Yogyakarta
Through the better living environment and the lower cost of living in comparison to Jakarta, Lestari, the founder of the Aulia Foundation, settled in Yogyakarta in the mid nineties. She started taking care of homeless street children that could no longer live with their families. Almost all of the 60 children that are taken care of in Yogyakarta today were born in the slum areas of Jakarta.
The Aulia Foundation focuses especially on young infants and toddlers.
These very young children are still pure and innocent and therefore they
have a better chance of a good future. In Yogyakarta a dedicated team
of social workers works 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Each of them is
responsible for 3 to 6 children. They look after the children, make sure
they eat well, go to school, wash themselves etc. Giving them much love
and attention is also an important issue. They try to involve all aspects
of bringing up a child as in a normal Indonesian family.
The funds for running this project are almost fully sponsored by the Dutch
Foundation Lestari. In addition to this the Aulia Foundation incidentally
receives aid from various organizations and individuals.
The budgets are strictly spent on basic needs only. The basic needs for
the Aulia Foundation in Yogyakarta include:
- Health, Eating 3 times per day they eat rice with........
- Housing, At this stage the children live in three separate houses.........
- Education, Every morning the toddlers attend lessons within…
- Medical Care, If one of the children becomes ill they are immediately.....
- Employee Expenses, All fellow-workers for the Aulia Foundation .....
Besides taking care of the children the Aulia Foundation also maintains
contact with the family of the children still living in Jakarta. They
are aware of the usually dramatic background of the children and as
soon as they have reached a certain age they inform the children of
their history. Every year Lestari takes the elder children to visit
their relatives in Jakarta. The parents of the younger ones usually
visit their children in Yogyakarta once a year.In some cases the circumstances
within a family change for the better and they can again take care of
their own child. However, most of the children in Yogyakarta stay within
the Aulia Foundation.
On some occasions the parents would like to take their child back to Jakarta.
A child can be an important source of income for the parents. At a very
young age the children are sent out on the streets to beg or earn money
through prostitution. If a situation like this occurs Lestari does everything
within her capability to show the parents that it is much better for the
child's future to let him or her stay in Yogyakarta. Because of her very
special charisma and many years of experience in this field she can often
prevent a child being taken away. Unfortunately Indonesia does not have
a law protecting children and therefore the biological parents always
reserve the right to take their child away if they so wish.
Despite the effort of the experienced and dedicated team of employees
the Aulia Foundation cannot 
prevent some children going back to poverty.
This is a very sad fact but it does not prevent the devoted employees
continuing their work. Luckily there are many examples of happy and healthy
children that have a better life now due to the efforts of the Aulia Foundation.
What keeps them all going is the following expression:
'Every child that receives a better chance in this society is worth
it, even though sometimes it seems like a never ending story.'