Employing women and bringing pre-school education to children living in slum communities

BATAM ISLAND, INDONESIA

Rahayu has dedicated her life to supporting vulnerable Indonesian people living on Batam Island, by providing quality education and meaningful employment.

Batam Island is a hub for internal Indonesian migrants who move there looking for work in its foreign factories. Batam’s busy port and vicinity to Singapore, also make it a prime spot for drug and human trafficking as desperate people seek opportunities in wealthy Singapore.

When Rahayu was asked by a former colleague, Bridget, if she could run a shelter for women in Batam, as a single woman from a conservative village far away, she was too afraid to accept a job in such a dangerous place. Despite her many reservations, Rahayu visited Bridget in Singapore to discuss the job. While she was there Bridget got a call informing her that an Indonesian domestic worker had fallen from the apartment she was working in, to her death. Rahayu ran to the scene. The police had removed the woman’s body but her blood was splattered on the footpath right in front of Rahayu. From that devastating moment on, Rahayu knew she had to do whatever she could to help her fellow Indonesians who were suffering.

Rahayu accepted the job to run a shelter in Batam. But while she was there she saw so many children aimlessly following their parents around the slums, picking up bits of rubbish to sell, and she realised she had much more to do. With no preschools in the area and public primary schools requiring children to already be able to read, write and do basic maths before they begin, these children didn’t have a chance.

So Rahayu set up a free preschool for these children, training local women to teach them. The school gained so much support from the local community as her students went on to excel in primary school that Rahayu and her team went on to open four more schools in different slum communities, enabling more than 200 children to learn and grow every year. Rahayu’s dream is for every Indonesian child to have access to quality education so they have the opportunity to lead safe and fulfilling lives.

Make a donation for Rahayu to put where it’s needed most or check out her current projects below.

Featured

Refurbish a Community School

$5,504

Fund new tables, chairs and bookshelves for a charity preschool in Indonesia, that becomes a community learning centre for young people and adults in the evenings.

RAHAYU GABRELLE

Employing women and bringing pre-school education to children living in slum communities

BATAM ISLAND, INDONESIA

Make a donation for Rahayu to put where it’s needed most or check out her current projects below.

Thank you!