UI law students reach out to disadvantaged students

Gamila Mustika, Contributor, Jakarta

Forty-year-old Dwi Krisyanti, a teacher at SDN Ratu Jaya 4 in Pancoran Mas, Depok, south of Jakarta, said teaching at the elementary school was not easy.

"Kids in this school are very poor. Toys are out of the question. They cannot even afford nutritious food needed for their growth and mental development," said Dwi, who has been teaching for 22 years.

Another teacher, Nurhayati, who had taught at several schools before ending up at the elementary school, concurred, saying that teaching at the school was her biggest challenge.

"Once there was a sixth-grade student who would not come to the final exam," Nurhayati recalled, "I wondered why. When I went to his house to find out the reason, he was hiding in his room."

From his parents, Nurhayati found out that their son would rather play with older boys, drive motorcycles and smoke cigarettes than going to school. They said that they had given up on him.

"Then, I spoke to the parents and the boy about the importance of education. Today, thank God, he's among the diligent students in a junior high school," said Nurhayati.

She explained that most parents of the school's students were too poor to provide a decent education for their children.

"The parents are mostly part-time laborers," said Sayuti, who handles the school's financial administration.

The law students of University of Indonesia, who are members of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Law School Association (ALSA), came to help the children during Ramadhan.

"ALSA members wanted to carry out a charity program for the society during Ramadhan. Thus, there was an idea to raise funds for less fortunate elementary school students so that they could stop worrying about the payment of their school fees for at least a year and maybe start thinking about a better future," Bianca Ayasha, ALSA's internal affairs officer, said.

The group named the project ALSA Care: Together for a better future and appointed her as the project officer.

Bianca and four other members of ALSA did a small survey to locate the school that would be a suitable target for the project. Surprisingly the school they were looking for was just around the corner. SDN Ratu Jaya was located not far away from University of Indonesia.

"The school was in a terrible condition, with only eight classrooms and two lavatories for 15 teachers and 500 students from grade one to six," said Bianca.

"Unfortunately we can only help 100 of them as due to our school activities, we had only two months to raise funds," said Bianca, "And to avoid jealousy among the students, we let the school decide who deserves the funds."

After two months of raising funds, two firms PT. Cardig International and Bogasari and several individuals agreed to donate to the children.

"However, the funds were only enough to cover the needs of 67 students. We then asked for contributions from the university's alumni," Bianca said.

ALSA Care team, with the assistance of the teachers of the school, list the students that deserve financial assistance. Donors can choose children they want to help and provide Rp 180,000 for each student. That is the amount needed by the student to cover the costs of schooling for one year.

The donors thus only need to allocate Rp 15,000 for each student per month -- the price we pay for a simple meal in a fast-food restaurant consisting of a plate of rice, a fried chicken wing and a regular glass of soft drink.

"We haven't counted the total sum raised, but we will make sure that the money is not squandered or abused. The remaining money will be used to renovate the school building," said Bianca.

ALSA held a gathering with the school's students and teachers on Oct. 23 at the law school's auditorium to break the fast together and to hand over the sum symbolically.

Of the 100 students invited, only 85 students were able to come to the ceremony that evening. They also invited some donors, but none of them came.

It rained heavily that evening but that did not stop the children from having fun inside the auditorium. ALSA members organized some games. The children were singing in groups and several children read poetry in front of the audience.

Thirty minutes before it was time to break the fast, the children's attention was drawn to a storyteller named Kak Ucon. ALSA invited him to make the evening memorable for the children.

The spirit of Ramadhan has encouraged ALSA members to help disadvantaged children. However, caring for others should not be limited to the month of Ramadhan. It is never too late to look around and see if there is anything we can do or give to help this nation enjoy a brighter tomorrow.