Give An Education To A Trash Picker's Child

Sari has been a student in our XSEducation program for trash picker’s children since the First Grade.

She will be finishing her first year of college this June. She is studying Accounting. Sari is the first child in her family’s lineage to attend college.

We often hear this kind of success story but few know the struggle a young person from a family of trash pickers endures to get this far. She’s not a dreamer of big dreams or a young person with lofty goals. Sari simply tries to make it one day at a time, one foot in front of the other, always one exam away from success or failure.

Sari’s sister, Nastia is in the 6^th grade and her schooling has also been funded by XSProject through the kind contributions of GlobalGiving donors.

Though he is a simple trash picker, Sari’s father is a proud man and asks for nothing. He does his best to provide for his family, hoping that the education his daughters are receiving will lead to a better life for them away from the extreme poverty they live in now.

 XSProject’s XSEducation focus is to make sure every student in the program attends school every day, does not go to the streets picking trash with a parent and that they maintain passing grades. So, we were surprised when we saw Sari’s grades from her first semester of college and that they were not very good at all.

After talking to the family, we learned that Sari had been skipping class every Wednesday. She had been giving her school transportation money to her sister because on Wednesday’s, Nastia’s school collected 20,000 Rupiah (about $1.50) from each student. On a trash picker’s salary of about $5.00 a day, there was not enough money to send both girls to school on Wednesdays.

For most of us, this is a simple problem to remedy, and of course, XSProject is now making sure both girls are back in their classes every day.  But the shame of not being able to provide for his girls runs deep in their father. Because her grades must improve for her to go on to her second year, XSProject is also now providing special tutoring so Sari can catch up with her studies and improve her grades.

This is Sari’s story. But it is a common story in the trash picker community. XSProject’s General Manager, Retno Hapsari said it best: “For a long time, I could never understand why I would always see “that look” and a fearful reaction when I talked to the parents about being supportive of their children’s education; especially the bigger kids”.  Secrets have consequences.Getting to the truth releases shame so secrets no longer need to be kept and in this case, guarantees a brighter future for a trash picker’s daughters.

Your donation to  this project assures that XSProject continues to fund not only the education of these students but also the small, unexpected and incidental needs that are often so critical to attending class every day.

At XSProject, we make every effort to provide a complete K-12 education for the trash picker’s children. Breaking the generational cycle of picking trash in Jakarta is our mission and the earlier the children start, the greater their opportunities are.

But sometimes families arrive at the Cirendeu garbage dump with older children who have never attended school. The parents want their children to have an education, regardless of their age and XSProject is always looking for sponsors to help pay for the educational needs of older students.

Fitriah, Saroh and Rina are three of our students, who got late starts with their education but are now shining brightly.

Fitriah, age 19 will graduate from high school this July.  She is very aware that to succeed and to make her parents lives easier, she needs to do well in school.  Sometimes she studies with her school friends at their homes. She enjoys running track and Indonesian pop music. Twelfth Grade students must complete their homework on the computer. So Fitriah often stops at the internet café on her way home from school to finish and submit her assignments.

Saroh and Rina are both 17 years old and in the 10^th grade. They both love their teachers, are eager learners  and enjoy hanging out with their friends when they can. Their school is not near their homes so they take a motorcycle taxi each day to get to class on time. They both play on the school badminton team and enjoy listening to music, especially “Dangdut” (Indonesian pop music with origins from Hindustani, Malay, and Arabic music).

All three of our “Stars” attend school six days per week.  On Sunday’s they help at home with cleaning the house and doing other chores. But school is where their friends and futures are.  As Fitriah told us, “If XSProject had not helped me with school expenses and supplies (for) all these years, I probably would not have even finished elementary school”.

To support one of our Shining Stars, please consider making a donation to XSProject’s Give and Education to a Trash Picker’s Child” program. Their education not only frees them from the cycle of poverty but also gives relief to the entire family.