. Organizations such as
\nWorld Vision implemented a program that provides 28 elementary
\nschools with one balanced meal a day. The government supplied the
\norganization with a list of schools that were in need of a
\nnutritional boost. The institutions were selected by measuring
\nthe nutritional status, family income, and need for care of their
\npupils.<\/p>\n
School meals were introduced to the chosen schools in
\nSeptember of 1999. Members of the village Family Welfare Movement
\n(PKK) group participate in preparing the meals for the children.
\nThey cook rice in coconut milk, meat or chicken, an assortment of
\nvegetables, and, on occasion, eggs. Prior to the institutional
\nfeeding, the children of these impoverished villages lived on
\ntempe (bean curd), for it was low in cost and satisfied their
\nhunger pains.<\/p>\n
Pak Slamet, the school's principal noted, \"since the setting
\nup of the school meals program, the students have gained weight,
\nand their teachers have noticed an improvement in mental
\nalertness.\"<\/p>\n
A World Vision Indonesia employee, Indri, said, \"Through this
\nprogram, we know that the children are given at least one solid
\nmeal a day... a major improvement over their previous
\ncircumstances.\"<\/p>\n
In order to establish value, and separate necessity from
\ncharity, the students are required to pay a small charge for each
\nmeal. When the children line up to receive their food, they are
\ninstructed to give the meals attendant Rp 100. The money is then
\nplaced in a fund, and put towards each students' continuing
\neducation. It costs Rp 54,000 per child for a half year term, a
\nprice that is sometimes difficult for the family to afford.<\/p>\n
\"Paying Rp 100 is manageable, and allows the students to feel
\nthat they have helped to pay for part of their education\"
\nexplained E. Tudirur, the development facilitator for WVI.<\/p>\n
Kampung Tengah, the village where the children reside, is also
\na pet project of World Vision Indonesia. Piled-up garbage,
\noverflowing drains, and a dearth of public washrooms describes
\nthe conditions there prior to the organization's intervention. It
\nis still a difficult place to come to terms with, a surreal
\nenvironment that draws attention to the obvious level of poverty
\nin the area. Many of the residents live in one-room shelters that
\nline a dirt path, where they gather to cook on their gas stoves.
\nClusters of villagers sit between the dwellings, and peel onions
\nwhich are sold at the local evening market.<\/p>\n
Mothers<\/p>\n
While the children are being fed once a day, their mothers are
\nparticipating in the Food for Work (FFW) urban development
\nproject. WVI believes that in order to maintain the nutritional
\nstandards of the family, it is important to tend to the needs of
\nthe women. \"In order to produce strong infants, the mothers need
\nto be in a healthy nutritional bracket, their health is very
\nimportant to the cycle of development... that is why they are our
\nmain target,\" explained Indri.<\/p>\n
Food for Work provides support and nutritional supplements,
\nthrough education and community involvement. The project allows
\nwomen to be involved in the sanitation, infrastructure and
\nenvironmental affairs of the village. The women participate in
\nthe smaller tasks that aid the men in building gutters, latrines,
\npaved walkways, wells and health clinics. The women pair up and
\ncarry a load of sand on a hammock-inspired piece of plastic.
\nOnce they arrive at the place for mixing the cement, where the
\nmen of the village are often hard at work, they empty the
\ncontents, and continue back to the pile.<\/p>\n
\"It is a sense of community involvement... we all work very
\nwell together,\" explained a female villager. \"The benefit of
\neveryone working together is that it allows the job to get done
\nfaster... creating improvements for the village,\" stated another
\nKampung Tengah resident.<\/p>\n
The women are rewarded for their hard work by receiving 3 kg
\nof rice per day. At the end of each 22-day work period, they are
\ngiven 66 kg of rice, along with two tins of cooking oil.<\/p>\n
This is a welcome means of remuneration for the ladies, as it
\ngives them a sense of responsibility and worth. It promotes
\nequality, something that is quite uncommon in the male-dominated
\nsphere of village life.<\/p>\n
The majority of the women are also employed at the daily
\nmarket, where they earn a small wage for peeling onions and
\nchilies. \"We are more than happy to work for food, it allows us
\nto save our wages for other uses,\" remarked one FFW recipient
\nfrom the village.<\/p>\n
WVI started the FFW campaign in order to supply the villages
\nwith the necessities that they had become accustomed to living
\nwithout. \"We used to have to travel a long distance in order to
\nreceive health care, now we have built a clinic in our village...
\nit is very convenient,\" stated the community leader of Kampung
\nTengah.<\/p>\n
WVI entered the village in May of 1999. Since then, the meager
\nsurroundings now boast two health clinics, 5,000 gutters, 106
\npublic latrines, and numerous paved walkways.<\/p>\n
World Vision's website is www.wvi.org<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/wvi-is-feeding-the-hungry-and-building-a-village-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }