100 Days of Happiness – Day 42

What a full day we had today filled with lots of gorgeous children and lovely new friends. First stop was at Chipmunks play centre at Colony in Kemang to meet a group of expat yummy mummies, all of whom are married to Indonesian men! –… and their gorgeous children. As soon as the lift doors opened we felt like we had arrived in baby wonderland! It was so colourful and looked like a magical place for kids to play and use their imaginations. It ended up being hours of entertainment for all the kids, sliding down slides, playing in the ball pit, wobbling around on the circular water bed and making music with the piano mat. It’s a little difficult to have long conversations while chasing kids around, but this was such a warm and welcoming group and Samudra left tired and happy, and so did Putra and I. I hope to have the chance to catch up with everyone again soon.

We stopped in at home so Samudra could have a sleep before we set off to our next destination, Lestari Sayang Anak (Forever Loving Children) which is a lovely nonprofit orphanage out in Cipete, and run by an amazing Dutch lady, Ingrid. I first visited Ingrid and the kids back in 2011 with Treen, and since then they have recently moved into a much more spacious home with a garden out the back and a playground at the front, which was donated by some generous individuals. When we first visited all those years ago, the children were younger and much more reserved around us, but today they were filled with love and smiles and kisses for both us and Samudra. Ingrid has two gorgeous little girls which she has adopted, and the orphanage was always filled with little boys, but now they have their first girl in there too who is super sweet! There is also a little boy, Joshua, who is the same age as Samudra (7 months) and has been living there since he was only 1 week old. I am so happy that he, and all the other beautiful kids, are in such a loving environment and they all seem to get along so well, like a big happy family. I can’t tell you how happy I was to see all their gorgeous smiling faces, and to know that if their parents weren’t able to look after them for whatever reasons, that they are now safe and well looked after in a beautiful environment. We brought them all a little afternoon snack and drink and little toys in chocolate eggs which they seemed to enjoy, but of course they would appreciate any donations from caring souls as it’s not cheap to raise so many children, and to also pay the staff that work there 6 days a week, helping to look after the kids.

Most of the kids are now reaching the age where they will be attending school, and it is Ingrid’s priority to get them into good schools where they will receive a good education. Already her children can speak Indonesian, English and Dutch and are very confident and beautiful souls.

I really enjoyed our visit today and left feeling so happy, with all those smiling faces and giggling children waving us goodbye. If you, or anyone you know, are able to make a donation, whether it be small, or a regular annual sum of money, I know that Ingrid would really appreciate to hear from you. They can always do with help for the running costs of their home, money towards schooling and health funds, etc, and of course they would welcome all visitors with open arms if you would like to make an appointment time to visit. I’m sure your heart will melt with happiness if you surround yourself with those beautiful children! You can get more information at www.lestarisayanganak.org

To top off a perfect day we met with kakek at Raja Rasa to sit outside in one of the private glass walled eating rooms and watched the fish in the pond as we enjoyed our sayur, tahu and tempe! enak!

I hope you had a beautiful day too wherever you are in the world.