Learning House helps residents out of economic problems

Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Tucked away in a narrow alley behind the Proclamation Monument park in Pegangsaan, Central Jakarta, stands a freshly painted house with a sign out front that reads: "Learning House of the Proclamation Community."

The cheerful-looking house, with green walls and a red door, was officially opened by the World Conscience Foundation and GE Consumer Finance on Saturday.

At the house, residents can learn how to grow fruit in pots, cultivate medicinal plants, utilize garbage for compost and even breed worms.

There will also be lessons on silk-screening and creating oshibana (dry flower arrangements), as well as a regular aerobics class for women.

"There has to be an economic dimension in the approach to community development," said Imam Prasodjo, the chairperson of the World Conscience Foundation. "People here have huge economic problems."

The Learning House will serve as a community center for some 1,600 poor families, who mostly survive by working as low-paid laborers, drivers or by running small kiosks. The area around the center also suffers from the blight of drug dealing.

It is hoped that the house will teach residents new ways to earn money.

For example, a packet of 80 worms can be sold for Rp 5,000 (54 US cents), and a handmade card adorned with oshibana can be sold for up to Rp 10,000.

The foundation began teaching oshibana to women in the area two years ago. Rosnetty Danil, the head of the group, said they have exported cards to Canada, Australia, Germany and the Netherlands.

"We are now working on an order of 700 cards from the United States," she said proudly. The wild flowers used for the cards, she said, grow on the side of the street and in gutters.

Of the 40 housewives who originally began learning the craft in a six-month course over two years ago, only six remain. However, inspired by the success of this group, many more women have enrolled in the oshibana course now being taught at the Learning House.

Children can read books in the house's modest library. At least 220 students, from elementary school to high school, will be able to take extra lessons in English, mathematics and computer science at the community center, as well as music and dance lessons.

The Learning House will be funded by GE Consumer Finance for the next two years. "We will review the program every six months," said Ani Rahardjo, manager of corporate citizenship Asia for the company.

Imam welcomed the assistance from the business community. "Many people (in the local community) have the initiative, but they need the support of other parties."

The government, according to Imam, does not need to provide funds, but should encourage the private sector to set up similar programs throughout the country. "This (empowerment) is not only the task of the government."

Aside from funds, employees organized in GE Elfun, GE Consumer Finance's volunteer club, will help teach children in the area on Saturdays and Sundays. Volunteers, mostly university students, will work with the children on weekdays.