Ian returns to support Indonesia's children

Hamish Hutchinson • Published 16 Jun 2010 12:55 0 Comments

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Ian Hammond with children at the Peduli Anak Foundation, the charity for which he is UK Goodwill Ambassador, He is pictured with Suhirman, Ari, Nando, his adopted child who was delighted with the teddy bear Ian bought him, and Fitri.

A DOLLAR man is returning to a poverty stricken Indonesian island for the opening of a International School which will provide quality, free education for children who desperately need it.

Ian Hammond first visited Indonesia 15 years ago and was involved in instructing teachers on how to teach the practical sciences across primary, middle and senior schools.

Last year he returned to the island of Flores to see the impact his work had and the changes since he left, and he also visited the island of Lombok to see the work of the Peduli Anak Foundation, which looks after children who have been abandoned by or who have lost their parents.

Since last year the foundation has built its own international-standard school which will provide free education to children who would otherwise attend village schools where the standard of education isn't so high.

Ian told the Advertiser, "On 10 July I will, once again, be flying out to the Island of Lombok, to meet the children at the foundation.

"I will be there for a week and will be attending the opening of our newly-built International School on 19 July.

"Currently only 10 of the foundations's children are lucky enough to receive the best education on the island of Lombok by attending the International School 'Sekolah Nusa Alam'.

"The rest of the children go to village schools with a poor quality of education.

"These schools have limited facilities to support the learning process and the quality of the teachers in general is slightly under the national standard."

Ian continued, "Therefore, the Peduli Anak Foundation has built its own international-standard primary and secondary school.

"The school will also open its doors to other children in Lombok with affordable fees.

"By running its own schools, Peduli Anak will accomplish three major goals - to provide free qualified education for children living in Peduli Anak, to generate income to support the operation costs of the school and the foundation in general, and to support the government programme of free and high standard education for all children in Indonesia."

The school has 15 classrooms and will have an initial intake of 60 pupils, which will rise to 150 next year.

The second part of Ian's trip will take him back to Labuan Bajo on the Island of Flores, where he worked from 1989 to 1995.

As well as helping out at the St Ignatius Loyola School where he used to teach, he will be visiting the dragons on the islands of Komodo and Rinca.

Ian is a UK Goodwill Ambassador for the Peduli Anak Foundation and without its support many of the orphan children would be forced to work on the streets and beaches to earn cash for food.

This would inevitably leave them open to abuse by both tourists and local people.

One of the hardest things for Ian to come to terms with when he first visited Indonesia in the late 1980s was the contrast between the poverty in the communities he stayed in, and the wealth in the nearby tourist resorts like Bali.

"One of the hardest things is seeing the poverty on Flores when you have hoards of tourists lying on beaches in the resorts of Bali and paying hundreds of dollars a night for a hotel room.

"If they had only paid less for the hotel and put the money into the communities that needed it, it would make such a difference," he said.

To learn more about the work of the Peduli Anak Foundation, or to become involved in its work, contact Ian by email at ian@devonshaw.com or call 07528 688 329.

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