Natalie Jette grew up in the Kennebacasis Valley and attended Saint John High School. She went on to study Engineering at University of New Brunswick and continued with her studies with a graduate degree at University of Toronto. After receiving her degree, she got the opportunity to work in Singapore on a 3 month work trial program. Natalie also got another work term form a program from University of British Columbia. This was for 6 months, and it was when she realized that she really didn't have the passion for engineering that she should have had.

    She began to volunteer with groups and programs that helped street children. The poverty in Indonesia saddened Natalie and she wanted to help in some way. She was working outside of Jakarta when her work term ended and the company asked her to stay on. Natalie declined the offer and began her helping the children of Indonesia full time. 

    She moved to Jakarta with a group of people who she was volunteering with (some were university students with some aspect of life on the streets as their final thesis). They formed a group called Pekat with a mission for helping the economic condition of Indonesia. They found (what was supposed to be ) a temporary apartment where they lived with the prostituted children and their pimps. They ended up living there for about 3 months.

    She found that most of these children were supporting their families with many brothers and sisters who live in the outlying areas of Jakarta. They grew very close to these groups and tried very hard to gain their trust so that they would let themselves be helped. The level of poverty that is faced in Indonesia is not comparable to "poverty" of  the west.  When Natalie and her coworkers moved out of the prostituted region, they moved into a building that was originally supposed to be their "home base".  When they moved out three of the girls that had been prostitutes came to them at their new location looking for help.

Pictures form Jakarta

An article from the local paper about Natalie