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Foundation juggling skills, formal education
Young performers: Children trained by the Red Nose Foundation show off their circus skills during a performance in Jurang Mangu, South Tangerang, in Banten, on Saturday
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Young performers: Children trained by the Red Nose Foundation show off their circus skills during a performance in Jurang Mangu, South Tangerang, in Banten, on Saturday. Saturdayâs free performance was the eighth conducted by the foundation.(JP/Wendra Ajistyatama) (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
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span class="inline inline-center">Young performers: Children trained by the Red Nose Foundation show off their circus skills during a performance in Jurang Mangu, South Tangerang, in Banten, on Saturday. Saturday's free performance was the eighth conducted by the foundation.(JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
Aprilyanah, 20, and dozens of teenagers and children flocked around a stage at a field in Jurangmangu Barat, South Tangerang on Saturday morning. Some of them, including April, were busy with juggling rings in their hands, while some young children tried to keep plates spinning on sticks they were holding.
They stopped their activities and gathered backstage at 10 a.m., when a master of ceremonies started to introduce them to the audience that had already gathered in the area.
'Ladies and gentlemen, these children and teenagers are members of the Hidung Merah Foundation. They have worked hard for months to perform in front of you. So, let's pay for their hard work with our smiles, laughs and applause,' master of ceremonies and Hidung Merah founder Dan Roberts, 31, said in Indonesian, followed by loud applause from the audience.
Soon after, April and other performers immediately stole the crowd's attention with their ability to juggle balls, juggle rings and stilt-walk, as well as their dancing and comedy acts, during the foundation's annual event. Similar events will also be held on Sunday in Cilincing, North Jakarta at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
According to Roberts, the teenagers and children learned the skills from mentors in Hidung Merah, which is also known as the Red Nose Foundation.
Established in 2008, Hidung Merah is a foundation focusing on protection and advocating education for children in poor areas in Bintaro, South Tangerang, and Cilincing, North Jakarta.
Roberts explained that the Hidung Merah members usually spent an hour and a half every day ' before or after school ' to practicing circus skills with the mentors, who were also willing to teach them many other subjects, such as science, math and English.
He further explained that he began his foundation in Cilincing, where many low-income families resided.
Roberts added that although he and his Hidung Merah team had visited many places in Jakarta, they always came back to Cilincing.
'We chose to stick around Cilincing because we felt that the Cilincing kids need our help more than anybody we met in other places,' Roberts said. 'Their neighborhood is very dangerous. Many children do not go to school and are required to work. Some girls are forced to be prostitutes.'
Roberts said that the Hidung Merah team members therefore chose to dedicate themselves to working with children in the area. The foundation had also been building good relationships with the parents, who initially disagreed with their children's involvement.
Roberts explained that his foundation 'worked quietly and calmly with the parents' by telling them that education was the children's right.
It also gave their children scholarships so that they would not have any excuse not to put their children through school.
Roberts claimed that as a result, now 99 percent of children in Cilincing went to school, whereas in 2008, 70 percent of Cilincing children did not have any formal education.
Roberts pointed out that one of the children was April, who now works as a circus coach in the Hidung Merah foundation.
April said she joined Hidung Merah eight years ago after she saw Roberts beautifully juggling balls. Since then, she found that the circus and the foundation had a part in improving her life. (agn)
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