Nusa Indah 3 Kindergarten at Jragung village, Karangawen district, one of some schools renovated by ars86care took its turn to gather volunteers from Credit Suisse Singapore and Jakarta, ars86care foundation, and local community at the end of 2013. Located at periphery of Demak municipality, majority of Jragung’s people worked as farmers, labor workers, and migrant workers and considered as low income class. Children only had to pay Rp 25,000 per month to enter kindergarten, while children from very poor family got waived from tuition. Having 720 children below elementary age from 8,687 population of Jragung village was served by three kindergartens. It’s expected that Nusa Indah could serve more children to enter this early childhood education.

 

Before the renovation, Nusa Indah 3 kindergarten took place temporarily at storage room made of woods. The floor was cracked cement which was in poor condition. The teacher should water the floor before the school’s start each morning, so that the floor became dust-free when the children came to school. The classroom was dark even under sunny day because of limited numbers of windows. The roof leaked, and when it’s raining the classroom got wet. The student should stop learning and move to dry place wherever possible. Teachers and parents worry when the storm came, because the building construction was unsafe.

 

After the renovation, the school becomes safer and reliable to serve the children. Consist of two classrooms, one teacher’s room, two toilets, mini pantry, and hand wash area, the school’s ready to serve maximum sixty kindergarten student. Having green architecture concept in mind, the building design incorporate glass windows and openings to use maximum sunlight and cross ventilation.  

 

Credit Suisse Volunteering event held by December 14 at Nusa Indah 3 Kindergarten, was a media for donors and beneficiaries to meet and greet. Sixty volunteers from Credit Suisse Singapore and Jakarta office, ars86care team, ars86care’s local partner and communities collaborated with twenty five kindergarten student. Some volunteers worked with children on art and craft using recycle material including used CD for ABC’s window decoration, used ad banner for place mat, CD for signage, and more. Volunteers worked outdoor planted trees, gardening, paint furniture, and children playground equipment. Volunteers experienced labor work by building wall divider, and got their hand dirty by cement and plaster. It was a great experience to get away from routine to do something purposeful and meaningful for the benefit of children in the village.

 

In term of community development, community involvement is essential on the whole phases of the project. Started by assessment phase, building design and construction, until monitoring and evaluation phases, community participatory plays important role through the whole process. Stakeholders including head of the village, school committees, principals, teachers, and ars86care foundation team meet several times to discuss the project. Children participation during the process including assessment, volunteering event, monitoring and evaluation processes are encourage to build Child Friendly School. In term of Children protection in Child Friendly concept, no children are allowed to work as labor worker during construction process. Labor worker team welcome adult skilled local village to work cooperatively.

 

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