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Little Care was established as we were concerned about the deteriorating social-economic conditions in Indonesia which resulted from the economic crisis. Hundreds of thousands of children and their families now lack basic facilities to develop themselves.
There are three aspects we focus on: the Economic Crisis and its continuing effects, Education and Health.

1. The Economic Crisis
Indonesia's period of rapid economic growth came to a sudden halt in 1997 as a result of the severe economic crisis that hit the whole Asian region. The multi-dimensional crisis which resulted unexpectedly forced president Soeharto to step down, ending 32 years of dictatorial rule.
The problems started with the monetary crisis in 1997, which then caused the Indonesian economy to collapse. In 1998 the inflation rate increased to over 80%. The value of the Indonesian Rupiah against foreign currencies dropped drastically, with the result that many Companies which had taken loans in US $ and other foreign currencies made major losses. Hundreds of Indonesian Companies became bankrupt, and were forced to lay off hundreds of thousands of workers.

The fate of the poor urban population gave grave cause for concern. We witnessed a sharp increase in the number of children living on the streets. The number of street vendors also increased sharply. Thousands of schoolchildren, both in towns and villages, dropped out of school. Their parents could no longer afford to pay the school fees.

Following installation of a new elected Government, suddenly Indonesia officially became a democracy. However, the transition from a dictatorship to a democracy does not happen overnight, nor by itself. The number of problems that Indonesians now have to cope with are numerous and very serious. To name just a few:

• The Government has started to combat corruption, but widespread corruption continues, with little indication that this situation will change in the near future,
• unemployment rates are very high, while there is no effective social security system for most of the population,
• Civil servants, especially those in education, health and the police are seriously underpaid,
• several major natural disasters have occurred recently, including the destructive tsunami originating from an earthquake off North Sumatra, followed by a series of earthquakes and eruptions of volcanoes, landslides and floods,
• outbreaks of diseases have afflicted the poorest sections of society, including severe malnutrition in infants, which has become evident in several districts across the country.

2. Education in Indonesia
Indonesia is known as one of the countries with the lowest per capita education budgets in the world. In a recent national newspaper article it was reported that the central Government budgets on average only about Rp 20,000 (approximately Euro 2) per student per year. That is by far not enough and it explains why Indonesia's educational system is in such a bad shape.

The very low level of education budget causes many serious problems. The low quality of teaching, a curriculum which does not match today’s needs in this era of globalisation, the low standard of education of teachers, and very low salaries paid to teachers are but a few. The latter automatically means that teachers are forced to seek additional income, and they cannot concentrate fully on teaching activities. There is also a structural shortage of teachers and high schools, especially in the remote areas.

It also explains why schools all over the country have instituted numerous levies which have to be paid by parents, varying from regisration fees, examination fees, school maintenance fees, and regular school fees. There are also rules for the purchase of school uniforms and exercise books through the schools.

As explained above, many children drop out of school to look for work because their parents can no longer afford to pay the school fees. Of those children who are able to complete their elementary schooling, there are still many who have difficulty reading and writing, especially in the villages in remote areas.

3. Health Services
The health care situation in Indonesia, especially for the poorer sections of society, is similar to education. In particular outside of the major cities there is a serious shortage of doctors and nurses.

Even with Indonesia's network of health clinics (Puskesmas) in all villages, and health posts (Posyandu) in all sub-villages (dusun), many Indonesians find it hard to access health services. Many Puskesmas in remote locations are locked and empty, as there are no doctors or nurses. Numerous Posyandu in these areas also do not function, because there is no visiting nurse or midwife.

A universal health care system, as found in developed nations, does not exist in Indonesia. The consequence is that many patients, especially the poor, must fully shoulder all medical expenses. One of the first questions a doctor often asks is whether the patient is able to pay for the treatment. If the answer is negative, then usually he will not be able to provide treatment. The poorest members of Indonesian society can only access the services of traditional healers (dukun).

In Indonesia of 100,000 mothers giving birth, as many as 300 die of complications during or shortly after childbirth. In several other countries with similar economic conditions to Indonesia, this figure is only 30 to 60 per 100,000 mothers giving birth.

On the following pages you can read about activities we have already carried out. If you are interested in the activities of Little Care, we await your participation, either by contributing funds or materials, or as a volunteer.