Follow Up Post-A Different Perspective

On Saturday 8th February, 19 Students from Flinders University visited three ISCO Centres in Jakarta.  Please find below the visit from the perspective of Esther Sainsbury, who at the time was employed by the Australian Embassy.

It was lovely to meet some of the students participating in the tour on Saturday, and see them engage so willingly with the local community. They worked so well in such a confronting environment and really committed to the activity of the Community Clean up that I was a part of in Kebon Melati. I hope that you and the other students found the other two activities beneficial. The Indonesian Street Children’s Organisation (ISCO) does some amazing, grass roots activities in Jakarta’s kampung communities, and so I hope the students were able to get a glimpse of what life in Indonesia can be like for those with less and also the kinds of challenges the Australian Government faces in prioritising and delivering international aid.

I do hope that the organisation of a field trip to ISCO as an Australian Volunteers for International Development (AVID) assignment locations gave the students an understanding of the kind of work that DFAT development cooperation does in Indonesia. Watching the Flinders students engaging with the Kampung children and the ISCO officer, Kiki present at Kebon Melati, talking to them about waste management and basic sanitation was very rewarding for me. Although in Kebon Melati the morning’s activities only scratched the surface of a much larger issue regarding education, health and poverty in Indonesia, I do think that the Flinders University visit, along with a lesson about sanitation, brought a lot of smiles and excitement to the ISCO centre in Kebon Melati.

The pictures speak volumes in regards to the willingness of the kids from Kebon Melati to follow the Flinders student’s lead. They all wanted to know what the Australian’s were doing and why they were in the canal! Within minutes I think many of them caught on to the goal of the clean up and followed suit, fights amongst themselves as to who would help hold the bags for the Flinders students. They were certainly visiting celebrities leading by example.

Please thank the students for their willingness to engage, and their open mindedness. I hope that you will come again in the future and visit again with a new group of students. 

Regards,

Esther