TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In front of his house, Wahyu was absorbed in a card game with Farhan, a friend of similar age. Once in a while, the seven-year-old shouted, "You lost!" Farhan would respond similarly at other moments. Inside the house, their foster mother Nurjannah and her older children were preparing lunch.
"Wahyu has been here for two and a half years," said Nurjannah when Tempo visited her home three weeks ago. The 35-year-old woman is the foster mother who takes care of Wahyu and his new 'siblings'. The family came together with the support of the SOS Children's Villages foundation. Headquartered in Austria, SOS Children in Aceh has a house at Lamreung, Greater Aceh Regency.
Wahyu is the son of a blind couple. Since his parents were worried that their child would not live a decent life, his mother brought Wahyu to SOS to be educated. His new family is looked after by Nurjannah; Wahyu is the youngest child. His new older brothers and sisters are Zahrina (17), Mulyana (15), Bintang (10) and Iman (13). "We are one family over here," said Nurjannah, who has been a foster mother in the Aceh SOS Children's Villages for seven years.
The unmarried woman claimed she found it difficult to take care of the children at first because she did not have prior experience raising children. Moreover, the personality and background of the foster children vary a lot. "But gradually I feel emotional attachment to them," she said. "The important thing is that we should be patient in educating them."
The challenge was a topic another foster mother brought up. Her name is Nurasiah, Nurjannah's neighbor. "Sometimes, there were children who remained silent when being asked about something but cried later," the 47-year-old woman said. Another no less difficult problem is how to give equal loving care to each of the children who are not of their blood.
Nurasiah joined the SOS Children's Village in 2009 after her husband passed away. It has been her long desire to take care of children of conflict and tsunami-related victims. But the desire was fulfilled only after her biological children grew up and got married. "Now, I can work here."
If Nurjannah becomes the mother of five children, Nurasiah takes care of eight foster children of different backgrounds. There are stranded children because of their parents' divorce; there are orphans who lost their fathers during the conflict against the Free Aceh Movement. And, there are also children who lost their parents when the tsunami devastated Aceh and surrounding areas in 2014.
One of Nurasiah's foster children is named Nuri Azizah. This little girl is a sixth-grader. Her father died in the tsunami. Nuri together with her mother and two older siblings who were then domiciled at Lam Manyang, Peukan Bada, Greater Aceh were saved. "I was just born then," Nuri said.
According to Nurasiah, Nuri was brought by her mother to the SOS in 2009 so that she could get a good education and a decent life. After her father died, Nuri and her family lived in a very miserable condition. Her biological mother, Cut Rismawati, now lives in Blang Pidie, Southwest Aceh. Sometimes, she visits the SOS to see her daughter.
Foster children in the SOS Children's Village are not cut off from their original families. They have time two weeks a year to get together with their original families. Children who still have their father or mother or both of them can be together with them. Those who have lost their parents can gather with their closest relatives.
Although the foster family is not the same as a biological one, the children are treated as if they live in their own home. Nurasiah gave an example, the children are always invited to work together cleaning the house during holidays on weekend. They are also told to care for the flowers in their beautiful garden at the backyard of their house.
Like other families in general, on the wall of their house they hang family pictures. Picture of Nurasiah and Nuri shows a wide smile on Nuri's face. "My older and younger brothers and sisters have not come home from school," Nuri said. (*)
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