Before diving into our Middle School plans we would like to give you a general Peduli Anak update first. The new homes are coming along beautifully! What have been lines and measurements on paper are now becoming real walls. The foundation of five of the seven houses is done. Needless to say, the children are beyond thrilled. They are also thrilled as the earth has not moved the past 5 weeks! Finger crossed it is not just a temporary pause.
As with the first five houses, the first step for the other two starts with the prepping of the soil. If we were to build directly onto the clay soil it will ultimately damage the houses due to the natural expansion and shrinking of clay. Therefore 50 cm of the clay surface is replaced with a layer of Macadam. This is a special mixture of sand and stones under which the clay soil can expand and shrink freely and it enables the structure on top of it to move if the earth should move.
Our new kitchen provides more than 300 meals a day to underprivileged children
We are also thrilled to announce that the renovation of our kitchen has been completed and is in full operation! We will be building a canteen right next to it which will seat 100 children and will include a hand wash station plus a drink water point. We are so grateful to all the people who helped with the recent fundraising event in the city of Den Bosch in The Netherlands to raise money for our own drink water filtering system. In the meantime, our office building and clinic have also been demolished and the foundation of the new building has already been laid. The office and clinic are now temporarily housed in one of the renovated and reinforced buildings. All the way on the other side of the grounds we are putting a 52 meter long and 2-meter thick retaining wall into the ground. A wall will be built on top of the retaining wall with a gate and stairs leading to the river behind it. The river is a beautiful natural spring where the children can swim and we can start fish farming the popular Indonesian Gourami fish in the future. It will give us another opportunity to show and teach the children how to generate extra income for Peduli Anak. At the back of the campus and right before the retaining wall is where our sports field and the Northstar organic vegetable garden will appear towards the end of the renovation projects. The garden will not only be used for our own food supply, but will also be used to teach the children gardening and farming skills.
New Children
Ideally we prefer not to take in any new children while the renovation and rebuilding is still ongoing, but our doors remain open for children in desperate need. We welcomed 8 new children who were brought to us via Child Social Services. A 6 year old girl, two brothers ages 6 and 10, a 14 year old boy and 4 young children from one family. The youngest of the 4 is still a baby and will stay with social services till the rebuilding is done. All the children are doing well and are relieved they have found a safe place.
The Middle School
At Peduli Anak we provide elementary school education for the children living with us on campus and for the children in the nearby villages. After finalizing these six years the children now move on to the government-run middle school in the nearby village. To truly give the children the opportunity to use their crucial teen years to determine what and who they want to become we have decided to start our own middle school. We are already in the process of submitting the paperwork for government approval. Initially, the idea was to turn our vocational school building into the middle school until a structural engineer from our sponsor Royal HaskoningDHV turned that idea upside down. It turns out that the vocational school building is structurally unsound and beyond repair. We are so thankful our experts keep us safe. We have no choice but to demolish this building as well.
The building at the top center of the photo will be demolished and on the same spot the middle school will be built
The good news is that we already found a sponsor for the new building plus we are in talks with an organization to cover the operational costs of the school for at least three years. This non-profit organization focusses on the education of children in developing countries. Our middle school will have three classrooms, a teacher room, a principal room, a library, a computer room, a science lab, and toilets. We aim to open the school in time for the new school year in August. We have already successfully raised funds and support from many companies and individuals to get back on our feet and we will be forever grateful.
We still need a lot of support for our rebuilding efforts. If you have any contacts with companies who could help and or support us with the following we would love to hear from you: External services such as street lights, water pipes, electrical, (paving) asphalt road, drainage, landscaping, furniture lockers for the children, plants and (fruit) trees for the garden, orbit ceiling fans, road drainage, 1500 liter extra paint (1000 liter already sponsored by Jotun), science lab, water tower, computer for the classroom, playground (1500 euro already donated; 3500 euro still needed).
