Social Welfare Extravaganza

Mutiara Harapan School

Social Welfare ExtravagANZA

By Zani van Staden, ANZA Social Welfare Director

If you’ve ever wondered what exactly it is that ANZA does, it can be explained as a two-fold purpose: 1) To help people from all nationalities settle into Jakarta and provide a space for people to connect; and 2) To connect with and give back to the Jakarta community Our goal is simple: Connecting communities. ANZA currently supports 17 different local organisations (known as Yayasan), which range from schools, orphanages, learning centres, community centres for kids and the elderly, and centres for people who are differently-abled. We also have a Student Sponsorship Program and Medical Sponsorship Program. The Yayasans that we support do amazing, life-changing, and extremely important work within their communities. As ANZA, we try our best to support these Yayasan in a variety of ways, including financial support, volunteering and donating of goods. We have a Social Welfare Committee, currently consisting of 14 members, who help to coordinate the different projects and volunteer their time and skills. On 15 November, we hosted a special Social Welfare ExravagANZA coffee morning, where members had the opportunity to find out more about ANZA’s social welfare activities and how we can all help to make a difference in Jakarta. We had guest speakers from a number of the Yayasan that ANZA supports, including Goodwill International, Kampung Kids, Sayap Ibu Bintaro, Heesu, Wisma Cheshire and Globalindo. The morning started off with a fantastic

dance from Mutiara Harapan School, followed by informative sessions from each guest speaker about their various projects. We also launched our Student Sponsorship Christmas Appeal, which is a time of the year where we are looking for new individuals to sponsor students from financially challenging circumstances to be able to attend school. We ended the morning with coffee and socialising while browsing beautiful products from Heesu, YSIB, Wisma Cheshire and Manfred Lai. ANZA has been supporting some of the Yayasan for as long as 20 years, and it was truly a special morning that celebrated the amazing work happening all over Jakarta.

If you are reading this, perhaps contemplating the meaning of life and what your purpose in Jakarta is, I would like to encourage you to get involved. There are so many different ways in which you can make a difference: 1. VOLUNTEER at projects or on an ANZA Committee We need English teachers, computer teachers, project managers, marketing gurus, crafty people, people who love admin, people who love events and just about any skill you have that you’d like to throw into the hat. 2. Become a DONOR/SPONSOR If you would like to donate money to a worthy cause but have no idea how to go about it, you can become an ANZA donor and we can distribute the funds where they are most needed. We always need financial support to be able to continue monthly contributions to our projects. You can also