Reaching Rural Indonesia’s Special Needs Children
O F T E N T I M E S, concerns for special needs children come when a special need children is born to a set of parent. However, the beginnings of YSUS is different — our passion for serving special needs children comes from the desire to help those who cannot repay us back. As in the teachings of the Bible,
“If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that for you? For even sinners do the same”. -Luke 6:33
It is in this spirit that YSUS was born — to help children in orphanages who are impaired from the autism spectrum, cerebral palsy, down syndrome and other kinds of mental disabilities in Indonesia. Facilities for special needs children born to middle-higher income families are somewhat adequate in Indonesia; however, facilities to those of the low income families are very lacking, especially outside of the capital Jakarta.
Many still believe that these children are “demon possessed” and are put in chains; others are sent to local orphanages for they cannot beg on the streets. These orphanages and Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) centers in return do not have the capacity to take care of the special needs children. To tackle this need, YSUS provide both:
#1 Funding for sensory based equipments, in addition to daily classroom needs (text books, white boards, etc.)
#2 Training from licensed occupational therapist and special needs teachers.
Our organizations believe that by helping the local volunteers we can reach out to as many special needs children as possible, and bring Indonesia one step closer to an inclusive society.
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Jonathan N Sariaatmadja
Commissioner