ABOUT US        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.
      Ilham Bachtiar, aged 15, with 3 siblings: I live with my parents, my little brother, my grandma, my older sister with her husband and her son. I go to YCM everyday, it’s already been 5 months now. I learn a lot in YCM. I love to play “futsal” (smaller version of soccer).
      I studied in Junior High School for only 2 years, then I quit. The economic condition is so difficult because, my parents can’t afford to pay my education’s fees. Then I decided to look for a job. I got the job, a tough job. but I tried to do it. My family needs money to survive. Then one of the teachers from my elementary school offered me to do the examination in order to get the certificate from junior high school. So, I worked and did my examination at almost the same time. At the beginning of the fasting month, I was fired from my job. They were no longer able to pay me. So I no longer able to help the economic situation of my family. My father is a jobless. For foods, mostly my mum has to borrow money from the money lender. Until now, my parents are still not able to pay the debt.
      I always have dreams that one day I could be a better person, have better life and can help my parents out from the neglect situation of poverty. I wish that I can make my parents happy and to have son like me….I want to make them proud of me and hopefully can pay all of their loans. For me, education is important, that’s why I join the Yayasan. If I can get good education, I hope I can reach all of my dreams.