I've already posted about Jalan Malioboro, Yogyakarta. It's the major tourist destination in the city, full of bars and cafes, stalls and shops a colorful and fun place to be..but there is another side of Malioboro street, and a darker side of Jogjakarta. The street kids of Jogja are everywhere, sleeping in doorways, carrying shoe shine boxes, playing music and walking the main streets of the city.What kind of system could create such an abundance of homeless children!???
The boys at the Nitiprayan House are an example of
kids. being let down by traditional family or the system they have banded together and created something out of nothing. Victims of the country's development issues and corruption within the highest part of the system. In Java a whole community of pedicab drivers, bus drivers, shop keepers, stall holders help these kids to survive and give them a sense of community I've never felt before elsewhere. Rather than depend upon one person, the kids become close to the whole community,. It provides a real sense of family and helps give these kids and young adults a sense of control over their own lives.One day I was surprised on the bus, we stopped in the hot sun to wait for two buskers to finish their performance and walk up the aisle collecting loose change. I asked Santo if the bus drivers purposefully waited until the boys finished their song before driving on..he said yes, in Jogja everyone takes care of the street boys. I was surprised, in Australia, you would never see a bus full of people waiting in an unairconditioned bus in the hot sun for this type of charity..
The Family of GIRLI was created by mas (brother) Didid in 1982 when he saw a young boy having sex with an old prositute with a crowd howling and cheering around them. He put aside his college education and went to live on the streets to earn the trust and love of these boys and provide a stable role model and organised them to take care of each other. Now instead of committing crimes and falling further like the marginalised of other countries and cities, these Yogya street boys make a stable living and a home on Malioboro Street.A Home
A main goal now for GIRLI is to rent a house in the slums by the river near to Jalan Malioboro for these kids to live in where they can learn what it means to have a "home", to trust and care for others, to bathe each day, and sleep in peace rather than face the potential dangers of the streets each night. But this too is officially against government regulations. People with no identity and no residency identification can not live in any of the strictly monitored neighborhoods. Government regulations leave no room at all for exceptions. So how can these children have any hope when from all angles they are confronted by regulations that victimize them even further?
The solution is to create a "nation within a nation", the People's Republic of GIRLI, or rather the Extended Family of GIRLI. Anyone left identity-less and homeless by the labyrinthine regulations imposed by the central Indonesian government is welcome to join GIRLI. There are many who have answered this call. In a rather cynical response to their imposed identity-less-ness, GIRLI also issue their own identity cards. Unity, support, and mostly, an identity, have created real pride for them. GIRLI is growing in strength and in voice.
Please click here for the amazing, full story...and visit Gila Kites to see what the bigger boys are creating now!
