Banda Aceh in Indonesia suffered catastrophic damage as a result of the tsunami that struck on the 26th of December in 2004. Nestled in Takengon, a beautiful lake resort town in Aceh, Indonesia is our very first GiveLight home. It was inaugurated on the first anniversary of the tsunami and has served as a sanctuary for forty children who lovingly called it “rumah indah” or “beautiful home”.
Today, we are proud to share that fifteen of our children have graduated from college, four have gotten married and they are giving back either by mentoring our younger children and/or contributing financially.
When we decided to build an orphanage, we dreamt to build not just a shelter, but a home, a loving sanctuary for the children who have lost everything. Dian and her family have visited the kids at the Indonesia orphanage every year since it started and feel a strong personal bond with each and every child.
Every morning they wake up at 5am and pray the dawn prayer together. They all go to public schools, and we provide after school education including computer lessons, English, and Arabic. At least once a month the kids go on a field trip to the water park or lake and they also get invited to many celebrations in the neighborhood. They have home-cooked meals that are nutritious and fill up their appetite.
We have a state of the art library with 2,000 brand new books donated by Roland Hartlan who lives in Germany. The library has been named after him as the “Roland Hartlan Library”. We also have a teaching program in place in which volunteers from the U.S. travel to the orphanage to teach the children English, Math, Science, and Art. The volunteers stay as guests in the orphanage and just their presence lights up the world for the children. They are eager to learn from their visiting teachers and feel so special in their company.
Read the following stories from some of our volunteers:
Every child that we support, has his/her own bank account to ensure that no one else uses the funds intended to support them and their education.
We firmly believed that a happy home lays the foundation and reflects on your success in the outside world. As such, we put every thought into making it a loving home for the children who have lost everything. What is the outcome of our work? See for yourself:
Thank you for all that you have helped us accomplish. We look forward to sharing with you many more updates of up and coming successes and graduations.
Help us continue our work.
Our goal is to send all our kids to college once they finish high school. For those who are not interested in attending college, we will help set them up for vocational training. We are also planning to bring some of our brightest students to study in the U.S./overseas once we are able to secure sponsorship.
We hope you are inspired by our story and join us in making a bigger impact.
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