Home sweet home: Yustina, a foster mother, is seen in front of one of the houses at the SOS Children’s Village Jakarta in Cibubur, East Jakarta.

SOS Children’s Village is not your typical orphanage. Believing that family is a crucial part in a child’s life, its goal is to recreate the concept of family by grouping eight to 10 children in a house with a mother.

Despite the premise that children are the future of the world, many of them are abandoned, leaving these little folks wandering around with no future and exposing them to the risk of poverty, child trafficking, or even death. What they need, then, is a shelter where they can grow up surrounded with love and, more importantly, a family.

For SOS Children’s Villages Indonesia, a non-profit organization serving as a shelter and educator for kids in need, replacing the vital role of parents has been their prime function since 1972.

Since its establishment 44 years ago, the organization has taken care of nearly 1,100 children into adulthood. The organization currently has eight housing complexes in eight regions across the country, which it calls villages, to take care of the children so they can feel the presence of parents and get involved in the essential activities of children.

Brothers and sisters: Children play together in front of their house in the SOS Children’s Village Jakarta

The children are those handed in by their biological families for various reasons — such as unstable financial situations — and the mother is a woman who has agreed to dedicate the rest of her life for these children.

“It’s a very rewarding thing to be called “Mom” and to experience being a Mom. I get to have a lot of kids, fight along with them and be by their side through thick and thin. And I get to share every joy and sorrow, like whether they will pass to the next grade at school, or in health matters and in their future. But it’s being called Mom that makes it all worth it,” said Yustina, a foster mother at SOS Children’s Village Jakarta in Cibubur.

The Cibubur facility consists of 15 houses and other facilities such as a library, nursery school, soccer field and a gazebo.

Yustina, who went through a two-year trial period, takes care of eight children.

“Sure, having eight kids can give you a headache sometimes. But you just have to learn to dance in the rain and enjoy each moment you have with these kids,” she said.

In addition to a mother in each house, a village is also occupied by four male educators who run the village and also act as father figures for the children. They also live at the village so that they can be available to the children at anytime.

“SOS has an incredible mission of providing these kids with what’s necessary in their lives, and with a family to live with and to love,” said Sumardi, village director and a father figure at SOS Children’s Village Jakarta.

Sumardi — known as Mardi — grew up at SOS Children’s Village Lembang in Bandung, West Java, which was the first branch of the organization in Indonesia. He then became an educator at SOS Children’s Villages all around Indonesia: first in Lembang, then in Semarang in Central Java, Sumatra, and finally in Jakarta in 2016.

“Since I grew up in SOS, I know what it is like to have the need for support here. So, after I graduated from college, I told my “dad” at SOS, pak Agus, that I wanted to help and work with SOS Children’s Villages,” said Mardi, who said his background study in psychology helped him in his work.

“I feel like the value of love that my dad taught me has had a very incredible impact in my life. I feel like these children are truly my family. I want to motivate them and share with them not only joy, but also sorrow,” he added.

At SOS Children’s Village Jakarta, Mardi lives with his wife and his two biological children, so it is really a matter of managing his time between his SOS family and his “real” family.

He said his own family gets along pretty well with the SOS family as they live in the same compound, but there are times when they get jealous. Once, his oldest daughter was having a problem with her homework and she waited for him to help her with it.

“I came home at 10 p.m., all tired, and she yelled at me, ‘Just go and take care of all the other kids! Don’t bother taking care of me!’ That kind of thing did happen, so I had to find a solution. I asked her to come with me whenever I’m helping the other kids, so she can get my attention while at the same time I can hang out with the others,” he said.

Flori Berta Apsari, usually called Lori, admitted that she could relate with Mardi’s daughter, as she grew up at SOS Children’s Village Jakarta and is the daughter of Marceno, the former village director.

“The children of the educators here tend to get jealous; sometimes it will feel as if their fathers are no longer their own and they have to share their dads with the other kids,” said Lori, who now serves as a communications staffer for SOS Children’s Village Jakarta.

“But they’ll eventually grow out of it. After all, our parents always teach us that we have siblings other than our biological ones. And they teach us that we’re luckier than the other kids since we still have our biological family, so we have to be compassionate and realize that they [SOS kids], too, need love,” she said.

Aside from family, activities are also an integral part of a child’s life. The children are engaged in a wide range of activities, such as handicraft, traditional dances and soccer — just to name a few. Talented children also compete or perform from time to time.

Kristo Ardyan Mahendra, a 12th grader living at SOS Children’s Village Jakarta, managed to get a nomination for his remarkable piano skills at the International Award for Young People (IAYP) from The Duke Edinburgh’s International Award in August 2015.

He said that it was all thanks to Mama Arista, his Mom at SOS, who raised him with love since he was a baby and who introduced him to music. He is able to regularly practice playing music using an old keyboard given to him by Arista’s friend.

“There is nothing else more comfortable in this world than the warmth given by family, the support and love given by Mama Arista and my brothers and sisters at SOS,” said Kristo, who loves to play classical and gospel music.

“Thanks to this family, I am able to gain an achievement in something that I’m truly passionate about,” he said.

— The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post

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