Forgotten Children of Providence

They study at St. Ignatius Lolyola Elementary School and 60% of them live at the St. Theresia Dormitory run by the Catholic Diocese of Pangkal Pinang responsible for the Riau Islands. They are children from low income families living in the surrounding remote islands, wanting a basic education, in the hope of a better life. Without the school and dormitory, these children will not have access to primary education because of distance and the lack of finance, as their families are predominantly farmers and casual workers who cannot afford to send them to the government schools in Batam.

With limited resources, the Catholic Diocese can only provide one class for each grade from Grade 1 to Grade 6 (ages 6 to 12). There are 124 students attending the school, 74 of which stay at the dormitory.

The living conditions at the dormitory are modest. Water is from an open well and a manual water pump. Electricity is from a diesel generator which operates for a limited period at night. Cooking is with firewood collected from around the location. Food is simply rice with tapioca leaves supplemented by the occasional chicken.

The existing Girls Dormitory was built for 20 but they now have 29 living in it. The Boys Dormitory built for 34 has 45 currently. 30 more are expected in June. A double-decker bed is shared by 4 children. They sleep on mattresses without sheets or pillow cases. They also share towels and in so doing, share the skin diseases that plagued them due to poor hygiene, nutrition and their environment.

We are raising funds to improve the children’s living conditions. Priority is the building of a new dormitory, bedding and sanitation. Their scabies, head lice, malnutrition, infestation of tape and round worms, and other skin conditions were treated by a team of medical professionals in April this year, and it needs continued attention with medication.

We are also extending an invitation to anyone interested in experiencing mission work. Briefly, we are a group of Catholics from different churches inSingapore, who have come together to form a ‘Mission Outreach’.

Although itwas started by a priest in OLPS church, it is not limited to parishioners from that church or to Christians only. There is a core group and a larger secondary group made up of couples and singles especially young adults, as well as families, who come on mission together because they want to expose their kids to outreach and values of the faith such as compassion, service with special focus on the concept of a living faith, hence the Mission's emphasis on being "God's Love in Action". We are all created for that.