Support from Sponsors Bring Life Changing Impact for Children in Sekadau
Children living in Indonesia's most remote villages grow up in an environment where they don't understand the importance of having the courage to express themselves and aspire to things. As a result, many children lack good social and leadership skills. Yet, these skills should be developed from an early age as they are very beneficial in adulthood.
Wahana Visi Indonesia (WVI) believes every child has the right to participate and express themselves as fully as possible, even if their home is in the most remote villages. Raising awareness among children and communities about why child participation is crucial requires real, present, and long-term support. The Child Sponsorship programme makes this kind of support possible, with the main goal of fulfilling every child's rights, especially the right to a voice and participation.
Novi, a Wahana Visi Indonesia sponsored child in Sekadau Regency, West Kalimantan, has experienced the positive impact of WVI's long-term support. WVI began assisting her village when she was five years old, and Novi is now 14 and an adolescent. Throughout her nine years as a WVI sponsored child, Novi has been involved in various activities that have fostered her confidence to be a child who dares to express herself and participate.
"WVI often visits our school to teach and socialise with us about how to wash our hands with soap, the importance of living cleanly and healthily, and also the importance of education and not dropping out of school. I participate in child group activities like learning to read, monitoring toilets, and gardening. Because I'm involved in these activities, my confidence has grown, I dare to appear in public, and I enjoy doing these activities with my friends," says the Year 9 student.
Children lacking the courage to speak up and participate had been a worrying issue for villagers. "The children here are shy, so as parents, we were also concerned about our children's difficulty expressing themselves in public," says Titin, a child group facilitator in the village. Awareness of the importance of this emerged and motivated the community to activate various child activities that could bring about change for the children in the village.
The diverse child activities that can drive this change are possible due to the commitment of Child Sponsors. The long-term support provided by Child Sponsors allows the child activities in the village to continue. The assistance WVI provides with its local partner, Timang Kaseh Sekadau, becomes more meaningful because we are present among the children and the community, working together with them, and collectively changing for the better.
Currently, children in Sekadau have felt the positive impact of WVI's long-term support. Novi and other children in the village have actively participate in meaningful activities, and they are growing to be the next leaders. Let's spread this positive change to other remote villages so that every child in Indonesia can live their life to the fullest.
Contributor: Rinso Yohanes (Staff from Timang Kaseh, WVI’s implementing partner in Sekadau)
Editor: Mariana Kurniawati (Communication Executive)
