In This Issue

RC Semarang Kunthi’s Story In Distributing The COG.
(as retold by PP Rini Yutata).

It hasn’t been easy in distributing the COG to be able to target the correct beneficiaries. RC Semarang Kunthi chose to work with the largest social Foundation working in the resettlement of the impoverished and displaced, to assure the correct beneficiaries.

A lot of families need help. But if inquired through the Department of Education and Culture, you would receive thousands of names of children from all the schools in Semarang needing help. This would confuse us to ascertain priorities. Justifying helping one and not another is not an easy decision. They all need help.

Together with the Soegijopranoto Foundation, RC Semarang Kunthi started to survey the areas that were used to relocate displaced families, as they were usually in "uncontrolled" areas, i.e. alongside riverbanks, even extending over the waters, etc. They usually would comprise rough labour, and other professions with no regular income.

In distributing forms to fill out data on the children/parents/schools, we intentionally left out the name "Rotary", just in case our COG was not approved, thus complicating our position.

After receiving confirmation on the approval of our COG of USD 20,000, we started the second stage survey. We visited the schools in our data, to ascertain that the children were actually students in the schools and were coming from under-the-poverty-line families.

After recording all data, we ordered the school uniforms, shoes etc. according to the children’s data. This was an unbelievably complicated task! We became totally immersed in trying to coordinate which belonged to which child, which was for boys, which was for girls, etc. We never thought we would ever be so busy in our whole lives.

We needed 2 months to complete the COG package. Every child helped received: 2 sets of school uniforms including boy/girl scout uniforms, 1 pair of shoes, notebooks with the Rotary Foundation logo, a completely filled-out pencil-box, a school bag with the Rotary Foundation logo and school fees paid for one year (1999-2000).

A second problem arose. How would we distribute the COG packages? If presented in a ceremony in Semarang, attended by officials of the government etc, it would be a great event. With press coverage and other guests, it would become a great public relations image for Rotary. But we would then have to think about bring in the children with their parents, making them spend transport money to come to the city. Where would they find that money? They couldn’t even afford to make their own photos for the forms, to the extent that we came and took pictures individually of the children. This was not a small task. In one trip, we could only make it to 3 schools, all so far away from the city. At every school we would have to explain what and who was Rotary and the COG. We were very fortunate that all of RC Semarang Kunthi’s members participated actively, thus making this huge task manageable.

There were several stories. A teacher asked where the children had obtained the forms. "There are others who need help?", she cried.

A mother came to our Rotary secretariat asking why her daughter had not received the scholarship, when all her fellow villagers had? In her anger in being treated with difference, she demanded what the criteria was? After digging into the story, we found out that her daughter was enrolled in a specialty school (industrial chemistry) with school fees of Rp.75,000.-/mo. This could help 5 students in secondary school at Rp.15,000.-/mo. But this daughter’s story was very touching. Why did she want to enter a more specialized and expensive school? She had planned to immediately work on graduating, but suddenly her father passed away. Now her mother lived on selling magazines and newspapers. Who would not be touched? We decided to subsidize the student’s school fees for a year.

Another story was about the School Principal who requested that we explain that the school fees, in accordance with the "Rotary rules", would be paid directly to the school. In one previous incident, a parent angrily came to the school demanding that the allocated school fees to her son (given through a different program) be given to her to buy rice. "How can my son go to school if he can’t even eat?", she said, and the teacher consented.

Another mother whose daughter received the COG came up to us and took us away from the crowd. With tearful eyes, she thanked us and was so grateful for this gift. Then she asked whether her other child could also receive the COG? I held my tears back, not knowing how to answer. If I started with one case, how would it affect the others?

On September 27, we distributed the COG package to 44 children of the Kedungmundu Elementary Public School, located near a relocated lo-income housing area "Sambiroto YSS". One of the children was Yudianto, 13 years, a student in grade 6 at Kedungmundu P.S. #03, Semarang, the fourth child of 6, and he was brought to us by his mother who came without any sandals. His father was just a rough labour with no regular income. The mother worked as a baby-sitter. The youngest child was just 25 days old, was carried by the mother, whilst dragging behind her 5^th child, a boy of 3.5 years. Yudianto’s eldest sister, at 19, had to already work in a home industry about 20 km. away from home. 2 other siblings were in grade 10. Yudianto and his mother profusely thanked us on accepting the Rotary COG. They were hoping that this would continue until next year.