Dear Friends, Not too long ago, I was meeting a potential volunteer and the way she explained her motivation for wanting to support our work left me pondering after I left the meeting. “When you have been poor, it stays with you,” was a statement that hit me weightily. I could understand the words, but I doubt that I will ever be able to fully understand how a generosity of the heart emerges from hardship. I guess hardship affects us differently. For some who have overcome it, they find it difficult to understand why others cannot do so and for …
Another Week Beyond – 1909
Dear Friends, With the support of an experienced facilitator who engages rural Indonesian communities on the issue of family planning, we organised a series of conversations which involved parents, youths and some volunteers who support them. This was not just about contraception but about the longer-term care of children, gender norms and roles as well as parents’ ability to guide their children on matters related to sexuality. “When you were born, you were naked.” Parents could not help smiling when this statement of fact was suggested as a conversation starter about puberty with their children. They were then advised to …