Japanese-Indonesians help poor kids stay in school
Japanese-Indonesians help poor kids stay in school
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
For Dewi Wedaningsih, a daughter of a retired Japanese soldier
Kaneo Ueda, keeping her five children in school was a nearly
impossible task.
Her husband's salary, who is a porter at Sukarno-Hatta
International Airport, was far from enough to feed the family,
let alone cover all the school fees.
But that was before, she said, thanks to the financial
assistance provided by a group of Japanese-Indonesians, who aim
to do away with all constraints when it comes to educating
children with Japanese ancestry.
The Yayasan Warga Persahabatan (YWP) foundation provides the
money for two of Dewi's sons.
Mikhail Lukman, a high school student, and Mochamad Zaky
Tamami, who is still in junior high school, receive Rp 80,000
(US$9) and Rp 60,000, respectively to cover their monthly
education expenses.
"The money helps my children to focus on their studies so that
they can have a brighter future. Moreover, it eases the family's
burden," said Dewi.
The Foundation, also known as Fukushi Tomo no Kai, was founded
in 1979 by 107 Japanese soldiers who chose to become Indonesian
citizens after the Japanese occupation ended in 1945.
Its earlier purposes were to help the descendants of those
soldiers to get medical aid, Japanese language courses, and most
of all, education.
The organization later decided to provide education money to
their distant kin.
"The foundation wants to see the next generation of
Indonesians of Japanese descent achieve the same level of
knowledge as that of Japanese (in Japan)," Edi Susanto, the
manager of YWP education department told The Jakarta Post.
Poppi Sukaesih, the scholarship coordinator, said that the
foundation realized that many children of Japanese descent were
from poor families.
"Some of their parents are just war veterans and some of these
children are already orphans. These children have to be helped
because they have a special relationship to the foundation's
management, who are also people of Japanese descent," she said.
Ever since the education assistance were offered in 1988, 423
students have received the assistance. This year, the foundation
has awarded scholarships to 52 students, who live in Jakarta,
Solo, Surabaya, and Medan.
"For the time being, we can only help those in Sumatra and
Java," Edi said, and added that the program was funded by
personal donations from Japanese expatriates here as well as
other philanthropists, who live in Japan. (006)