YOU are the KEY

Foreword

One day, I was told that the security guard in our office ushered a boy, named Jumali, to Rumah Belajar Duri (Learning House) Kepa. The security guard saw Jumali, who at that time was working as a labourer on our office renovation project. He had dropped out of his school in Lampung. When he found out that our office ran schools free of charge, Jumali’s eyes sparkled. Our security guard drove him to Rumah Belajar Duri Kepa.

I was very proud of our security guard’s initiative. It showed that he could also be an ambassador of education. I love how my initiative to start YCAB Foundation seventeen years ago begins to spread its impact. Seventeen years ago, I founded this foundation, as an answer to my own concerns seeing so many drop outs out there. Dropping out makes children vulnerable to negative influences.

When these children have no income, they are more easily tempted to do negative things, including criminality and street violence. Rumah Belajar was established to give opportunities for these children. More so than that, I believe that health, knowledge, and entrepreneurial spirit are the first things that every child needs to have at the very beginning in order to be empowered, to later on be independent economically. These three things are the things that are offered by YCAB. In Rumah Belajar, children can learn vocational skills. My hope is that when the children are done studying, they can become skilled professionals and small business owners.

Now, after seventeen years, I start to see my hopes come true. I see a constellation of bright stars’ shine, the sight of the children who dropped out of school, supposedly very naughty at first, who have now worked, become independent, and can help parents to send their younger siblings to schools. Furthermore, some of them are sending their parents to the holy land. It used to be that they couldn’t even dream of attending Junior High, but now they are enrolled in universities. Most of them have steady income thanks to the effort that they have faithfully put in since they graduated out of Rumah Belajar. YCAB is not just educational, we are making children independent. This has become our fundamental ideal, because we believe that independence is the beginning of a prosperous society.

“Child by child we build our World” is the motto that keeps reminding us that YCAB should be a life changing agent for all nations, helping underprivileged children who are poor to become capable, independent, and established. The independence of these students inspires us to reach out even more. Jumali was a construction worker, but now he has become independent as an entrepreneur of bags and purses through vocation skills that he learned throughout his study in Rumah Belajar. This means that there is hope for more than two million Indonesian children who are like Jumali.

Development is a responsibility all of us share. Each of us plays a role for a meaningful change in the world. Jumali must want to fight and change his fate. There must be someone like our security guard, who cares enough to direct these children to Rumah Belajar. YCAB is on a mission to provide education to prepare these children, such as Jumali, to be independent. And then of course there are donors and volunteers, who have helped YCAB to achieve our missions. This cooperation allows us to change the world around us. This book is to prove that when we move together, changes happen; changes that will bring our nation towards a better Indonesia, and a better world. Together, we can!

Regards,

Veronica Colondam