Indonesian Adventure 6

Besides being in the pool, the last main adventure we had in Jakarta was with my mom. J & I went with her to see a slum in Jakarta where two of her dear friends are working. We road different buses and lil vans for about an hour through neighborhood after neighborhood. Finally, at the end of one road was this wall. We stopped and crawled out. End of the line. Beyond those stairs in the bottom left of the picture, was the slum/trash pickers neighborhood.

 Two of my moms ladies that are in her BSF class go regularly to this neighborhood to teach, build relationships and care for these families. The process of building trust and relationships has taken years. These two women have been faithful. A small community center has been built, about the size of an overseas shipping container. Here you can see Maria teaching a story to the children.

 Seeing these kids reminded me so much of Kids Club time in GB. They had recently learned about Christmas-never really knowing about it before-and each child received a matching yellow stripped shirt.

 Primarily these are single parent families and these are some of the women who have gotten involved in parenting and cleanliness classes. They requested to learn about Christmas and my moms two friends took a very unique approach. They told a story about a lost son who leaves his fathers house, wastes everything he has and finally returns home, seeking to be a servant in his dad's house. The women also choose to teach these families that Christmas is about giving and serving one another. So, rather than these slum women serving the two women who come to their homes and neighborhoods, the two women invited their friends and served these women. they served them doughnuts and cookies and other delights. They touched these women and hugged them.

 When i asked them what was most memorable about learning about Christmas, one of the women teared up and shared that it was not the gifts that were her favorite. it was not the doughnuts. Usually these women are treated like the trash that they collect for small incomes. Instead, the Christmas celebration showed these women that they were valuable and worthy. The touching, the hugging, the looking in the eye, these were the gifts of Christmas to these women.

 The two young ladies on the left gave us a tour of the neighborhood. The one on the right has done so much community development in the realms of health, sanitation and creating products out of the trash that they collect (things like boxes made from recycled rolled paper, or camera cases from old wrappers, etc.)

The visit struck me as very hopeful and very tragic as the same time. so much tragedy and saddness. and so much love and hope too.