"In Ramadan more people come to our place to break fast together. I like to have meals with others like this," said Riksa Amelia, a 14-year-old orphan at the Murni Jaya orphanage, in Cilincing, North Jakarta, on Saturday.
All 75 children, aged between eight months and 18 years, living at the orphanage were sitting on the floor in the middle of the house. The boys sat in one group, the girls in another.
Some of the white tiles were long gone exposing the bare cement floor. The children, dressed in colorful clothes, eagerly tucked into their meal: fried chicken with rice.
"We usually have meat only on weekends. Other days we only have vegetables, tofu, tempe (fermented soybean cake) or fish," 14-year-old Michelle said.
Manager Soetripno Wijaya said Ramadan was a blessing for the place.
"We always have more visits and donations for Ramadan. The other months are much quieter," the 50-year-old orphanage manager told The Jakarta Post.
They just spent a fun hour of singing and riddle games with members of Melati Worldwide Community, an organization whose members are Indonesians married to foreigners. The organization donated about Rp 21 million (US$2,300) in goods and cash they had collected during the past three weeks.
"We chose the orphanage after considering many. Their situation is the most heartbreaking because of their remote location. They seldom get any attention," said Inna Irwin. the country leader for Indonesia of the Italy-based organization. She was busy instructing her assistants on how to get a truckload of donations to the location.
The orphanage is located on a small lane near Tanjung Priok port. Fifty-three orphans live in the two-storey house. Another 22 low-income children take their meals there and have their schooling paid by the orphanage funding, but they sleep at their parents' or relatives' houses.
Every child at Murni Raya goes to school, up through finishing high school.
"What I want is for them to be good people and to be useful for the country," Soetripno said.
To get there, he said, everyone be prepared to make a living after finishing high school.
"I ask them what they want to do before they finish junior high school. Then we choose whether they go to general high school or to vocational school," he said.
Eight children now support themselves and have moved out of the residence. They have inspired the others. Michelle, in his first year of junior high, has fixed his eyes on vocational school for electricians.
"I want to go to university but at the same time I want to finish earlier to ease the burden on my uncle," he said.
Soetripno said some children wanted to go to university.
"I tell them to start working first. Fortunately, two are successfully studying part-time in a college," he said.
R. Murni, Soetripno's mother, founded the orphanage in 1987. When she died in 1995, he quit his job at a large car factory and continued taking care of the 25 children who had been under her care. The number of children has been growing ever since.
Now he has eight voluntary assistants to help him care for them. One of them first came to the residence a month ago intending to leave her child.
"She wanted to leave her eight-month-old baby and go to Brunei to find a job. I told her we would take not only her baby but her as well," he said.
Soetripno said the toughest challenges he faced were financial. The orphanage received some Rp 1.5 million monthly from the government and some regular contributions from other donors. But, he said, it was far below what they needed to cover expenses.
"We need at least Rp 4.5 million a month for food alone. State primary and secondary schools are mostly free but some kids do go to private schools," he said, explaining he enrolled them in different schools so they could mingle with different social groups.
"But I don't worry. The food sellers trust me enough to let me owe them for a few days. I believe I'll always have enough to support the kids," he said.
In fact, although thankful for donations, he wanted to fund the orphanage with the money he earned from his tea and fertilizer businesses.
"Handling other people's money puts me under more pressure as I have to keep every cent that goes out accounted for," he said. (mri)
