Give An Education To A Trash Picker's Child

As the school year draws to a close in Indonesia, four Grade 12 students in the XSEducation program are preparing to graduate. Three students are hoping for a chance to attend college in September. To be accepted, they need to pass the exams. Then it’s all about choosing a college and studying hard.

Ardiansyah (Ardi) and Rustandi (Tandi) are the first young men to graduate with the dream of furthering their education. Fifi is the only girl in our program graduating high school this year.

Ardi’s area of interest has always been in mechanics. In high school, he studied Industrial and Automotive Mechanics. By continuing this career path and receiving a diploma in this field, he has opportunities to find a career with one of many companies that support Indonesia’s economy through auto manufacturing and service as well as the $120 Billion oil, gas, mining energy sectors. He has high hopes to be accepted into a college program. For a young man who grew up at a garbage dump, his education and determination will pull, not only him but his entire family out of poverty.

Tandi took a completely different path in vocational school and studied Accounting. He will graduate with an Accounting certificate. If accepted to college, he is not sure if he wants to get a Diploma in Accounting or study Management. What he is sure of, is that he wants to work in the Accounting field while attending college to help defray some of his expenses and to help his mother.

Fifi’s mother, Saminah, works at XSProject. Children of XSProject employees attend school and have all their school fees paid for under the XSEducation program. Unlike Ardi and Tandi, Fifi did not attend a vocational school, but instead a high school that prepares students for college. She already sat for her college entrance exam and is now waiting with much excitement to know the results. Because her exams are on the school’s intranet, and most of her college studies will also require computing skills, she received her first laptop computer as her graduation present.

In addition to all of us at XSProject, our three graduates, Ardiansyah, Rustandi and Fifi, want to extend a grateful and heartfelt Thank You to all the generous GlobalGiving donors. It is because you care and contribute to XSProject, that these young people are  breaking from the cycle of poverty and trash picking and are on their way to success and a great life. 

Ten years ago, XSProject’s vision was to send every trash pickers child to school. In those early days it was a struggle to convince the parents that the children should not be picking trash from the streets and that, with an education, the generational cycle of trash picking could be broken and the entire family would benefit.

It started with a simple kindergarten located at the Cirendeu garbage dump in Jakarta, Indonesia. It was a small room inside a building where the trash was sorted, baled and stored until the recycle trucks could pick it up. In those days, volunteer mothers from the international schools in Jakarta would come to play with the children and read to them.

Some of the children went to school when their parents could afford to pay and as long as the child was not sick. These students did not attend on a regular basis, so their grades were poor and most dropped out to return to picking trash with their parents.

A very different picture of XSProject’s education program exists today. This year, more than 75 students are enrolled in Jakarta’s public school system, from elementary through college. Most of the middle and high school students have been in our program since the beginning. By providing social services, the students receive nutritional meals, regular health checkups, vaccinations and vision exams. They are eager to learn, to get good grades and make their families proud.

Last year, XSProject added three young women enrolled in our XSCollege Scholarship program to the teaching staff at the recently built community building at the dump. They tutor 10 students in grades 2, 4 and 5 and use creative games and puzzles that challenge the children to work together to solve problems.

Learning basic math, algebra and weights and measures are the hardest for elementary students. The teachers and tutors give extra attention to these subjects and encourage all the kids to work in teams to get the answers. Now, they look forward to doing their homework together under the guidance of the tutors.

The students just brought home their report cards. Where last semester they received “D’s”, this semester, the report cards are filled with B’s!  The kids are so excited and motivated.  

To the GlobalGiving donors who have supported our XSEducation program: We thank you and want you to know that your contributions have made this possible. We have a long way to go and we hope we can continue to count on your support.