Australian helps city's orphanage
By Ahmad Junaidi
JAKARTA (JP): There are many bizarre sights in Jakarta but one day you might spot one stranger than most: a bule (foreigner) riding a motorbike together with three teenage locals on board.
One boy sits in front of the saddle and the other two are squashed at the back between the bule and a box.
All of them wear velvet caps and the three boys wear light blue T-shirts and dark blue trousers.
They are not members of an oriental circus, nor even a family staging a protest against traffic regulation.
The man is Australian Abang Muhammad Lorand, 48, and the three youngsters are some of the 80 boys at his orphanage on Jl. Karbela in Karet Setiabudi district in South Jakarta.
They are on their routine ride looking for funds to pay for the Nusantara Foundation orphanage.
While stopping at the City Council Thursday, Lorand told The Jakarta Post that his eight-year old orphanage badly needed donations to feed the boys, fund their school fees and pay for other running costs.
During the trips, carried out five times a week, Lorand and the boys often stop at the council building on Jl. Merdeka Selatan in Central Jakarta and other state buildings and private offices in the city.
While making the stops, they hope people will drop money in the donation box attached to the rear of the bike.
Sometimes, Lorand leaves boxes at the buildings and collects them after several days.
However the money in a charity box he once put in the lobby of a private office in Central Jakarta was missing when he collected it.
"There was initially Rp 18,000 (US$6.70) in the box but all the money disappeared when I opened the box a month later," Lorand said.
He admitted that a number of noted figures, such as former city council speaker M.H. Ritonga, businessman Hashim Djojohadikusumo and Marzuki Usman are major donors to his orphanage.
But it is hard for him to depend on the big donors.
"We prefer to receive small but regular donations rather than a big one that comes only once," said Lorand.
But scouring the streets for funds is not easy either.
"I have parked my motorcycle here for hours but nobody put money in the box," he said on the day of interview.
But Lorand and his boys have pledged never to be disappointed with their fate.
In the meantime, he said, he even had to borrow rice from traders due to the scarcity of money.
According to Lorand, his orphanage needs around Rp 20 million per month.
Lorand said 35 orphans were studying at elementary schools, 40 at junior high schools and five others at senior high schools.
The boys went to the regular schools in the morning and learned extra studies, such as computing, sewing, English and religion, in the evening at the orphanage, he said.
"The boys mostly come from Jakarta, with a few from other cities, like Palembang, Cirebon and Sukabumi. They were sent to my orphanage by their relatives," he said.
Born in Canberra, Lorand said he loves orphans because he was raised by his mother, a Rumanian-born woman who grew up in Australia.
Lorand visited 42 countries before he arrived in Indonesia in 1984 in the North Sumatra capital of Medan.
A year later, Lorand moved to Jakarta and married Seminarti, a woman from Blitar, East Java, in 1986.
A Moslem since 1977, Lorand and his wife performed the pilgrimage to Mecca last year under the sponsorship of the diversified Bimantara business group, which is chaired by President Suharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo.
Lorand and wife founded the orphanage in 1989 with only two orphans. His wife died last year of a stomach illness.
He hopes that one day he might own a bigger building where he would be able to accommodate orphan girls.
Those who want to give should contact him on (021) 5202569 or send the money to Bank Muamalat, account number 301.0018810 or Bank Central Asia account number 0353009572.