Roslin Orphanage Blog

Another trip to the orphanage and its another fruitful one indeed.  A trip which not only having one thing achieved but more than what we are planning for. First of all the flight from Singapore to Jakarta  then to Kupang with a transit at Surabaya were having a great weather. The trip and the good weather was a blessing on its own. Praise The Lord.  Upon exiting the custom I met with a lady friend ( Mieske) and her daughter Olivia. I have known her when they are in Germany and now she lives in HongKong but it was a great surprised that we met in Jakarta unplanned.

Mieske and her daughter at Jakarta airport

A wonderful couple Mike and Tina Vanderpol visiting us all the way from Vancouver, Canada and they even have their lovely children Justin and Linden were coming along. Their visit alone is a blessing on its own and  as it is what kindness that can make people to travel from such  far away place to come and to share joy for others which they never met before. Their visit is another encouragement to us to do better than what we have been doing. They came directly to the orphanage even when I was there to greet them.  Thank you to the Vanderpols for visiting us . I am sure that there are so many nice places that you can go for your holiday but you rather go to a place that is unknown to you and visiting us instead. You are greatly appreciated.

Linden, Tina , Mike , Justin and Budi at Tenau port, Kupang

They came on April 1oth while I was  only coming on the next day the 11th. On this trip I came with very special friends as far as the orphanage is concern. I came with Mr Alex Chee which if you can remember that he was sent by God to help us since when we were starting to build and run the orphanage. To make things even better Mr Alex Chee was coming with his long lost friend for some 30 years, Mr Eddy Chew. Even our trip was not as long as from Vancouver but it was quite tiring too. We went from Singapore to Jakarta and to Kupang with a transit at Surabaya.  The flight was felt so good as we were having some kind of quality time all the way . So much that I have to learn from them both about life and loving others.

Alex Chee and Eddy Chew the new type of Indians

Mr Alex Chee , Mr Eddy Chew and Budi

On the 11th afternoon we were having Mrs Margareth Heather from Perth, Australia also came to the orphanage . I must make a special request to her to be apologized as I was forgotten to remind Peggy to pick her up at the airport upon her arrival.  I was still on the air when she was actually arrived at Kupang ( Eltari airport) . It is lucky that she is able to speak the Bahasa Indonesia language, so she has no problem to ask around for some information. Sorry Margareth it was my fault ha ha ha. Mrs Margareth Heather is my friend from Rotary Club. Her home club is in Armadale ,  Perth , Australia.  On April 12th another wonderful lady Mrs Janine Mcleod, for her we do not want to make another mistake, so I pick her up my self on that day. Both Mrs Margareth Heather and Mrs Janine Mcleod were coming in responds to our ” train the trainer ” program . A program which our Rotary Clubs are pursuing to help the potential teachers to teach others English.  We believe that by knowing more about English we can understand more about the world and it will surely help the students upon their studies. Mrs Janine Mcleod is a lecturer for Curtin University in Perth, Australia.

Mrs Margareth Heather , Budi and Mrs Janine Mcleod

on the 13th another lady friend from Singapore also came, Miss Pauline Chong. She was with us to collect some data which might be useful for the new foundation which will be having the HQ  in Singapore for the children of Asean ( TOCA). It will be a great foundation as the main target is to help the children in 10 ASEAN countries ( preventing child prostitution, helping orphanages, creating a learning center, giving vocational training etc).

Miss Pauline Chong at the beach in Kupang

Why the trip was said as a fruitful one ? First of all we were able to spend time with the children and made some quality time with them. This is the prime agenda as if we are visiting a children home. It is not important for us to bring or buy an expensive toys or items for them but the most important one is to spend your precious time with the children. On this trip we were even playing without involving expensive toys . At one afternoon Mrs Tina Vanderpol and I just made the children a paper plane and paper helicopter. If you ask about the price , well it will not cost us even 1 dollar but the joy that was created from it was priceless.

Mr Alex Chee and the quality time that he made

its singing time

watching the children singing

Mrs Tina Vanderpol and her tender loving care

Martina and Tina

Mr Mike Vanderpol being attacked

priceless moment

Mrs Margaret Heather and the quality time that she made

Vitamin all the way from Vancouver for the children

book and story reading in English for the older ones

The boys corner led by Linden Vanderpol

game corner

Justin Vanderpol playing his tunes

Victor wants to be like Justin

Lodi also trying to learn guitar from Justin

Based on my observation may be one day we will have our orphanage children to be a good musician. May be on my next trip I will plan to buy some more guitar so that we can conduct the guitar lessons to the children. The earlier the better for them to learn. Looking at their ability to sing , I am certain that one day soon we will be able to have a choir group consist of our orphanage children. It will be even better if they can also playing the musical instruments them selves. Surely these are things which can be done in the near future if we are having a good teacher on singing and musical skills. At least I will personally teach them some basic guitar skills as I am limited too about playing it ha ha ha .

One of the agenda during this trip as what we have planned is the program that we will run it together as Rotary Club activity.  Our target is at least if we can get some good potential candidate to be trained on English language. Mrs Margaret Heather and Mrs Janine Mcleod  were doing their best upon preparing the lessons and the steps upon making the selection. They prepared both for the best materials and the programs for them it. Our thanks to Rotarian Irvin Philips and Rotarian PP David Jenkins for the ” train the trainer’s proposal and this follow up evaluation trip. If this program is running later on the next during the new Rotary year ( July 2009- June 31st 2010) it will be sponsored by Rotari Club Armadale, Perth of Australia  and Rotary Eclub3310 of Singapore.

the potential candidate being evaluated

Mr Cornelis Lakusa and Mrs Janine with the group of student

encouragement from Peggy

posing with school principle Rachel Tallo of SMA 4 Kupang

the little ones at the orphanage are also getting their sessions

Clean water project by RC Suntec City of Singapore and RC Rotaryeclub3310 of Singapore on Matching Grant

A joyful day for Familia Orphanage of Sikumana village in Kupang area was happening during our visit too. Together RC Suntec City , RC Rotaryeclub3310 and Rotary International were financing a program for a clean water project.  On the 16th or April we were able finally said that the project is over and the intended project was able to be made into a reality. Some 105 orphanage members are now able to take a bath and getting the badly needed water for their day to day needs.  Thank you very much to Rotary International for Matching the  required funding.  Sister Dion , the head of Familia Orphanage asked me to pass their appreciation to RC Suntec City members who directly give their give to this project . For President Lim Swee Kim , please convey their thanks to your members accordingly for the 3 PHFs from your club. Also to our RC Rotary Eclub3310 they send their appreciation for doing what the Rotary values into the practicality and reality too. This project was to respond the request by PP Mathilda Salu of RC Kupang. Due to her accident ( she was unable to walk properly as she was fell in the bathroom at her residence) , she can not do any thing much. President Felix Rebhung took over but due to his very busy roster he can’t do much too , Treasurer Theo was actually the one who is doing most of the job. This is what a good team and togetherness is all about. Praise The Lord for the job that has been done . At least 600 people now can enjoy the fresh water because of your help. Do come with us some time and  I will take you there personally. The water table is 47 meters deep which is far less than the prediction of 70 meter. May be because of the rainy season but at least the water is about 27 meters deep. Usually the water will go down some 10 – 2o meters during the dry season. We can only hope for the best.

My personal thanks and appreciation to Dr Ho Loon Shin who was helping me to composed the proposal and calculating the numbers. To Ta Cheh DR Doris Ang , your participation is made into a real work and done.  To RC Suntec City we are proud to be able to work together with your club. Surely we will do more projects together in the future. For this project RC Suntec City was participating with 100 % of their love to these beneficiaries and 3000 USD ( 3 PHFs or Paul Harris Fellows program in Rotary International).

the soil that must be penetrated

the break through

the pump controller

The water storage at the school

no more excuse for going to school without taking a bath please

the water tank before distribution to other tanks

a happy day indeed

leading the prayer to thank you for the project that has been done  and met the objective of the Matching Grant.

Indeed it was so happy for us to be able to work together and to made the dream of having enough water into a reality. This is accidentally what the Rotary Motto is all about. For this year Rotary International theme is ” MAKE DREAMS REAL” . This is the theme under Rotary International president Lee Dong Kern  leadership. He was enduring hardship during his childhood and he was working so hard to be successful businessman in Seoul , Korea. We know for facts that until now there are so many childhood dreams are unable to be reached because of illnesses , sicknesses and many other reasons. One of the efforts to stopped the illnesses or sicknesses is sanitation and to live a clean living environment.  We are hoping that this clean fresh water supply will be one of the different can we can collectively do and stopped from making people getting sick and to live a clean living condition. One thing that Rotary does since more than 20 years is the Polio Eradication in the world. It is because of the hard work of all Rotary International members , the world is almost free from the terrible Polio disease. Because of Rotary International the world’s Polio sickness has been eradicated and eliminated up to 99 % ( ninety nine %) . It is the target for Rotary International to eradicate Polio 100 % for good . Currently  there are still 4 countries are still having the fight with Polio cases , they are Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nigeria. It was a hard long work for all Rotary International members ( about 1.3 million members world  wide) for more than 20 years to fight a good fight and we are hoping that Polio can be eradicated soon. When I was attending the Rotary International conference in Los Angeles  last year June 2008 , it was so clearly explain why and how we should totally eradicate this Polio. Thank you to Rotary for the work that has been done to the world to be a better place.

On this trip I can also able to share with you the happy thing but unfortunately there is a sad thing too that we must face for knowing the facts of life.  The happy thing is about our great expectancy for the next rice harvest. It was not too long ago that our orphanage was in a situation where by things must be bought to fulfill our needs to eat. But as you may know that since April 2008 we have declared that Roslin Orphanage has been self sufficient for the rice needs. In about few more weeks we will have our 3rd harvest of rice and more to it is a harvest of plenty. This was made to be possible because God is allowing us to have it and it is the fulfillment of God’s promise to all of human kind that God will look after the orphans and the widows. It is written in the bible in many parts of it but this a link to some of them .  In this matter on my opinion that we can also say it that Children are God’s hidden treasure ha ha ha . One day for sure  there  will be a child from a particular part of the world will come up to safe the world with his intellectual skills or ideas . It can be the child that you are supporting now which no one knows about it yet.  Anyway we are eagerly waiting for our rice harvest which was made possible by God by the gift of the spring water ( artisan well) that was given to us since  late 2008.

our first and precious water source from God

Tina Vanderpol looking at our 2nd water source at the farm

the rice was made possible to planted because of the continuous water source 24 hours per day , which flowing as God’s love to the children

exceedingly and abundantly provided to the orphans

we are the witnesses for God’s love to the orphans

join us next month to harvest God’s love in the form  of rice

Here is one of the very sad case that is still around us for a long long time. Extreme poverty. The world is a not a perfect place for people in different geographical locations. On April 17th we are ” sad” as we are getting richer with 2 more children , one is Lisa  1 year and 3 months and the other one is Iswan 6 years old. Few days later we are ” sad” also by getting even richer by 4 more children joining the orphanage plus the mother who is in a desperate situation. Extreme poverty and poor health condition case. We are really sad to have been experiencing these kind of condition where by the basic needs of a human being are unable to be fulfilled. In other hand we are happy to be able to do the small part of helping them with food and shelter especially to the little and innocent ones. The picture below is one of the example of what some people are currently living. Nothing is proper in the house where it is supposed to be a place where we can have our comfort and quality time with our family. The word ” nothing like home” is quite hard to be said in this instant.

a home for a family of 6

the wall is free for the mosquito to enter

the roof is free for the dew and rain to come down

no drawer nor cupboard

the main bed and the main bed room

the dining equipments and what they have

the meal for the morning , lunch and dinner on that day

Most of the children who are with us at the orphanage were living like this or even worst. Gerson Mangi , one of our older orphan was living in a place where there is no father , no mother , no home and no body and no bed of course. Now he is at the orphanage and a medical student at the university. He is one of the example that if we want to , we can polish a stone into a diamond. We really hope that he can be a good doctor one day.

Another reason why the trip was so fruitful

Even though the time that we we spend there was not that long we were able to give baptism to 9 of our orphanage children. It was a fine Sunday on April 12th. We are doing the baptism according what the child’s relative of family known to us. If they are from the Christian we will do it at the Christian church and if they are from the Catholic church we are doing it at the Catholic church. What we really want the children to be after they are an adult and capable to stand on their own , we will ask them to go back to their own home town. We are really want them to help their own people first instead of helping some where else. We really want them to go back to their own society after they are educated and finished with their  university studies.

praying before the baptism service being conducted

pastor Sahanaya who conducted the service

the Vanderpols attending the baptism service

Carlos being baptized

Cynthia being baptized

Yanti being baptized

Ivan being baptized

Janson being baptized

Jen being baptized

Sonny being baptized

Martina being baptized

Pauline being baptized

May be it is just a normal baptism for some people but for Peggy and I who are representing for 9 children was something else. We are hoping that one day all of the children will be able to stand on their own and even able to help others both on the physical thing as well as the spiritual thing. Praise The Lord for letting us to be the care taker for these children. After the service a simple food was distributed especially to the children.

RIGHT AFTER THE BAPTISM

Right after the baptism we are scheduled to visit Tasipa Village again. Some of you may be asking why we are quite frequently going to this village . Tasipa is one of the place that is enduring quite frequent famine. Can you imagine now is only the end or the rainy season yet the water is already hard to get.  Tasipa has been a place where we will be visiting during the difficul months. may be our help for them can be just a truck load of water if not the simple food for the children. may be some of you might notice if some of the children are wearing the T shirts of schools in Singapore. This is one of the place that we are also distributing the clothing that you gave us before. One rare occasion that one of our friend was able to spotted their children party dress being worn by the villager at the mountain side during our visit. Indeed it still a party dress as the girl was wearing it for the Christmas party. Just one in million perhaps that such a case was happening.  It was great to be able to proved to her ( our friend)  that we were actually giving away the clothes and not selling them.  The best will be best if you give it directly to the ultimate recipient. You will be able to see a genuine smile because of you. I can assure you that it will be very rewarding to see it. Especially to see them from a distance where we can watch them so happy upon receiving your gifts.

buying veggie at midnight  market

hot chilly

fresh and organic

preparing it together

packing them together

what would you like to be dear

encouragement from Peggy

enjoying the girl singing

Koala bear and candy after singing from Margaret and Janine