WHAT IS SPECIAL AT YCM?    ||    THE LIVES WE TOUCH


       Regular school in Indonesia costs a lot of money. For many families the school fee is big, and often too heavy a burden.
       Yayasan Cipta Mandiri (YCM) tries to help children from as many families as it can. YCM is for children between 10 and 24 years old who come from poor families but really want to learn and 'go a step further'.
       Starting from a small house with a few children, YCM has grown a lot. Today, thanks to the invaluable support of well-wishers, YCM has its own place and works with 145 active students.
The students learn about the English language, computers, general knowledge and sewing skills,, mathematics, housekeeping tasks, cooking, and other character building skills..
       YCM helps some families to pay the regular school fees at the public schools. YCM also pays for transport and provides food for those who cannot afford to buy some food. At the same time, the students are taught to live in a self-reliant and independent manner. For instance, in the YCM kitchen, the students can cook together and everyone has to clean up themselves.

What is special at YCM?
      YCM is not a school. It is 'Rumah Pembinaan' - which means a house to build up knowledge and self-confidence and skills. It is a home for special activities and groups, a meeting point for friends.
      Students love to come to 'Rumah Pembinaan' and join the classes as the atmosphere and the teaching are so different from what they experience in daily life and normal schooling. All of them come from poor backgrounds and have experienced neglect or disappointment in their schools and even punishment for not being able to pay fees.
       At Rumah Pembinaan, YCM tries to encourage the students to ask questions, to talk about their problems and to open their hearts to the difficult situations that others face too.
      Teachers know the background of each student. The teachers are like friends to them. This makes the students feel loved and accepted.
     The work with all the teachers is so different from that of a typical Indonesian school. Although YCM will expand, it will always remain true to values of mutual trust, responsibility of everybody, teamwork, creativity and active input.
      These values have given such wonderful results.

The Lives We Touch!

      Who are the children or youth we work with? What does our work mean to them? You can better understand YCM’s work when you listen to their backgrounds and what they want in their lives, as they tell it in their own words.
In the English classes, we have the following students.
      My name is Hendi Wahyudi, I'm 17 years old, I was born in Bogor. I've been joining with YCM for 2 years, and I'm also live in YCM with other students. YCM is a good place for for learn anythings. My hobbies are listen the music, especially I like to listen Avril Lavigne, Because she's a good singer and also I like to play skateboard, and also drawing.
My father works as a driver in a company and my mother just stay at home as house wife, but now they live in different places, my mother and my sister live with my grandfaher in vilage ( Java) and m father works in jakarta.
Before I joined with YCM, I just stay at home and it was so boring. then I went to YCM and study there until now and I got manythings here like konowledge, english, and lesson about computer in YCM, we can improve our skill by join with another activities here such as sport, music, art, etc.
I hope by studying in YCM, I can Improve my skills, and can reach my dreams. My dream is make an art school, because I like art things and the place can practice their art skill there.
And I hope, YCM still can help the students to reach their dreams.