T

wenty-eight-year old Linna Kartansa, who once lived in a shelter, is now leading a fulfilling life; she'€™s happily married and working as an assistant officer for one of Indonesia'€™s largest private lenders.

 Linna is just one of the thousands of alumni of the Rumah Hati Suci shelter located in Central Jakarta who have had success stories of their own.

 She said that she was put in the shelter by her mother who had to leave the country to work. '€œMy parents were divorced when I was in junior high school and I then lived with my mother. In order to make a living, my mother had to work overseas and she put my sister and me in Rumah Hati Suci,'€ Linna told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

 She said that she attended junior high school and senior high school in Rumah Hati Suci'€™s schools and received a scholarship to attend a university-level accounting institute.

 Linna went on to say that she was 12 years old when she was put in the shelter. She said that at first she was confused about why her mother put her there because she still had other family members.

 '€œBut now, I understand. Rumah Hati Suci taught me to be disciplined and helpful to others. They taught me so many things that have led me to the life that I live now,'€ she said.

 Although she left the shelter after she turned 18, she said that until now she still visits to volunteer.

 '€œI know how the children feel because I'€™ve been where they are right now. I feel obliged to help them,'€ she said.

 On its 100th anniversary, the Rumah Hati Suci shelter stays true to its purpose of providing underprivileged children with their rights to give them a better and brighter future.

Established in 1914 by Chinese-Indonesian Auw Tjoei Lian, better known as Mrs. Lie Tjian Tjoen, the shelter served as a shelter for dozens of women and girls who were victims of sexual abuse, prostitution and human trafficking.

Today, the shelter still operates in its original building and is managed by Fransisca Setiati.

 '€œWhen the shelter was established in 1914, Mrs. Lie Tjian Tjoen thought of guidelines and principles on what the shelter could do for the children. She came up with 10 principles that until now are the foundation of Hati Suci,'€ Fransisca told an audience during the celebration of the shelter'€™s 100th anniversary on Sunday evening.

 The 10 principles, she said, were that a child should have the right to equality, identity, nationality, recreation, education, health, food, protection, a role and an involvement in development.

 '€œMost of the children in our shelter are those who are underprivileged, whether emotionally or financially. We want to help fulfill these rights for our children,'€ Fransisca said.

 She added that currently the shelter was home to 53 underprivileged girls. The girls are not only taught how to read and count but also how to sing and play music. During the celebration, the girls performed a number of songs, singing beautifully and playing guitars proficiently.

 Fransisca said that Hati Suci was seeking to work with shelters in disadvantaged areas in order to help develop the shelters and simultaneously improve children'€™s living conditions.

 '€œWe will cooperate with the Komnas Perempuan [National Commission on Violence Against Women], Komnas PA [National Commission on Child Protection] and the National Police'€™s PPA [Women and Children Protection] unit. We want to contribute to eliminating child abuse and neglect in Indonesia,'€ she said.