Free Medical Care for Sewan Kebon Residents

Sewan Kebon is an area in Banten province, Indonesia, struggling with its economy. The majority of the residents work as small merchants, farm workers or laundry workers and earn very low income. The average monthly income per household member in the area is ranging from 1-1.5 million IDR (US $ 100-150). Most of the time, they cannot afford healthcare that they rarely see doctors even when they have health problems. Many of them have been suffering from many kinds of diseases such as gastritis, hypertension, cold and Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI). In response to the their need for healthcare, World Harvest provides free medical care for them on a monthly basis.

Hundreds of children and adults in Sewan Kebon village received free medical care from World Harvest on September 23. After their health condition being checked by our doctors, they also received prescriptions and medicine at no charge. Our health team, which consisted of 4 doctors and dentists, also gave them useful educational information to keep them healthy.

The patients were very thankful for the medical service they received. Empun, a 43-year-old housewife, said, "I've been suffering from uric acid for a long time, but I used to delay health care because I can't afford it. I'm really thankful that I can get free medications to treat my disease." Another patient, Rosmala, a 42-year-old woman working as a small merchant also thanked the health service team since they have served her really well.

All of these services for the poor people are made through the support from all of our partners. Thanks to all of our partners for helping us in making a difference for the people who need it the most.

National Campaign on Abstinence

Abortions among teenagers made up 1/3 of all the abortions in Indonesia. Realizing how precious each life is, World Harvest through its alliance, Focus on the Family Indonesia (FPK) run a nation-wide campaign to promote abstinence until marriage and thus saving teenagers from abortion and many other negative risks of free sex. On September 21, 2011, FPK was invited to take part in Indonesian Family Conference, a national conference held by the Indonesian Family Board on Family Practice (KKI). Hundreds of representatives from the youth organizations of all over Indonesia attended the "No Apologies" seminar on abstinence hosted by the FPK.

The lively presentation made by the guest speaker from FPK highlighted that abstinence until marriage is the best way to avoid unintended pregnancy and also many other consequences of free sex such as sexual transmitted diseases (STDs). One of the most deadly STDs, the HIV AIDS for example, is still transmissible even when a condom is used in an intercourse. Therefore, the seminar encouraged the youth to keep themselves for marriage for a better future.

The participants showed positive responds to the seminar. Many of them hoped that the positive information they received could be shared to the youth across the many provinces in Indonesia. Albert, a 23-year-old representative of a youth organization in Papua for example, hoped that FPK would train several people from Papua to be able to share the beneficial material to the people in his province, as Papua is the province in Indonesia that has the biggest number of people suffering from AIDS. Meanwhile, Lisa from South Sulawesi province found the seminar very enlightening. "The seminar has really encouraged me to live my life a better way for my future," she said.

We would like to thank all of our donors who have been supporting this program. Your support has helped thousands of youth to have a brighter future by choosing to live clean lives.

Empowering Teachers in Underprivileged Communities

All children can achieve bright future when they are guided by excellent teachers. World Harvest through the Harvest Community Development organized a series of training titled "I'm an Extraordinary Teacher" to empower the teachers in underprivileged communities. The training was held during September 7-9 at World Harvest Center and attended by many teachers from the schools we built in poor communitie

Each session of the training gave the teachers priceless lessons they can apply in their everyday lives at s located in Jakarta and the surrounding areas. school. The first session for example, gave them insights on how to communicate effectively with their students. On the second day of the training, the founder and chairman of World Harvest, Jimmy Oentoro, built up their motivation to lead their students to maximize their potential.

The participants found the training was very beneficial. The impact of the training can be traced from their testimonials. "This training has really addressed the difficulties I have as a teacher," said Herbin Ginting, a teacher at Wahana Harapan elementary school in Banten. Meanwhile for Herliani Pakpahan, a teacher at Wahana Harapan kindergarten in West Jakarta, the training had motivated her to teach more creatively