Street kids get break on mountain outing
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In the chill mountain air, Zainal, 13, discussed strategy with 14 friends, all hoping to win an agility game. They formed a circle and gave a victory shout. Then Zainal ran as an opponent chased him. He laughed out loud although he was caught and his team lost, because another game was just beginning.
Zainal was "relaxing" earlier this week in Cibodas, West Java, some 90 kilometers from the capital, together with about 300 other street children aged eight to 16 from Jakarta.
They were on a three-day trip organized by the Bina Anak Pertiwi Foundation and supported by the Ministry of National Education and PT Astra Otoparts Tbk.
The foundation is a center and a place of refuge for street and abandoned children.
"I'm very happy to be a part of this trip again. I can make new friends and forget work for a while," Zainal said, fixing his glasses.
This is his third foundation-organized trip.
"I love it and that's why I always say yes if the foundation asks me. It would be better though if it wasn't held during Ramadhan. We'd have more times to eat then," he told The Jakarta Post giggling.
Zainal is a street musician who works with two of his friends aboard the Bogor-Kota trains from after school until dusk.
His father is an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver and his mother takes odd sewing jobs.
"I want to be a singer one day. I want to meet Joshua and Sherina," said the boy, referring to child stars. He also writes songs and is a fan of folk singer Iwan Fals and pop icon Chrisye.
The foundation began holding this annual free-of-charge trip in 1999.
"The idea of this trip is that these kids barely have time to relax, let alone to express themselves. That's why we decided to do something outdoors for them," said Ahmad Zayyadi, head of the foundation.
Some of the children taking part in the trip this year are beggars, vendors and street musicians. Some go to regular schools while many attend NGO-sponsored "open-air schools".
The children are split into groups and watched over by mentors, who are themselves former street children who now have jobs or are attending college on scholarship.
"This year's theme is how to provide them with a figure to emulate. That's why we're using the figure of the Prophet Muhammad because he's a central character in Islam," Ahmad said.
The trip was designed with a number of games, punctuated by discussions about the purpose of the games.
"Basically, the games are expected to teach them about freedom, being supportive and decision making," Ahmad said.
He acknowledged though that three days was not long enough to instill all these positive messages to the children.
"They just want to have fun and be away from their stressful lives on the streets.
"The trip itself is just an introduction to other things in life besides street life. The rest depends on the follow-up activities of their sponsor foundations," Ahmad said.
He said that what street children needed was attention and acknowledgement of their existence.
"We want to give them attention and show them that they deserve a break just like everybody else," he said.