A Carnival to Celebrate a Year of Achievements

Reported by Kalyani KL Chew  30 November 2010

AMURT’s main focus for our Better World program has been to provide a prolonged and practical training program for Early Childhood Development (ECD) teachers.  Over the course of 8 months, 56 teachers from 41 schools received training in song, dance and exercise, PAUD (non-formal ECD school) curriculum, daily & monthly teaching plans, teaching strategies, evaluation, school-related administration, teaching media, teaching ethics, arts and craft, child development psychology, character-building, story-telling to develop a love for reading, and teacher creativity to develop the child’s potential.

(Above left & centre:  Children’s competition and Teachers’ Competition.  Above right: Educational materials made from recycled materials.)

The program culminated in early November, starting with a 3 day carnival featuring children’s competitions, teachers’ competitions, a 3-day exhibition of creative teaching materials made by teachers and children, and a children’s parade.  More than 800 children and 150 teachers from 41 schools took part in these events held at Pantai Gondoria in Kota Pariaman.  This was the first such grand festival focused on early childhood education to be held in Pariaman, and the first joint-event combining the paprticipation of PAUDs and kindergartens from Kota Pariaman and Padang Pariaman.  In the parade, 600 ECD children in their colourful and creative costumes walked more than one kilometre through the streets and market of Kota Pariaman (Below left, centre & right).

(Above left and right:  The 3-day exhibition of craft and teaching materials made by the teachers and children attracted hundreds of visitors.)

Hundreds of people – teachers from more than 150 PAUDs and kindergartens, parents and other members of the public visited our exhibition.  All this, we are confident, has produced greater awareness of the importance and benefit of early childhood education.

The grand finale of the festivities came on 15 November, 2010 with the inauguration and handover of 21 ECD Centres built and renovated by AMURT.  This event was held in conjunction with the graduation ceremony of the 56 teachers who had participated in our teacher-training program.

(Above left:  The Inauguration & Handover Ceremony was officiated by the wife of the Mayor of Pariaman Town.  Above right: One of the 18 ECD schools newly constructed by AMURT.)

(Above left:  The Mayor of Kota Pariaman (2^nd from left) officiated the Graduation Ceremony of the 56 ECD teachers who participated in AMURT’s Teachers-for-a-Better-World training program.)

AMURT is particularly appreciative of the full support of the Ibu Wali Kota (Mayor’s wife) of Pariaman Town who took a personal interest in the activities and helped us to obtain strong support from various departments of the Town Council and also the personal participation of the Mayor in the events.

From the outset, our Better World program enjoyed the support and cooperation of the local authorities of both Kota Pariaman Town and the District of Padang Pariaman. The latest example of such cooperation and coordination is the ease with which we have been able to coordinate with the local HIMPAUDI (Association of ECD Centres) to help set up and supervise study circles amongst the teachers in order to maximize the benefit they can get from the teaching reference materials (including encyclopedias) and educational CDs that we have provided them.  Other examples include the input of various government departments in conducting educational sessions for the benefit of the ECD children and their parents, eg. sessions on dental care (brushing teeth, good nutrition, etc) by the Health Department, on basic fire safety first from the Fire Brigade Department and  on road safety guidelines from the Traffic Police Department.

This close cooperation and coordination greatly facilitated AMURT’s work in reaching out to more teachers from more schools in more areas, and lays a good foundation for future work in promoting and developing Early Childhood Development in West Sumatra.

Better World Program, Padang, Indonesia:

Study Tour To Malaysia-5 November 2010

Report by Kalyanii KL Chew

The Study Tour to Malaysia is the final segment of AMURT’s Teachers-for-a-Better-World teacher-training program.  The team from Padang consisted of four selected teachers (two from Kota Pariaman and two from Padang Pariaman) plus our program manager and assistant children coordinator.  During the 7-day tour from 11-18 October 2010, the team visited 5 kindergartens and also managed to put in some sightseeing as well.  The kindergartens selected covered different teaching styles or methods in order to give the Padang teachers the opportunity to learn a range of different experiences.

Love, joyful learning, helpfulness & independence are part of the learning experience emphasized at Yog’Kidz

At Yog’Kidz Centre, our teachers learnt that neo-humanist education with its focus on love and a joyful learning experience enables each child to grow physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually and allows him/her to develop his/her personal gift to the world. Our teachers were also impressed by the early training in helping with daily chores like serving food and washing dishes.  They also greatly appreciated learning about brain gym exercises which help to connect the right and left hemispheres of the brain and which are proven to help tremendously in the learning process.

At Kelip Kelip Kindergarten, our teachers appreciated how the children were encouraged to share with and help each other, and to freely express themselves through art.  They also observed the children using computer programs to learn English and a full-dress rehearsal for Kelip Kelip’s upcoming concert (all below).

At Peter & Jane Kindergarten, the custom-built school building itself was awe-inspiring, as were the large range of Montessori equipment in each classroom (below left & right).  Also impressive was the effort to include a few special-needs children into the school’s program.

At Iqan Islamic Montessori Preschool, Teacher Munira generously shared with our teachers further about the Montessori method with its emphasis on guiding each child to develop independence and to learn at his/her own individual learning pace (below left and right).

At each school we visited, our teachers delighted the children and host teachers alike with their rendition of Indonesian kindergarten songs performed with lively accompanying action (below).

Besides the kindergarten visits, our teachers were able to visit Malaysia’s splendid capital city, Putrajaya, the must-see Petronas Twin Towers (below right&left), and also the heart of the old city centre of Kuala Lumpur.

A visit to an Indian temple in the heart of Chinatown resulted in an unexpected treat to an Indian cultural dance.  Nearly everywhere they went, the Padang teachers were impressed by the general cleanliness and orderliness in Malaysia.

Another bonus was meeting the Montessori trainer of the teachers at Peter & Jane’s during our visit to the kindergarten who has since kindly volunteered to come over to Padang to conduct a 3-day training session for our teachers there for free!  The session is scheduled for later in December.  All in all, the study tour to Malaysia was a very educational experience for our teachers and assistant children coordinator, for all of whom this was the first trip outside Indonesia.  Certainly there will be much they have learnt to share with their colleagues back in Padang.

Children Program in Padang-Practical In-Situ Training of  Teachers - 21 December 2009

Recently, AMURT & AMURTEL brought in a trainer from Malaysia with 20years’ experience in early childhood education to provide in-situ training of teachers at our 3 Child Centres in West Sumatra.

Sister Usha Chang, who operates her own kindergarten in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, spend three weeks from 21 Nov – 10 Dec 2009 with our Children Program teachers and Children Coordinator.  Drawing from her wealth of experience, Usha was able to give practical advice and guidance questions ranging from classroom and children management to curriculum planning and implementation to interactive teaching techniques to creative play.  Her cheerful and friendly manner quickly warmed the hearts of the little children as well as the teachers.  Her respectful and discreet training style quickly won the acceptance of the teachers while her hands-on action-oriented demonstrations brought early childhood education theory to real life for the teachers yound and old.

At the end of her three-weeks training stint, all agreed that Usha’s visit had been an inspirational and educational experience that benefitted everyone involved in AMURT & AMURTEL’s Children Program.

Usha teaching the children about animals through an entertaining puppet sketch.

Usha introduced the children to the latest educational toys to stimulate creativity and dexterity.  She also showed the teachers how to bring out the artistic genius in each and every child by providing them with bright  and colourful art materials and encouraging them to freely express their inner spirit.

Usha’s teacher training format included discussion sessions followed by live demonstrations on how to implement various activities to develop the children’s body, mind and spirit.

Usha showed how a fruit-kebab “cooking” class provides the opportunity to teach the children the names of different fruits, vitamins and good nutritional habits, introduce them to elementary kitchen skills (peeling and preparing fruits) and also give them practice in large and small hand movement and dexterity (which prepares little fingers for handwriting).  They also gain self-confidence and a sense of achievement.  Best of all, the class combines plenty of good fun with a very yummy ending!

Report submitted by Ac.Ragodbhasananda Avt. dadaraga11@gmail.com

Sister Kalyanii KL Chew klchew@amurt.my

AMURT & AMURTEL Padang +62 751 498 219; +62 813 7500 3538

West Sumatra Earthquake Emergency Response Program – 14 November 2009

A 7.6Richter Scale earthquake struck West Sumatra province, Indonesia on 30 September 2009 at 5.45pm.  AMURT & AMURTEL went in and started a distribution program.  One of beneficiaries of this program is Ifel, 35, of Pasa Dama village in the district of Padang Pariaman, West Sumatra.

Photographs by Christian Jung

(Left) Ifel with son Razia stares into a daunting future.  (Right)  All three houses severely damaged.

As is the tradition with the local Minangkabau culture, Ifel, together with her husband and two small children live in her mother’s house with other relativies.  Adjoining their house are the houses of Ifel’s grandmother and uncle.  All are damaged beyond repair.  The 40 plus members of the extended family living in the three houses are now camped out in two temporary shelters in the compound, one for women and children, and the other for the menfolk.

A football match was going on at that very time of the earthquake and most of the villagers were in the field to support their team.  This probably explains why no deaths occurred despite the severity of building damage.  Nevertheless, the experience of the houses crashing down was a very frightening experience for all.  Ifel’s four-year old son, Razia, was so disturbed by the event that he now clings to his mother all the time.  For many weeks after the earthquake he wet his bed at night and suffered recurring nightmares.

She is a research assistant with a local NGO in Padang town, but given the precarious situation in the village, she does not have the peace of mind to leave her children in order to go to work in town.  Ifel is also worried that any aftershocks or new earthquake would send their unsafe houses tumbling down. This makes an already bad situation even worse because now she is no longer able to earn the much needed income.

More than 20 women and children from the extended family (above right) cram into this makeshift sleep area (above left) very night since the earthquake.

The family have no idea where they will find the necessary funds to rebuild their houses.  Ifel’s traumatized uncle is in denial and insists that his house does not need to be torn down.  Despite the heavy damage, he says that all it needs is some repair work.  Meanwhile, Ifel’s elderly father (below left) is in despair at the sight of his house in ruins.  He had poured so much money and energy into it.  Ifel’s mother (below right) keeps busy with the cooking lest she too falls into depression.

Before she is able to attend to the multitude of problems confronting her, Ifel has to attend to the needs of her two young sons first of all.  To help them return to some form of normalcy, she started a play session at a nearby clearing.  Soon all the kids in the village were gathering there – it was good to hear the sound of children playing and laughing again.

But Ifel is also worried about the village children playing in the rubble of the earthquake all around the neighbourhood (below), unmindful of the dangers that may appear at any time.  She says there is dire need for a kindergarten and/or child centre in the neighbourhood to cater to the needs of the children.  She needs a place where she can leave her young children for a few hours, secure in the knowledge that they are in safe hands and happily occupied.  Only then will she be able to have the peace of mind to attend to the multitude of urgent tasks at hand in the aftermath of the earthquake that has so devastated the lives of her family and their neighbours.

It is to help folks like Ifel and her sons that AMURTEL has started conducting children programs that will operate from child-friendly spaces in their village neighbourhood.

Donations for our Padang relief and development operations can be sent to:

AMURT & ARMUTEL, Padang,  A/c No: 179679021, Bank Nagara Indonesia, (BNI) Padang Branch

Swiftcode: BNINIDJAPDG, Bank Address: JI. Praklamasi No. 45, Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia

For more information: Rajeshwar Mandal <dadaraga11@gmail.com> +62 812 75003538;

Kalyanii KL Chew <klchew@amurt.my> +62 819 77537546

Projects completed in Aceh 2005-7 at a glance

• More than 15,000 parcels of food, water and medicines distributed
• 2500 family resettlement kits distributed
• 42 small brick factories re-constructed or repaired
• Two orphanages constructed
• Two new kindergartens constructed
• Two kindergartens, two primary schools and one orphanage repaired
• 36 new houses constructed
• Recreational kits benefiting more than 3,000 children distributed
• 945 benefited from eye camps
• 334 marginalized farmers benefitted from agricultural start-up project
• Sewing machines distributed for livelihood recovery for 130 women
• Computers and internet access provided for 900 high school students
• Counselling, child care and English classes provided in several camps for
displaced people

Disaster Relief

In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, AMURT and AMURTEL focused on providing emergency supplies to the survivors. We distributed more than US$300,000 worth of food and non-food, medical and recreational items in the first three months to thousands of tsunami survivors in different parts of Aceh.

AMURTEL, our women’s wing, made regular visits to interact with the children in the camps for the internally displaced people. Our informal English classes were very popular and we were struck by how keen these young children were to learn a new language and to improve their lives. AMURTEL volunteers provided counselling to those who had lost beloved family members, their homes, their livelihoods, everything! This was not easy and some of us were unable to hold back our tears as we cried together with those we were counselling.

Rehabilitation

From this activity, we started to discover the needs of the survivors on the long road to rehabilitate and reconstruct their lives. Education was one priority. AMURT and AMURTEL raised funds to repair, renovate and construct six schools. In addition 36 house were constructed for families that had lost their house in the tsunami.

From April 2005, AMURT worked with survivors to rebuild the local economy, starting with the rehabilitation of the brick factories in Neuheun. We are delighted that the forty-two brick kilns now operate again, and make a substantial contribution to the overall rebuilding effort in Banda Aceh. Their businesses is thriving!

AMURTEL supported livelihood programs for women. Our sewing program has provided 130 tailors (who lost their equipment in the tsunami) with the opportunity to earn their own sewing machines, as well as cash income, by sewing school uniforms for local schools. The women have sewn uniforms for 3,920 schoolchildren of all ages, from kindergarten to senior high school.

AMURTEL’s cake-making program has provided cake-making equipment and ingredients to 40 women from two resettlement barracks. The program started just in time to catch the peak Ramadan demand for cakes with which to break fast. After selling their cakes for a profit, the women repaid a portion of the start-up capital in five monthly installments of cakes which AMURTEL distributes free to orphans, the disabled and the elderly.

In Meulaboh, AMURT worked with Sun Spirit, a Jakarta-based NGO, on the first organic farming project in Aceh. The 240 farmers have learnt techniques such as mulching, composting, and the production of fertilizer, pesticide and insecticide. They consume most of the crops (such as lettuce, spinach, carrots, beans, tomato) themselves but hope to sell the produce in the future. One of the project staff is so inspired by the project that he plans to name his first son “Organic!”

Development

From January 2006 AMURT accomplished some large and much needed developmental projects. The focus was on education, and in particularly orphans, building schools and hostels.

A computer literacy program for high school students is another program where we invest in the Acehnese potential beyond aid.

AMURT’s largest construction project as the Handicapped Primary School Complex at Jantho with a budget of about USD700,000. Designed to be a model school for children with disabilities, the complex consists of 2 classroom blocks, a dormitory cluster, dining hall, multi-purpose cum concert hall, administrative block, library, workshop, mausolah (small prayer hall) and teachers’ housing quarters. The entire complex is linked by corridors with ramps and bathrooms that are wheelchair friendly. Even the mausolah is provided with two ramps (one for males and one females) so that no wheelchair-bound child will be left out. All in, AMURT and AMURTEL has implemented the rehabilitation and construction of 9 schools and 2 orphanages with total project value of around USD1,000,000. Funding for these projects came from big and small international NGOs, as well as from other AMURT/AMURTEL chapters around the world.

Agricultural start-up program

AMURT decided to initiate an agricultural project in Pulau Nasi and Pulau Breueh because these two islands had received very little aid. Two years after the Dec 2004 earthquake and tsunami, most of the residents of these two islands that lay 15km and 20km off the northern tip of Bandar Aceh, were still living in tents. Their tsunami-devastated fields had not been rehabilitated and the villagers had no means of making a living.

The program entailed several phases of community outreach and education, soil recovery, equipment and seed support as well as monitoring and consultancy. The crops grown included banana, green bean, corn, watermelon, cucumber, peanut, ginger, soybean, chilli and paddy. Experts from the Aceh Agriculture Department were brought in to teach the farmers the latest ploughing and planting techniques, while specialists from Indonesian NGO Sunspirit taught the farmers how to make organic compost, insecticides and pesticides as well as general organic farming techniques. In all 334 farmers were benefitted from the program. Later an irrigation program was added.

As a result of the resounding success of AMURT’s agricultural project, the families involved are now able to make a comfortable living from their fields, with self-confidence and pride restored. The economic activity generated have also led to the 100% return to these two islands of their displaced residents who had been relocated on the Aceh mainland in the wake of the tsunami.

Community
Many tsunami survivors have expressed deep gratitude for the services we have provided them. They never imagined that their grief would be eased by strangers from different lands. On one occasion two Europeans saw AMURT taking children from a resettlement camp on a trip to the sea beach for the fist time since the tsunami. They were impressed with the rapport and familiarity we had developed with our little “friends”. This has become the identity of the volunteers and workers of AMURT and AMURTEL in this operation: an adaptable multi-national organization undertaking diverse programs through people-to-people connections. We give a special thanks to our Acehnese staff who have became part of our extended family.

Yogyakarta Earthquake 2006-2007

Projects completed in Yogyakarta

• Distribution of Emergency Relief Supplies to 2083 families in 20 sub-villages Yogyakarta Province following the May 27th earthquake
• Distribution of emergency relief supplies and temporary shelter items to 1318 families in 27 sub-villages in Ciamis District, West Java Province, following the July 17 earthquake/tsunami
• Construction of 10 temporary primary schools with funds from KNH Germany
• Construction of 7 temporary elementary schools with funds from UNICEF (19 more to be completed before December 1)
• Distribution of Basic Teaching and Learning Materials to 1254 children in 10 elementary schools in Yogyakarta Province
• Completion of a 2 month psycho-social program fro 935 children in 8 schools of Yogyakarta province.
• Provision of Materials for Recovery of Destroyed small restaurant of Children’s Home; Offering training in cooking and screen printing to 17 children of the Home
• Classes in cooking, traditional dance, creative art and private tutoring for 90 children in two schools for children with disabilities.

AMURT entered Yogyakarta soon after the devastating earthquake that hit the area on May 27, 2006 and left over 400,000 homeless. In the initial relief phase, AMURT distributed Emergency Relief Supplies to 2083 families in 20 sub-villages in Yogyakarta Province.

In the rehabilitation phase, AMURT focused on education and developed an emergency package to assist schools that were affected by the earthquake. The package consisted of four elements:
1. Construction of a temporary school using local materials
2. Rehabilitation of toilet facilities
3. Provision of basic teaching and learning materials
4. Trauma healing activities for primary school children

By early 2008, AMURT had built 60 temporary schools for UNICEF based on our own design using bamboo and other local materials. UNICEF liked our design so much that they used it for another 100 temporary schools in the area. In many of the schools, we added a healing program to alleviate the traumas the children experienced during and after the earthquake.
UNICEF is so pleased with all aspects of AMURT’s work – assessment of needs, consultation and communication with the target local beneficiary communities in order to improve community participation, ownership and responsibility, and the supervisory and construction work – that it issued AMRUT a rare and special Letter of Appreciation in June 2007.

AMURT also built 10 temporary primary schools and three permanent kindergartens with funds sponsored by German children NGO KinderNotHilfe (KNH). This was followed by an English Support Program at the three kindergartens.

Other projects completed by AMURT in the Yogyakarta area include:

• Distribution of emergency relief supplies and temporary shelter items to 1318 families in 27 sub-villages in Ciamis District, West Java Province, following the July 17 earthquake/tsunami
• Distribution of Basic Teaching and Learning Materials to 1254 children in 10 elementary schools in Yogyakarta Province
• Completion of a 2 month psycho-social program fro 935 children in 8 schools of Yogyakarta province.
• Provision of Materials for Recovery of Destroyed small restaurant of Children’s Home; Offering training in cooking and screen printing to 17 children of the Home
• Classes in cooking, traditional dance, creative art and private tutoring for 90 children in two schools for children with disabilities
• Hygiene Awareness Training for 1600 school children in 10 elementary schools in Yogyakarta Province
• Temporary School Maintenance Workshops for 59 elementary schools that received temporary school buildings from AMURT and other partners of UNICEF
• Teacher’s Training Program for 25 kindergarten teachers of Gantiwarno Sub-District in Central Java Province

Bengkulu Earthquake 2007

Following a series of strong earthquakes in the Bengkulu region of South Sumatera, Indonesia, AMURTEL send an assessment team to the region in September 2007. Unlike in Aceh in the aftermath of the Dec 2004 earthquake and tsunami, no foreign NGOs and only a few local NGOs were there to help the victims of the disaster.

The AMURTEL team decided to concentrate on Desa Lubuk Lesung where 28 houses had been damaged because there were many poor people there who needed help. The villagers had already received food relief, so they decided to focus on building materials help and trauma counselling.