Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

One of the things that I’ve always wanted to do is to bring Anya and Vai to visit an orphanage.

I hope for them to see how there are different kinds of people, coming from different walks of life.

I’d like them to learn how to share with others too, others who may not have as many things as they do.

And I, well I’d like to meet these children as well. I’m sure I have a lot to learn from them too.

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A few weeks before we went to Jakarta last December, I did a bit of research and called up a Christian orphanage called Sanggar Kasih in Jakarta, to see if we could pay them a visit.

The lady in charge of the orphanage was very friendly and she even encouraged me to ‘just come’, and ‘not bring toys for the kids’. She said if we’d like to still bring something, please do bring books instead, as they’d like to encourage the children to read and learn. I was like wow, okay, I really liked that.

[Photo taken by Maja]

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So together with another friend, her sister and kids, we all went to Sanggar Kasih, just before Christmas.

There are 11 boys and girls there. They’re all 10 and 11 years old.

The caretakers shared how the pastor who adopted them was actually inspired by an orphanage he visited while here in Singapore. He saw one where the number was kept small, and the place was maintained well. He then aspired to build one too.

He did in the end.

He adopted a total of 11 babies from two small cities in Indonesia, and brought them all back to Jakarta.

Eleven babies.

My heart ached when I heard how they were all less than three months old, left behind by their parents at the hospital soon after birth. That’s how tough life can really be to many.

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[Special thanks to my sister and her son for these books]

After sharing with them the books we brought along for the children, I asked the caretaker if I could take photos of them.

Individual photos of the children.

And she said, yep sure, go ahead.

I could tell how they felt a little awkward as they stood against the wall. With my Canon S90 in hand, I chatted with them, while looking at them in the eye. I asked if they ever had their photos taken ‘alone’ like this (and they all said no.). I asked about their favourite food and drinks. They warmed up after a while, and I felt happy to have captured their smiles as we chatted away.

[The children playing with Brie – here carried by the main caretaker]

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Now, I should mention here that I was very much inspired by the idea behind ‘Help Portrait’ (when I read about it on Karen’s blog – storyofbing.com)

Help Portrait basically is a project where photographers around the world get together with many others, go to less privileged people, take their photos, print, return and deliver the photos back to them.

Check out this video here to find out more about the project.

I like this line written on the Help Portrait site – This is about GIVING the pictures, not taking them.

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I didn’t know if there’s any Help Portrait community in Jakarta at the time. All I know was that I had a camera and I could take photographs, and I wanted to do something similar to the Help Portrait project for these children.

The kids have always had group photos with each other. Since they were babies. But no portraits of their own.

I really wanted these children to know that each of them is special, and that they’re loved and regarded as ‘a unique individual’ in God’s eyes. That there’s hope in life, in God. That if they could belong to this group at Sanggar Kasih, out of millions of others out there, it’s a loving proof that God indeed has great plans for them, each of them.

[The final prints delivered to them. The children’s names are blocked for the purpose of this blog entry]

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Eight days later, the kids and I returned to Sanggar Kasih, with printed photos in our hands.

I was glad to have returned – with the kids – to give them back their photos. To chat with some of them again.

And to have shared this verse with them :

“For I know the plans I have for you, ” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11

[Photo taken by our 5.5yo Vai]

No, Anya and Vai didn’t become ‘givers’ overnight. And what we did may not even be ‘life changing’ to these two. But hey, why should something be life changing ‘to us and our family’ for us to do something for others? Shouldn’t we sometimes do things where the benefits are actually ‘for others’ more than for ourselves?

Personally, I don’t think we have done anything much at all. It really was just a little something that we did for these children. But if we could do it again in the future, I’d LOVE to, hopefully bringing the kids along again, and together with more others.

Here’s another Help Portrait video made in 2011:

Note:
If you’re inspired by this Help Portrait project like I did, go ahead and go out there! Reach out to the less privileged community around you and make a difference, however small.