instead of begging
Pay4Play

The story of some children who while playing
not just learn but get money for what
they make while playing

working children- in more or less affluent families

In itself there is nothing wrong with children learning to work. Learning to earn money is done by many children in Western countries as well. Usually they get money for helping with household chores, or they have jobs after school hours.
In Indonesia fortunately not many children have real jobs, alhough they are often expected to help their parents after school. But there are quite a few street children and children who have to work because their parents cannot or donot take good care of them. Often parents really have no money to let their kids attend school- and not even enough to feed and clothe their children properly. Sad stories, but unfortunately hard to solve this problem- the alternatives to this type of child labor are often even worse.
Pay4Play is an attempt to try something new.

Limo on Nusa Penida- and how Pay4Play started

We are involved more with kindergartners who live too far from school for their short legs to carry them, or SD and SMP students, Elementary and Middle School kids, who have a real problem finding money for their school uniforms and the shoes without which they are not allowed to enter school. There are funds, some, available for such children, but then the parents have to be offially labelled as "poor", which they experience as stigmatic. More so even than just begging. Not a really desperate situation, but most parents clearly hope their children will have better lives if they get more education- so we try to help them achieve this goal.
We have been working on an idea of paying children for work which is really fun, and done in a safe environment right next to where they live, after school hours. We know this is not so easy, but we would very much like families in Indonesia- ah well- in all of the world of course!, to be able to hold on to their pride and still be able to send their children to school, no matter how little money they have.
You have to begin somewhere, so we are beginning on Nusa Penida, sister island of Bali, in Limo, Made Gata's banjar, neighborhood. We have known him since 1996 and trust him- and the children there know and like him and his friend from afar, who has been bringing excitement, candy, fruit, pencils or notebooks when she had a chance to visit them over the last 14 years.
Our children's program in Limo on Nusa Penida is called Pay4Play. It has a heavy emphasis on recycled and natural materials. The very first product in 2009 were seeds and berries the children gleefully collected, cleaned and counted. In 2010 they made beads from used magazines and boxes from shells, bottle caps and used batik. We also had them make letters and fantasy creatures with dough just like the dough their mothers were using to make traditional decorations for a big temple ceremony. We would love selling you the little white flowers they stick to their ears as earrings- a very creative way of using a renewable resource, but not 'durable' in the original sense of long-lasting.
School in Indonesia means TK, Kindergarten, SD, elementary school, SMP, Middle school, and SMA, Highschool. On Nusa they do not yet have a highschool, but these days they do have a TK and an SMP. I still remember the day Made's son was born in 1998 very well. One of Made's nieces, a very smart, attractive and just very nice girl, really enjoyed the math games I did with her. Now she is training to be a midwife, in the big city of Denpasar on Bali island, on a scholarship from the Indonesian government. Her proud uncle told me she was going to be a doctor. When he handed his cell phone to me she told me "No- just a midwife". But that is an extremely valuable job which would take her back to Nusa and give her a chance to really blossom and be of great use to her Nusa friends.
Another member of Made's extended family is indeed going to medical school to become a real doctor- which costs even more money. Everyone who could chipped in to help make this possible. He will leave school with a huge debt, but he will make his family very proud. And hopefully he too will come back to Nusa to be of service to his own community.
So, yes, bright kids can get scholarships. But what if your parents don't have money for school uniforms? What about the money needed for shoes? A boy on Flores, number four in a family of seven children, had happily tossed his old shoes before he had tried on his new ones. They probably were worn to shreds and pinched his feet. He found out too late that the new ones were too small. On Monday morning the store was still closed. These important shoes had been bought with money from what his father had just received for driving us around for a few days. But- no shoes, no school.
Another father on Flores stayed closer to the Golkar family planning slogan: Dua anak? Cukup! Two children? Enough! He is a Roman Catholic like most people on the island. But he stopped at three. For he too has very bright kids and is ambitious for them. Beyond SD it gets even more expensive. Not just uniforms and shoes- added to that you need expensive textbooks- and those are not paid for by scholarships. And as we mentioned earlier, to get a scholarship at all you need to be registered as truly needy- a huge threshhold to cross.
TK, kindergarten, can also be a problem- it is often too far from home for little kids, especially in mountainous areas. It is amazing how cheerfully the first graders walk long distances to elementary school- when it rains they hold a huge banana leaf as an instant umbrella that shields at least two children. But knowing elementary Indonesian instead of just the local language, and knowing colours and letters and how to handle a pencil and scissors before going to elementary school all makes a big difference.
So what to do? Collect money here and pay for all these costs? We know how charity is often felt to be condescending, so instead we have set up a program which ideally would give children a chance to somehow earn some of that necessary money themselves while playing and having fun with friends. That we pay for the people running the program there is different- they get paid for work. And after a while we can probably earn some of that money back by selling some products which provided the children with a chance to learn and have fun.
We have now run our pilot Pay4Play three times, in Limo on Nusa Penida. We have all been enjoying it hugely. In February 2010 Rita Sri Suwantara specially came from Jogjakarta to make a video recording of Pay4Play and the island in general. The video, which we soon hope to be able to show you here, begins with the children singing the alphabet song. Then they hesitantly try the new song about working and playing and having fun with friends while making fun things together. And getting money for buku dan makanan- books and food!
That clearly meant a lot to them- it is not so long ago that we noted children on Nusa Penida with the funny hair that signifies malnourishment. That, fortunately, seems to be something of the past. Does that mean we now should only worry about the very poorest on other islands- in different countries even? Or can we try to help those willing to help themselves, so that later they too can share with less fortunate people in circumstances that are admittedly far worse? Should a smart girl, just because she is no longer hungry, not get a chance to become a midwife who can deliver healthier babies?
End of August 2010 Lexa went back to Nusa to make sure that next time Made knows he should just focus on inspiring the children to be creative when making things. Rather than try to make a lot of the same because he feels sorry for Lexa who has invested so much money. Pay4Play is Lexa's baby, her dream of a nicer world.
We have so much stock left from long years of importing Indonesian handicrafts in great abundance that we are not really in great need of more items to sell just now- we just need time and energy to sell to many customers who find us through Oooom Piet's site. The sales and the money the children get for playing and learning are of course very important, but right now mostly in a symbolic way. It is not the core of the Pay4Play program just now, and it should never become more than a means to an end.
The same is true for the money Made gets for his hard work as the Pay4Play manager. Made actually gave up a trip where as the captain of a boat full of surfers he could have made a lot of money so he could be home and work on Pay4Play during the days Lexa had available. The children's work must be play, and their playing must be learning- an old Montessori principle. Fortunately, Made and Lexa also had a great time playing and working with the children, and his wife, Komang Astini, not only remained very friendly when she could really have used those captain's wages, she too is enjoying working with the children more and more. She turns out to have a lot of experience with sewing and embroidery, so the bigger girls are getting to master very practical skills. The boys are looking forward very much to making plastic kites- of course the can keep some to fly them themselves or teach the little ones to fly them.
This time we worked with cutting out letters and sums and sticking them to magnetic sheets- amazing how happy the kids were working with these, in themselves, rather dull educational materials. They also loved making bracelets and earrings with wire and colourful beads and fun things with traditional rice dough.
Some mothers were not too generous with this dough- they needed it for their offerings to the gods. So Made and Lexa, the next morning, with the children all in school, bought more flour and food colouring and some of the bigger kids helped make our own supplies of dough. One of the women, who was deepfrying the temple offerings, kindly fried what the kids madel, so their products will keep and we can sell them. A hot and not so easy job, but all of the mothers, who were in the family compound to prepare for a big temple festival, were very pleased to be able to witness Pay4Play- their children no doubt had told them about it, but some mothers had never met Lexa yet.
The older kids learn some English from the school posters we use and the songs we sing- the little ones learn Indonesian because they need to use it when they want communicate with Lexa, who does not realy know Balinese- leave alone bahasa Nusa- the local Balinese dialect. These language skills will really give them a headstart in school. Many people only passively know Indonesian- from tv- their everyday language is a special kind of Balinese.
The language of the Pay4Play working song is also Indonesian, which all the children now can sing, with an English version at the end, which only some braver children attempt so far::
(to the tune of When I was just a little girl)
Dikasih uang, untuk bermain- kerja dan belajar, bersama teman- bikin yang lucu- dikasih uang- beli buku dan makanan
(to the tune of Que sera, sera)
Pay for Play is good- your work will buy books and food-
you learn while you work and play- and have fun- with friends.