UI law students reach out to disadvantaged students

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.