Bojonegoro (Indonesia) -  "The children as a hope for our future”: a seminar for the long distance adopted children parents.
24th may 2010

On the 16th may in Bojonegoro, Java island, Indonesia, was held a seminar on the issue “The children as a hope for our future”, addressed to families and operators who take care of the long distance adopted children in the Community of Sant’Egidio programme.

The programme in Bojonegoro started in 2006. Around 100 children are in the programme and the majority of them live with their families, whereas a small group live inside Saint Anne Institute, held by Daughters of Charity. These children are both Christians and Muslims and they come from very poor families.

The one-day-long seminar was attended by 65 people, very interested in the issue.

It was divided in two sessions:

the first one focused on: the long distance adoption meaning, the educational role of the parents, the likely obstacles, and gave advice on how to support a peaceable growth of the children.

The second session focused on the living condition of the children in the world and particularly in Indonesia, showing data about education, child mortality rate and child labour rate, this being a major problem in Asia.

The final part of the seminary saw a detailed explanation of the importance of birth registration, speaking about the support given by the Community of Sant’Egidio through the programme, in order to stem the phenomenon of non-existent children that, once grown-up, won’t be able to access to secondary education or normal jobs.

The main goal of this seminary, as the people responsible of the programme explained, was to increase the parents awareness that the children are human beings and at the same time to explain that the support received through the long distance adoption is valuable not only to solve every day problems, but also to ensure a future to the children.