Orphans International America - Programs

� Our Primary Emphasis
� Extracurricular Activities
� Athletics and Sports Programs
� Exercise Programs
� Cleaning Programs
� Youth Conservation Corp.
� Scouting (Pramuka)
� Programs for the Deaf and Blind
� Programs for Self-Esteem
� Development of Positive Self-Esteem
� Development
� International Exchange Programs
� The Carter Center
� High School Exchange Programs (AFS, YFU, Rotary, etc.)
� College Exchange Programs

Our Primary Emphasis. Orphans International programming will be dedicated to the development of intellectual curiosity and artistic achievement as well as love for ideas and the disenfranchised.

Extracurricular Activities. In addition to sports teams, including the most popular Indonesian, Haitian and Guyanese sports of badminton and soccer, there will be both Girl Scout and Boy Scout programs imported from America. Scouting exists already in Indonesia and is called Pramuka. There will also be junior Scouting programs (Tiger Scouts, Brownies, Cub Scouts, Webelos, etc.). In addition, there will be programs using the various centers for dance, music, theater, drawing, painting and other fine arts, ceramics classes and various hobby clubs.

Athletics and Sports Programs. Baseball, bicycling, badminton, soccer, ping-pong, fencing, ballet, swimming, and gymnastics will be eventually offered to meet the needs of educational requirements and extracurricular activity. In Guyana, there will be a special emphasis on the national sport of cricket popular throughout former members of the British Commonwealth. All emphasis will be made to provide traditionally Indonesian, Guyanese, European and American sporting opportunities. All students living in our small homes will have their own bicycles by 2003. There will be Tim Larkin Athletic Centers dedicated to the spirit of the Greek Olympics, swimming pools, tennis courts and three sports fields on both campuses. The sports fields will be constructed so that the grass can be watered during the dry season and drained during the wet season. Sports facilities will named after Greg Louganis, Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan.

Exercise Programs. Every morning each Academy Square will fill with a pre-breakfast crowd of children and adults, for the Indonesian National Exercise Program � similar to Radio Taisho in Japan � known as Senam Pagi Indonesia. In Guyana, this calisthenics program is great for waking up the body and will be open to all institute visitors as well. Outdoor tai-chi will follow and should prove to be popular with the older adults on each campus. In rain, both events will be held in either campuses� Larkin Athletic Center or Victorian Pavilion.

Cleaning Programs. As in many parts of Japan, there will be a daily �Cleaning Brigade� from 7:00 until 7:30 am, in which all residents of our campuses, including staff and children, will clean their assigned areas. Guests and the elderly will be invited to participate as well. The daily Cleaning Brigades, in addition to contributing to the maintenance of the campuses, will likewise contribute to our shared belief in the value of hard work.

Youth Conservation Corp. American high school students can learn much about trail building and forestry as a Youth Conservation Corp member in the U.S. state parks system. Local youth conservation associations in hometowns across America are also outlets through which teens can go out into the woods on week-end camping and maintaining trails. We believe that Indonesian, Haitian and Guyanese youth could benefit similarly from access to such programs.

Scouting (Pramuka). Orphans International shall each sponsor welcoming and affirming Scouting troops. The Boy Scouts is an international organization of boys from seven to eighteen years of age that was founded in Great Britain by Sir Robert Baden-Powell in 1908, and incorporated in the U.S. in 1910. Today, activities of the Boy and Girl Scouts aim at �mental, moral, and physical development,� stressing out-door skills and training in citizenship and lifesaving.   The Scout�s Promise involves �doing one�s best for God and country, to help others and to obey the law of the pack.� In spite of Scouting�s often militaristic, fundamentalist and homophobic tendencies, the Scouts provide tremendous camaraderie and a solid grounding in morality, history and nature. The merit badges for religion in the U.S. include learning about Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Judaism, and even Unitarian-Universalism, Bahai�i and the Society of Friends (Quakers).   Cooking, safety, finances, personal fitness and hygiene as well as computer technology are also highlighted. Finally, Scouting is able to meet the needs of children with physical disabilities, which could be eventually up to 17% of each campus� population.

The scouting word �Jamboree� is actually used in Indonesia and the Indonesian Scouting Jamboree is held annually on the island of Java. Camping, hiking, and swimming are also traditional activities in Scouting. Guyana, interestingly, has a tradition of Boy Scouting, but not Girl Scouting. Guyana has long supported youth programs, the most popular of which was initially known as the Pioneer Youth League and today as the Progressive Youth Organization. The Scouting programs on our campuses will be assisted greatly by the presence of each campuses' Wilderness Camp. Orphans International will of course provide funds equally to both our Girl and the Boy Scout Troops.

Programs for the Deaf and Blind. Orphans International will make a serious commitment to provide programming for those with physical impairments, such as the blind and the deaf. For deaf students, we will work to prepare students for eventual education either on-line or at the world�s only liberal arts university for the deaf, Gallaudet, located in Washington, DC. One of the small homes on each campus will be named after this prestigious university, and the homes will be available to those who communicate in either American Sign Language or other forms of sign language. Blindness and deafness are such limiting features in Indonesian society that Indone-sians seldom even see the deaf and blind as they are kept at home. It is anticipated that special education classes may also be necessary as part of each academy�s curriculum.

Programs for Self-Esteem. In �Reflections From the Artistic Director,� Diana Byer of the New York Theatre Ballet writes on what an innercity program means to its children. The sentiments are presumed to be similar for all the future children of Orphans International:

I thought that teaching ballet to children from homeless shelters would be something I could easily contribute to their rather bleak lives. I quickly found out that classes were a means to an end � not just to develop them as dancers or build up their artistic sensibilities, but to increase their self-esteem, improve their respect for authority, and lead them to discover that what really matters is how hard they work, not where they come from.

Most children in this program have had difficult childhoods � worse than most of us could imagine. They are exposed to drug abuse, physical and sexual abuse, poverty and crime. They are expected to take on adult responsibilities and care for their siblings. They live lives of deep uncertainty, few rewards, and emotional upheaval. Some can�t read or write, most lack basic social coping and learning skills.

When the children are very young they want to succeed in life. As they get older they begin to see they have little opportunity, and they have poor schooling. In most cases their parents don�t know how to support their child�s learning. The children are led to believe they can grow up to be this famous sports star or that entertainment figure or world leader. Unfortunately, without persistent intervention, most are unlikely to rise above their bleak circumstances to attain even the worthy realistic goals available to them. They just haven�t got the basic tools needed to grow and achieve. More than anything else, they need sustained attention, in a stable, caring environment.

In our program, they�re learning dance to a high standard, but the focus is on teaching learning skills � how to listen, how behavior affects the whole class, the importance of being on time, that it is important to respect their elders and classmates. Our most important job is to instill self-esteem and to teach them what it takes to achieve a goal, using the discipline of ballet as the tool. Of course, we�re working to give the children who are gifted for dance a real chance at a dance career, but the bigger goal is to give them a real chance for a meaningful life.

Orphans International will likewise strive to build self-esteem � of students, orphans, older adults, staff and visitors � teaching as much how to learn and recognize each other�s humanity as well as memorizing historical data.

Development of Positive Self-Esteem. Orphaned or abandoned chldren, human beings like us all, need to develop a strong sense of self-esteem to become well adjusted and thus capable of playing an active role in world society. Each small home will feature a framed print of Virginia Satir�s epic poem on self-esteem, �I Am Me.� The poem reads as follows: "In all the world, there is no one else exactly like me. Everything that comes out of me is authentically mine because I alone chose it. I own everything about me, my body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, all my actions, whether they be to others or to myself. I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears. I own all my triumphs and successes, all my failures and mistakes because I own all of me. I can become intimately acquainted with me; by so doing I can love me and be friendly with me in all my parts. I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me, and other aspects that I do not know, but as long as I am friendly and loving to myself, I can courageously and hopefully look for solutions to the puzzles and for ways to find out more about me. However I look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is authentically me. If later some parts of how I looked, sounded, thought and felt turn out to be unfitting, I can discard that which is unfitting, keep the rest, and invent something new for that which I discarded. I can see, hear, feel, think, say, and do. I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive, and to make sense and order out of the world of people and things outside of me. I own me, and therefore I can engineer me. I am me and I am Okay."

Academic Development. Each of our national projects will chose a certain number of our top students graduating from their junior academies and specially tutor them through our senior academies, tracking them for university either in America, Europe or Japan.

International Exchange Programs. Another source of cross-cultural pollination exists in the form of America�s growing cross-cultural and cultural area studies programs at leading universities.   In conjunction with a desire to learn first-hand about Asian or Caribbean culture, our projects will offer unlimited opportunities in history, political science, anthropology, economics, geography, linguistics, education, and demographics as well as medicine, epidemiology, and theology. In addition, there will be as strong dance, fine arts, theater, and physical education programs.

We can expect that, with proper marketing and recruiting of host families in the U.S., many American families would be interested in accepting Orphans International exchange students from Indonesia, Haiti or Guyana at the high school level, while some American families would be interested in their high school age children summering on our campuses. Many of our future sponsors may wish to bring their sponsored child home for a year as a high school exchange student. Orphans International�s intent is to facilitate exchanges in both directions. As mentioned, to create an international atmosphere, 10% of each academy�s seats will be available year-round to visiting international students. It is important to note that the Institutes� success will result as much from educating Americans about Indonesia, Haiti and Guyana as from helping Indonesian, Haitian and Guyanese children learn about the world.

Another component of our exchange program is exchange with the other islands of Indonesia and the Caribbean. The national language of Indonesia, Bahasa Indonesia, will be used on campusin Sulawesi because all Indonesians speak it. Although the local dialect is used in Minahasa, all Minahasans speak Bahasa Indonesia. Thus, students across the archipelago, from Java, Bali, Borneo, etc., will be encouraged to participate in building the campus of Yayasan Orphans International Indonesia. Finally, there will be a concerted effort to build intra-institute exchanges, particularly between Guyana, Haiti, and Indonesia. This will be particularly important now that Indonesia and Guyana have established diplomatic ties.

The Carter Center. Orphans International will attempt to partner with the Carter Center in Indonesia, Haiti, and Guyana. The Carter Center, guided by its fundamental commitment to human rights, wages peace by bringing warring parties to the negotiating table, monitoring elections, safeguarding human rights, and building strong democracies through economic development. It sows the seeds of peace in other ways � by fighting disease, increasing crop production, and promoting preventive health care in the United States and abroad. President Carter�s goal is to help create a world where every man, woman, and child has the opportunity to enjoy good health and live in peace.

In a new partnership with the Lions Club International Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Carter Center is working to prevent a major cause of blindness in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East.   Orphans International hopes to work closely with the Carter Center. It is for the reasons outlined in the President�s own words that inspire us to do so: "Hope is a great uplifting force. Without hope � whether for a world at peace or one free of disease and hunger � the human spirit withers. With it, anything is possible." The Carter Center strives to relieve suffering by advancing peace and health in neighborhoods and nations around the globe. The Carter Center is prepared to take the risks and timely actions necessary to build a more compassionate world. Real change is possible. We can help individuals and governments make it happen � if people like you stand with us. � Jimmy Carter. The Carter Center maintains satellite offices in both East Timor, a former Indonesia province neighboring Sulawesi, and in Georgetown, Guyana. Jimmy Carter has a long history of interest in Haiti as well.

High School Exchange Programs (AFS, YFU, Rotary, etc.). Currently there are several major high school exchange programs based in the United States that operate in Indonesia and, to a lesser extent, in Guyana. These are the American Field Service (AFS International/Intercultural Exchange), Youth for Understanding (YFU), and Rotary International Exchange Programs (Rotary). AFS operates in Indonesia in conjunction with the Indonesian organization, the Indonesian Foundation for Intercultural Learning (Bina Antarbudaya). All three of these organizations will be encouraged to place students not with a traditional family but with our small homes. Each of these programs has a small number of students placed into non-traditional placements each year.

Another important nonprofit organization that works closely with international student exchanges and manages many such programs is the Institute of International Education. Rodman Rockefeller was a trustee of this institute until his death.

College Exchange Programs. There are many international exchange programs for college students from virtually every country to the more traditional countries: Italy, Germany, France, Japan, and China. Indonesia, Haiti and Guyana are more exceptional, which poses both advantages and disadvantages: little competition but little knowledge or interest. In Japan, International Christian University (ICU) is involved with highly successful exchange programs: the Experiment in International Living in Vermont, the Great Lakes College Association (GLCA), Heidelberg, Oxford and Cambridge also offer valuable exchange opportunities. These are just a sampling of the institutions that can be tapped in developing exchange programs with our programs.

The Council on International Education (CIEE) is a private, non-profit membership organization with offices in the North America, Europe and Asia. Founded in 1947 to help re-establish student exchange programs following World War II, it initially chartered ocean liners and arranged group air travel. Today its function is to coordinate the world�s many exchange programs, from high school to college, and from student to professional. Located in New York, its members include many of the organizations that Orphans Inetrnational has targeted as potential partners in the international development of North Sulawesi, Port-au-Prince and Georgetown to aid orphans and the elderly. Among these member organizations or institutions are AFS Intercultural Programs, American Youth Hostels, the Experiment in International Living, International Christian University in Tokyo, Miami University of Ohio, New York University, the State University of New York, the University of California, the University of Michigan, Volunteers in Asia, the YMCA of the USA International Program Services, and Youth For Understanding (YFU). Orphans International may join CIEE in 2005. Rotary International also runs a large exchange program, in addition to its other philanthropic projects.

Programs - B - Continued