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The early years of a child’s life are a time of immense opportunity for growth and development. Young
children are natural learners constantly absorbing new experiences in their everyday lives. The Bantul
Kindergarten Project (BKP) advocates an effective approach to early childhood that can greatly improve the
prospect that every child should thrive. The main objective of the BKP is to promote and strengthen early
childhood development especially in educational programs and facilities. |
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Bantul Regency is one of five regencies in the Special Territory of Yogyakarta. Bantul has an area of 507
square kilometers and is made up of 17 sub-districts with a population of roughly 800,000 people. The Regency
is a densely populated area with around 1560 people per square kilometer. Most of the people living in Bantul
are farmers producing rice, sugarcane, onion and corn. Those who aren’t farming generally work in the
handicraft industry (batik, leather and pottery), as civil servants or in small businesses. |
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On the morning of Saturday 27th May and in the space of less than a minute everything changed.
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The scale of the disaster was far greater than first thought. The regencies of Bantul and Klaten were the most
affected. The immediate death toll was 5,778 while the number of people seriously injured was 37,883. The
number of homes damaged or destroyed was over 610,551. At least 1,173,742 people, and possibly as many as
1,542,380, were made homeless by the earthquake. Bear in mind that the number of homeless here is more than
three times that of those left homeless in Aceh after the 2004 tsunami. |
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The BKP was
founded in July 2006 by Alison Chester who had volunteered in ‘tent schools’ across Bantul immediately after
the earthquake. Witnessing the devastation first hand and its affect on communities especially on young
children, Alison decided that in the wake of such a natural disaster, education should be just as much a
priority as the basic necessities of food, shelter, healthcare and sanitation. |
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And so the
Bantul Kindergarten Project was born.
Initiatives to support young children and their opportunities for learning and development are at the
cornerstone of the BKP. The first steps in meeting our objectives are to renovate and rebuild Bantul
kindergartens that had been destroyed by the May 27th earthquake. In our first five months, thanks to funds
raised within Indonesia and abroad, we have built ten kindergartens and a community hall. |
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Initiatives to support young children and their opportunities for learning and development are at the
cornerstone of the BKP. The first steps in meeting our objectives are to renovate and rebuild Bantul
kindergartens that had been destroyed by the May 27th earthquake. In our first five months, thanks to funds
raised within Indonesia and abroad, we have built ten kindergartens and a community hall. |
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The BKP is proudly supported by the MUM Bali Foundation (Manusia Untuk Masyarakat or People for the
Community), a fully registered non-profit organization. The MUM Bali Foundation is a legal and accountable
framework for donors and operates in full compliance with the requirements of the Indonesian government.
Please visit www.mumbali.org for more information on the MUM Bali
Foundation’s other projects around Indonesia. |
In time we hope to become a well established and trusted non-profit organisation operating within Bantul and
Yogyakarta. This will allow us to facilitate other reconstruction efforts and expand our programs beyond
kindergartens. Although the initial shock is over, it will be years before Bantul fully recovers and the BKP wants to
be there to help bring the regency back.
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