International Save the Children Alliance
On 13th June 2007, Save the Children launched a major photo exhibition highlighting children's lives in institutions - Read the press release online or dowload it in word format.
Background
In 2006 Save the Children and the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs (DEPSOS) carried out research in Aceh and found that almost 2,600 children had been placed in panti asuhan since the tsunami. The vast majority of these children had neither lost both parents nor were left without remaining extended family.
In total there are over 16,000 children in over 200 children's homes in Aceh. Residential care for children is not unique to Aceh. It is estimated there are over 7,000 panti asuhan across Indonesia. Since the tsunami many new "orphanages" have been built in Aceh- based on assumptions from the large number of "tsunami orphans." Although the final number of real orphans was actually quite low, major funding was already directed to these institutions rather than directly to families and children.
Children may be placed in institutions by family members who want to care for them but lack the means to do so. Institutions can become a way to access food, clothing, and an education, when what is really needed is to make these necessities available within the community, and directly to families. Institutions separate children from family and community life. Save the Children and DEPSOS believes that the panti asuhan played a very important role in children's survival in the aftermath of the tsunami. However, institutions should only ever be used as a "last resort" - when there really are no other care options left for a child.
Save the Children wanted to find out what the children in the panti asuhan thought and felt about their experiences, concerns and hopes.
Children placed in care have not previously had much opportunity to speak out and we know even less about the lives of the children who were placed there before the tsunami. A Child's Eye project is a series of photographs taken in February and March 2007 and is one effort to highlight children's experiences of care, and their views on their care systems. They show us how crucial it is to listen to and learn from children. Without children's insights into the positive and negative aspects of their lives in the panti asuhan, we are also unable to help find solutions that are protective of these children, and that are in the best interests of the child. To view a selection of the pictures from A Child's Eye visit the Gallery.
Meet some of the photographers who took part in the project.
Here are 5 stories from children who took part in the project, some of whom's pictures appear in the on-line exhibition.
Khalil Jamri Wahidah Nurlalia Zulkifli