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News and project updates February 2008

Thanks to generous sponsorship from all over the world, The Foundation for Mother & Child Health (FMCH) is thrilled to announce the start of our new mobile unit in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Sponsorship of staff, equipment and a van has provided the means by which FMCH now has the mobility needed to reach some of the poorest communities in East Jakarta.

Three new programmes are in the process of being set up: a pre school education programme for children; a sustainable skills training programme for mothers, and a literacy skills programme for street children.

Pre school education & health education

In an urban slum area containing approximately 1500 people, the waiting list to join the FMCH Pre School has grown to 50 children. FMCH has already started a pre school programme for the first 20 children aged between 3 and 6 years, but numbers are restricted by the size of room we are able to rent.

Whilst their children learn simple literacy and numeracy skills through play and song their mothers have their own lessons in health and nutrition. Discussions are held in groups on topics such as the best types of food to feed young children, which vaccinations children should be given, what to do if a child has a fever, how to reduce the number of dengue mosquitoes in their area and other similar concerns.

Sustainable skills training & health education

In an area containing 7,200 people, most of whom live by the river in simple shacks made of wood or brick, interest in learning a sustainable skill has been huge.

Hampered by the lack of a community area, FMCH will start by offering 22 women the chance to start learning sewing skills. The aim is to train these women who, once proficient, will be able train up other women within their community.

Street Children literacy and health education programme

According to an article in the Jakarta Post in 2007, data from the Social Affairs Ministry showed the city had 30,000 street children in 2005. While there has not been another survey since, volunteers working in this sector say the numbers have not decreased.

It is a well-known fact that street children are likely to become victims of violence. Sexual abuse against street children has been frequently reported in the Indonesian media, the latest case being when the body of a six-year-old boy, showing signs of sexual abuse, was found in a cardboard box at a bus stop in Jakarta. (Prodita Sabarini – Jakarta Post).

There are three types of street children in Jakarta: those who have run away from their families and live alone on the streets; those who spend most of the time on the streets working but go home at night to their families, and, finally, those who live on the streets with their families.

Knowing the above, FMCH has decided to open a literacy skills programme for street children aged from around 7 to 17 years old. Based nearby a railway station where many street children already congregate on a regular basis, FMCH has started by providing books and basic health education for older children and reading and telling stories to younger children on a weekly basis.

Many children have already expressed an interest in joining this programme: the older ones in particular have expressed an interest in learning new skills and building on their basic education.

As all these programmes progress we will report back.

Now looking for further sponsorship to enable the project to continue and expand, the Foundation for Mother and Child Health would like to invite you to look at our website to find out about our other programmes in Indonesia and India.