Panti Asuhan Pondok Taruna orphanage

Today was my first visit to the Pondok Taruna orphanage. This orphanage is one supported by our church and since it was practically next to Kiddo's school, I though I'd join a bunch of other ladies and go have a wander round.

The house is set in the middle of a kampung. And before you think 'little backwater hamlet', let me just tell you the difference between an Indonesian kampung and a Malaysian kampung. 1st of all, a kampung in Malaysia is usually quite rural. Not many amenities, slow pace of life. Indonesian kampungs are vastly different. According to Mr.D, my walking encyclopedia of all things Indonesian, because Jakarta is essentially pockets of affluence within many kampungs, the kampungs themselves function like towns abutting towns. Think Yong Peng (a town in Johor State) 30 years ago. This little kampung had it's own internet cafe, and streets lined with restaurants. The biggest difference, though, was the greenery. Indonesian kampungs are filled with greenery. And the inescapable traffic...

To get to the orphanage, you have to drive down this tiny lane that barely fits the width of a car (we missed it a few times thinking it was the back door into someone's house). It then opens out into the orphanage that has a few joined buildings, and even it's own school. They have some donated computers, but no instructor. A stocked library but no supervisor. The kids cannot be left unsupervised at the library because they will attempt to sell off the contents to the seconds collector for extra pocket money! There are 170 kids under the direct supervision of the extremely capable Ibu L and her 17 staff (some are ex residents, all work for room and board only). She was previously supervising 5 other orphanages but got tired, so is now matron for this one only. However... she is also starting another orphanage in Lampung, as well as rescuing kids from all over Indonesia. Whew! At present, her husband is part of the relief work at Padang.

Looking around, the kids are all clean and polite. They're cheerful and happily pick up the younger ones that one can see running about. Everyone has their duties, be it kitchen, cooking, laundry, cleaning etc. I was there for almost 4 hours and never heard any scolding or crying. Everyone calls Ibu L 'Ma' and there was always a kind touch or word for passing kids. What a lovely lady. I admit to being a touch alarmed on spotting the barbed wire wrapped around the balcony railings, but Ibu L explained that it was the only way to stop the boys from climbing up to the roof for some kite flying. Apparently, all that prancing on the roof was causing water to seep into the bedrooms... Boys will be boys she said. For the same reason, she couldn't manage to grow plants, as the kids would pull on them if they were trailing, or pick at them if they were ground level.

Ibu L, trying to generate a little income for the home, often personally carries little crafty items from all over to sell at the orphanage. Lovely little carved eggs with cinnamon attached that smell heavenly, Dayak beaded purses etc. No marketing is done though, so her customers tend to be the local village people. Minimal profits as you can imagine. Well, my eyes practically popped out, and since my coming bazaars are in aid of the orphanage anyway, she was more than happy for me to take some stock to sell. Ooo... Very tempted...

Just some interesting facts that I have no where to insert... They get through 70kgs of rice (Not kidding!!) and 10kgs of vegetables (if available) PER DAY!! Often they can't get that amount of veg so go without. Meals are rice, or fried instant noodles 3 times a day with a little tempe (locally made fermented soy beans). Meat is a luxury. Once a while, they will kill a dog (desperate, ok...). That's really got to me 'cause they had a bunch of very nice looking pups in cages. According to Ibu L, they will keep the good guards, and sell or eat the fat ones. Dog meat is apparently very pricey in the market. Rp25,000 (USD2.50) for a whole chicken, but up to Rp40,000 (USD4) per kg of dog meat. I tried really, really hard not to be influenced by my own opinions while thinking about this issue, but I'm afraid I can't get away from thinking of dogs as pets and not livestock. Ugh.

I will leave you with that lovely conundrum and go off to catalog the goodies that Ibu L sent with me instead... Let me know if anyone is interested!!

Day 4 : Still husbandless

Off to church we went today. Kiddo loves Sunday school. Yay!! Our church is called the Jakarta International Christian Fellowship (JICF). It's housed on the 2nd floor of the Graha Niaga building right in the middle of the central business district. Good atmosphere, good speakers and they have a really good children's program. It took us ages to find it, but once we did, we knew we were staying. There's either a 8.30am or 10.45am service. For reasons of HIS running, we can only ever make the 10.45am service. Today they had children from YWAM (the Panti Asuhan Pondok Taruna orphanage) singing a few songs. JICF members contribute about 50% of the orphanages running costs and the kids come from all over Jakarta. A couple of them are actually at Uni. Inspiring to see that happen.

After church, we popped into the Penang Bistro near Senayan for lunch. This is the kid's favourite eating place because of the feather light roti canai. The other stuff is a welcome taste of home too. Prices, however are in line with the Jakarta culinary scene and a meal for 2 is very unlike to ever be under Rp150,000 (about USD15 / RM50). I can see my Malaysian friends sputtering already...! For that price, you do, however get air conditioning, mood lighting, drinks with fancy names and (so far), no flies. The last being a major bonus in my book! The Hainanese chicken rice is very tasty, but the chicken portions are tiny (in general chickens here are about as scrawny as you would ever see. Something about people not trusting fat chickens to not have had hormones injected. perhaps by serving skinny chickens they are indicating the quality?), probably a quarter of the size of a portion ordered at the Jalan Gasing chicken rice shop in KL. Just another thing to get used too... The laksa and curry noodles are certainly approaching KL standard. In fact, the prawns are about double in size as you would get in KL. I leave it to you to weigh up, less chicken vs larger prawns. Hmmm... The nasi lemak tastes really good too. But I've never eaten it like that in KL. Usually hubs picks some up after his run and it's wrapped in banana leaf with a hodge podge of stuff thrown on it. Here everything is nicely displayed and separated. Gotta give it to them, they know their food presentation.

Am just waiting now to see if 'some people' will write to them saying they're breaking copyright laws by using the word 'Penang'...