The kindergarten and primary school supported by the Raja Ampat Research and Conservation Center (RARCC) in Yarweser, Raja Ampat, organized a Christmas party on the 13th December with musical drama, dance, and thanksgiving.
The 60 children and their two teachers prepared the party for weeks. On Sunday the 8th December, Astrid Wulan Sinadia and Ritly Risakota even stayed up all night at the RARCC office to arrange things for the celebration since they don’t have electricity in the village. They also made crowns for the kids to offer their mothers at the party. The Mother’s Day is celebrated in Indonesia on the 22nd December.
Credits: Luis Romero Ruhss
Besides, the teachers invested a lot of time to prepare the papers for the students’ evaluation before Christmas. As the school term progresses, the mentors try to adjust the children’s classes to their level of knowledge instead of their educational stage, which makes their student assessment harder.
The teachers also asked the RARCC unusual Christmas gifts for the kids. They would rather have oranges than toys, they said.
To try to solve a problem in the past, the villagers merged seawater with freshwater, and consequently, the freshwater sources were affected as well as the agriculture. The RARCC director Max Ammer has been helping the village to solve the issue by searching for techniques and advising them, but it takes time to get results. That is one of the reasons for the lack of vegetables and fruits in Yarweser. Other reasons are extreme poverty and lack of opportunities in a remote area.
Credits: Luis Romero Ruhss
The majority of the people in Raja Ampat doesn’t have money to go to the hospital due to the high price of the fuel in remote places. For instance, even though there is medicine available for malaria in the region, sometimes people just try to cure the disease with natural remedies and food poor in nutrients, such as rice. In Papua and West Papua, too often young people died, but no one gets to know the cause of death.
The lack of education makes the problem of poverty even worse. When someone has the money, it is often spent at a glance in unnecessary stuff, such as toys, but on the next day, there are no money even for basic needs anymore.
However, as usual, the most generous people are among the poorest of the poor. Indonesia was named the world’s most generous nation in the 2018 World Giving Index, done by the Charities Aid Foundation.
That’s why when the RARCC staff and several Papua Diving guests arrived in Yarweser, there were food and drinks for everyone. Not all the people from the village face extreme difficulties, but certainly, many of them offered the best they had for this special evening.
Credits: Luis Romero Ruhss
The RARCC is also really thankful to the teachers, who has been putting all their energy to empower their students as if they were their mothers. Ritly Risakota and Astrid Wulan Sinadia have been helping the village with their health skills too.
Moreover, the mentors take part of their holidays to look for things for the kids in the city, and quite often they even spend their own money to buy stuff for the children.
We thank all our direct donors and the Papua Diving guests, who support the RARCC by staying at the resorts because part of the diving company’s profit goes directly to our foundation.
Credits: Luis Romero Ruhss
We especially thank God for making this possible because many times we don’t know how can we support so many local people who almost daily request the RARCC help, and He always opens a way!
Know more about this project here.
