The Visit to the “Sayap Ibu” Orphanage Yogyakarta
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On January the 29th, we visited the “Sayap Ibu” Orphanage in Yogyakarta. This activity was one of the series of plus activity agenda held by the Bahasa Indonesia Unit of Puri Bahasa.
There were 15 children aged 1 month to 5 years and 11 nursemaids who lived in the orphanage. We were warmly welcomed by Bapak Jumari, the leader of the orphanage. After having a seat, he explained the information about the background of the children that lived in the orphanage. Most of them were ‘rejected’ by their parents, even some of them are having physical disability caused by abortion attempts.
Other than that, the “Sayap Ibu” Orphanage also provides counseling service and temporary residence for the women who are having pre-marital pregnancies in order to save them from doing any abortion efforts. This program can be considered successful since 90% of those women, who are usually rejected by their family or parents, can finally return to their own families with their babies.
“Sayap Ibu” Orphanage opens daily from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 3 to 6 in the afternoon. Pak Jumari emphasized to us that the visitors do not always have to bring ‘gifts’ for the kids because paying attention to them is already more than enough. You can give your attention/affection by caressing them, holding them, and also playing with them.
Besides paying our attention and affection to those children, in that occasion we also gave them some material aids like clothes, shoes, toys, snacks, and milk for the babies and the children. After that we played and sung with the 2 to 5 years old kids until noon.
Finally, since the visiting hours of the “Sayap Ibu” Orphanage were over, each of us went home with a deep impression within our own hearts. We all wish that we can visit it more often and that we can do more things to show our love for the children in the “Sayap Ibu” Orphanage.