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When ninth-grader Wita Sari’s family had to choose between giving her an education or having enough money for food, the decision was simple. Wita’s father pulled her out of school so she could help him work on their farm and earn the Rp 30,000 ($3.50) a week they needed for the family’s one meal a day.

Wita’s family is not the only one facing this dilemma. Most residents of the East Lampung village where they are from live in shanties with dirt floors, which they share with chickens that dart in and out as they please.

According to current data from World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization, some 36 million children in Indonesia are not in school because they are unable to afford the monthly tuition fees ranging from Rp 30,000 to Rp 60,000.

But there is hope for a growing number of children in remote places like East Lampung, thanks to a sponsorship program organized by the Sekolah Lentera Harapan (School of Light and Hope) school system and World Vision Indonesia. Both organizations separately encourage people to sponsor children like Wita for as little as Rp 5,000 a day so they can attend school for a year. They think that this is a small price to pay to give children the chance at a better future.

“We don’t want to be Santa Claus. We want [the program] to assist the kids, side by side, for 10 to 15 years, until they are able to stand on their own feet,” said Emilia Katrina, World Vision Indonesia’s national resource development director.

The program is unique in that not only does it allow donors the option to pick who they want to sponsor, but it also encourages donors to build relationships with the children. This allows the donors the chance to see for themselves the real difference that they are making in the children’s lives.

The registration process lets sponsors pick the gender, age and number of children they would like to help. Sponsors also receive copies of the children’s report cards each semester, enabling them to keep tabs on academic progress. They are also further encouraged to send letters and even meet the children in person.

As of today, there are 3,578 benefactors supporting 6,561 children under the program.

In addition to helping create the sponsorship program, SLH also operates schools all over the country: one in Nias, two in Mentawai, five in Lampung, two in Jakarta and one in Papua. SLH has sponsored about 415 children registered at its schools, which focus on providing a well-rounded education.

One of the schools is in Curug, Tangerang, which SLH took over from another organization in 2008. Ike, a teacher there, said the quality of education at the school was poor before SLH got involved. “Can you imagine teaching sixth-grade students who could barely read or write?” he said.

With the help of SLH, Ike was able to bring students up to speed. All of them started junior high this year, proficient in reading and writing.

Rafael, a 5-year-old student at SLH Curug, almost had to drop out when his parents couldn’t afford to let him continue first grade. Ike used the SLH sponsorship program to connect Rafael with a donor. He now attends class every day.

Despite the early success of the sponsorship program, the gravity of the situation becomes more apparent when one visits schools in remote areas.

According to Emilia, a school in Singkawang, West Kalimantan, had children traversing long distances in order to get to the nearest lavatory, with a stick in hand to protect themselves from wild animals like snakes and wild boars.

Maria and Petrus, a couple from Java, also visited Singkawang recently to meet the young student that they have been sponsoring. The couple was inspired by the scope of the undertaking, specifically how World Vision has built partnerships with local businesses to undertake projects like bringing clean water to the school and local residents.

“I am impressed by the young and energetic people at World Vision who are willing to go and strive for improvements in these remote places,” Petrus said.

But his visit also showed him the amount of work that still needed to be done.

“If I didn’t get to see firsthand the homes where these SLH-sponsored children live, I wouldn’t really have a full grasp on the huge gap that exists between rich and the poor people in Indonesia,” he added.

Despite the program, some children are still unable to benefit from it simply because their parents don’t grasp the opportunities that having an education can bring. Novi Lina, an online business owner who sponsors five children through SLH, believes, however, that the parents shouldn’t take all the blame.

“The parents aren’t lazy. They just never had a chance to get an education so they don’t know its importance. They need help,” she said.

The only question left is whether or not there are enough people like Novi to help.


Visit www.wvindonesia.org and www.lentera.sch.id for information.