YPAC prepares for the future with new focus

YPAC prepares for the future with new focus

JAKARTA (JP): The Foundation for the Rehabilitation of
Disabled Children (YPAC) announced a change in focus from a
charitable body to a professional organization.

YPAC chairwoman Sorta Tobing said on Monday the change was
needed to keep pace with current developments and the approaching
new millennium.

"To change the philosophy, we will first reform the
organization. Those who work with us will be more qualified than
volunteers," she said after the opening of YPAC's eighth national
conference in South Jakarta.

Sorta said the 46-year-old foundation would try to
independently finance its projects, eliminating the need to rely
on outside parties for funding.

The staff should also be paid like professional workers, she
said.

"Therefore, in the long run, the foundation will establish a
corporation to finance the foundation's activities... But the
idea has not yet been refined," she said.

Currently, the majority of YPAC's board members and employees
are housewives.

The conference, which will end on Wednesday, is being attended
by some 150 YPAC board members from across the country.

The foundation was established on Feb. 5, 1953, in Surakarta,
Central Java, to help victims of war. It now has 16 branches
across the country with 4,000 disabled children under its care.

The chairwoman of YPAC's Jakarta branch, An Suyani, said the
organization was currently working with at least 300 children in
the capital.

The local chapter runs a special school for disabled children
on Jl. Hang Lekiu III, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.

It previously focused its work on children with polio, but now
concentrates on children with cerebral palsy, a disorder in which
muscular control and coordination are impaired due to brain
damage.

The goal of the 3,800 square-meter school, which has been
called a paradise for children with cerebral palsy, is to help
disabled children gain increased access to education and
medication. (ind)