Discovery Trip Report
Anna Saputera

---

Our less-than-3-week visit to Indonesia seemed not to be able to capture many things, however, we were fortunate enough to get a chance to visit places, where we could see, hear and taste the poor living in poverty from a closer distance. Not too mention their hope for future; it is even luxurious for them to be able to merely eat properly in a day. In the midst of poverty, our hearts are touched to see those who still have hope for a better life.

We visited a foundation for the poor in Jakarta-Selatan (South Jakarta). Our cars had to proceed very slowly and carefully entering a narrow and vile alley. Finally, we arrived at a small house where the foundation is located. We met with the overseer of that house, who is about in his early 50s. The foundation is a place, where children and adults in the area could get some basic and practical skills. Because of fund limitations, they need to be creative to utilize used materials for learning tools. They collect old newspapers, instant noodles boxes, anything they could found, to teach children about letters, words and sentences. The foundation also provides a healthy program for people, where they prepare healthy menu twice each week. Besides practical trainings and healthy program, the foundation also helps to defend people's rights from the government and land oppressors. The foundation's main income is from donation and its goal is to develop and care for the poor in the area and defend their rights from oppressors.

We also had a chance to visit another foundation which sheltered street children. We met a young man, in his early 20s, who was one of the overseers of the foundation; he was an orphan and once a street child who was raised in the foundation. He is currently an art teacher at a private school in Jakarta. Although many of the foundation overseers are Muslim and Catholics, they consciously chose not to infiltrate any religion into the foundation's basis. The overseer stressed on the importance of neutrality in their service apart from religion and race. There were about 100 children staying in that foundation. They were endorsed to act responsibly, follow the foundation's rule and interact socially with their peers. They were also trained some basic skills and arts, so that they would have some skills to earn for their own livings when they turned adults. The children were also taught to sing in choir and play musical instruments; many organizations would invite them to perform and donate them some money. Some children were also good at writing articles and making poems; their writings were bundled into the foundation's quarterly publication. The foundation purpose is to help street children to have skills and earn their own livings with decent occupations.

We feel very fortunate and thankful to be born in an upper-middle class family where good education and health are taken for granted, but this condition has incapacitated us to see the world from the other side. Unless we seriously engage and involve in dealing with poverty, we would not be able to understand it. Our visitation to the places mentioned above however short it might have been, has brought us a step closer to seeing and tasting poverty. We keep questioning who is to blame when poverty exists in a society? In Cross Point Journal January 2006 edition, Leonard Winardi in his article mentioned that there are four main causes of poverty: oppression and fraud, persecution and misfortune, poverty resulted from inability to break the human sinful nature, and the culture of poverty itself. We feel that the gap between the rich and the poor is enormous. The rich might ask: “Which restaurant should I visit? What clothes should I wear today?” While the poor asks: “Are we going to eat today? Where should we sleep tonight?”

Where are God and Christians in the poor society? If we further study His word, we find that the God of the Bible is at the side of the poor and oppressed. In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus said: “I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me into your home. I needed clothes, and you gave me something to wear. I was sick, and you took care of me. I was in prison, and you visited me.” Winardi said: “We do not need to look far away to Africa to find extreme poverty, 28% or 62 millions of Indonesians are currently living close or below the poverty line … We have to really close our eyes and ears to avoid seeing, hearing, and experiencing injustice and persecution in Indonesia. It is no doubt that God has purposes for us, the Indonesian Christians.”

Regardless our callings, we should not be at peace when Lazaruses are crawling everywhere. Christianity would be a contradiction and Christian God would look inconsistent with His own words, if Christians were to do nothing about poverty and social injustice. One might think that Christian God is only fit to the rich and fortunate, irrelevant to the poor and oppressed ones. Christians, who claim to know the Truth and live by His lavish grace and providence, have no one and nothing to bind them, as it is said that the truth has set us free. Thus, if there are champions for human rights activity and social injustice advocacy, Christians must be there.

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 has convicted us. The rich man, in his splendor, lived and ate, while Lazarus, in front of the gate, begged for food. When both died, the rich man was tormented, while Lazarus sat at the bosom of Abraham. The rich man was tormented not so much because he was rich or did any crime while on earth, but because he failed to do something toward poverty that was staring at his face. I am afraid many of us, Christians, are acting and living like the rich man. While we live our lives with integrity and serve our fellowship and church, do our tithing faithfully, we do little or nothing toward injustice and poverty in the society.

Maggay said: ”… those of us who bear the name of Christ are called to respond to a finer, higher tune and dance to a different drummer.” Have we responded to this divine tune?

Back to top