Azusa Hara (21) gently stroked the hair Arya (4) which sits on his lap spoiled. Occasionally, he thickens crest. Not to forget, the girl volunteers from Japan's invited talk, instill manners and ideals for Arya.
In the small house painted blue in prostitution Tegalpanas, Village Jatijajar, Semarang regency, Central Java, that Azusa and a number of volunteers Indonesia from Indonesia International Work Camp (IIWC) trying to build a dream child sex workers, pimps, and ordinary citizens who live in the complex popularly known as GP (Gal Heat).
"Prostitution in Japan are in hotels, not the township as in Indonesia, so free from the children," said Azusa already several months so volunteers in GP, Saturday (12/12). IIWC is a voluntary program developed Indonesian Family Planning Association (IPPA), Central Java, in collaboration with international volunteer agencies.
The existence of children in prostitution makes them grow "adult" prematurely. At the age of 7-8 years, they understand matters of the bed adults. Weak education and parental supervision make them used to say rude and nasty, does not know manners.
"In fact, the middle finger is considered cool," said Afifah, volunteers IIWC University student who also PGRI Semarang.
At Home Learning IIWC, volunteers tried to teach back the children manners, ranging from saying sorry, thank you, or ask for help. Assisted children aged 4-16 years also taught a variety of common knowledge, invited the art with little staging and introduced to the environment through the planting of mangrove.
Formal education for children in prostitution are also facing a complicated problem. Most of them drop out of school, either because their parents work on the move, embarrassed because insult friends due to their homes in prostitution, do not have citizenship documents, as well as difficult to enroll in school.
Volunteer efforts improve the life of children in prostitution was not easy. They took two years to get the children to say thank you, at least at the home learning environment. They must penetrate the intricacies of bureaucracy and strict rules of population administration until some kids finally got a birth certificate.
Challenges to be faced by volunteers in the work was not easy. Foreign volunteers, it generally can not speak Indonesian so it must be accompanied by Indonesian volunteers in order to communicate with the children smoothly. In addition, volunteers must be ready to face the temptation of idle men in prostitution that took them karaoke.
Child market
A volunteer effort to help raise the dignity of marginalized children also done volunteer IPPA Central Java who served in Smart House Bangjo in Market Johar, Semarang.
Despite their permissive attitude to sex is not as open as children in prostitution, they also face the hard life since childhood.
In the age of the children, they were begging. The teenager, singing so choice. Inhalation of vapors of glue so the run. Rant and nasty like the strains of a song playing over and over every day. Markets, highways and public transit so "playground" them.
Education is a priority in their lives distended. "Some children are exploited parents to earn money for the family," said Coordinator of Learning House Bangjo Vivi Maryati.
To keep their education, only volunteers can teach the children in the afternoon after they were tired of living. Volunteers should go to a location so the place of street children were gathered because there might expect them to come to the smart home.
The problem is, when darkness arrives, teaching is difficult because of the limited lighting in the market. The limited intensity of meetings between volunteers and children make an effort to change the rude behavior of children difficult.
Moreover, parents and adults around them are less concerned with the development of the child so accustomed to saying rude and dirty in front of children.
The more we age, the challenges they face increasingly diverse. They are a prone stuck problem of drug abuse, sexually transmitted infections, unwanted pregnancy, to have HIV (human immunodeficiency virus).
Just as children in prostitution, the identity of the population of street children so complicated problems. Ambiguity parental marital status and place of residence of parents who moved to make their residence status in shambles. It was difficult for them to participate in formal education and social assistance from the government.
However, the volunteers unconsciously, personal change children who are marginalized from the development process was not easy. Etiquette education, vocational training, and college scholarships already awarded. However, it remains difficult to change them.
The ideals of the volunteers did not grandiose. They just want the children in prostitution could get out of the trap of prostitution circle around it. They hope street children can get out of the snare of violence and a better life in the future.
However, the ideals it difficult to materialize. Children who are less fortunate it seemed stuck in his little world. They are hard and do not dare to dream big so that their fighting power is very low.
"We and volunteers just hope the children dare to dream big," said Executive Director of IPPA Central Java Elizabeth SA Widyastuti. Outside the rigors of street prostitution and that they encounter every day, there is still another world that is better and can be reached anyone all there are a will and effort.
