Projects
After preparation in Holland we started, bit by bit, with several projects on Bali from October 2006. On this page you can reed more about these projects and their practices.
Ongoing projects
Play-learn groups for children till 8 jears
We have play-learn groups in Selat (Northern Bali) and in Ubud (Center of Bali).
The play-learn groups are not only visited by children. Parents or other care givers are also present at the play-learn groups. Guidance and stimulation of the children with a mental disability has to continue at home. The guidance and stimulation need to be taken over by the parents and the child’s environment.
The parents are not always present in the group. On the one hand to prepare the children for their follow up education, on the other hand because children might work more effective when they are without their parents in the group.
Within the play-learn groups with the parents the programme and the counseling are aimed at learning the parents playing and working with their child (and building their knowledge about all sorts of relevant issues).
The volunteers are working together with the regular Balinese employees within these projects. The main goal is to teach them how to work, in a way that they can perform on their own in time.
The playing and learning activities which the parents do with their child during the working moment are addressed to the level and the goals of the concerning child. The volunteers and the Balinese employees are supporting them in this.
In the play-learn groups without parents (if the parents do want to come/have to, they won’t be or will be less concerned) the volunteers/ counselors will be aiming directly to the group of children.
They are working with the children to help them in their development by performing the programme and the activities.
The Balinese teachers are the main group of target here, who will be taught to work with the children independently.
Some children can move up pretty quickly to the play-learn classes without the parents, as for some children this is or won’t be reachable.
The play-learn groups have a structured morning programme in which will be worked, group wise or individually, with game materials, picto’s and supporting sign language. Working is altered by playing outside and exercising, singing together and classes in which the senses of the child are addressed. Of course, every activity will be adjusted to the individual child.
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The basic programme of a play-learn group morning looks as follows:
First, the children and their parents will be picked up with a bus at their home. At arrival at the building the children can play free. The group starts with a Hindoeïstic prayer in the circle. Next, the pictures of all the children and teachers will be brought up one by one and every child can hang his own picture on the picto board.
After that, the teacher elaborates on the programme by using the picto’s and the attached sign language. When all the picto’s are on the board, a number of songs will be sung. This is also accompanied by sing language.
When the singing is finished, the individual working moment starts at small low tables. The children can chose from two activities which fit their level. The parent counsels his or her child when doing the activity and will be supported in this by the teachers or volunteers. Within the play-learn group, the volunteer functions as an assistant, so the teacher can proceed with the group.
After the activities it’s time to relax, eat and drink something. Then follows the gym or exercise/movement activity. After this, all children return to the circle in their own group and the weekly theme will be illustrated in the group. Then the picto’s and pictures will be put back in the basket and the morning will be closed by a number of good bye songs.
Once in a while the regular programme will be altered with other activities and themes. Also the sensing activity is performed regularly in a special room. This room contains all kind of sensing materials and games. Once a month, the children can swim free of charge in Ubud.
Click here to see more pictures of the play-learn classes in Selat
Click here to see more pictures of the play-learn classes in Ubud
Once in a while an excursion is organized with the children and their parents like going to the zoo or the beach. These are highlights of pleasure and discovering for the children, but also for their parents. Going out together, into the world. Parents, teachers and volunteers get to know each other in a relaxed and fun way. There is a lot of talking going on between the activities.
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Click here to see more pictures of the school excursions
Of all the children a ‘pupil caring cycles’ is being kept up. In this, reports of intake talks, the child’s personal goals and the progress in the development of the child is being collected. On the basis of the child’s development is being searched for the materials that can be offered in the play-learn group and on the house visits.
Every child is being visited at home once in two weeks on average by a teacher and a volunteer. The house visits are an important instrument to get and keep in touch with the parents and to help them being active with their child at home. Besides that, a house visit offers the opportunity to illustrate the possibilities for activities in the home surrounding which can be beneficial for the child and his parents.
Their will be elaborated with the parents about the development and then follows the explanation of the brought materials (also known as Pakbakken). They will work with the child for a while and the homework (exercises) for the next house visit is being explained.
Click here to see pictures of the house visits
Day activities for (young) adults
This project has started in October 2008. When children with a mental disability finish school, or don’t go or haven’t been to school because of circumstances, there is almost no other possibility on Bali then to stick around the house of their family. Balinese Special education offers a form of day activity groups, but the young adults can only participate three years. Then it’s really finished for them. To offer the young adults a solid place in which they can participate in all kinds of activities and to learn them practical skills, Foundation Sjaki-Tari-Us started a young adults group. Three day parts a week are offered with mostly creative activities and cleaning activities. They learn to run their own household or help their family. We want to expand the frequency and range of activities for this group. When looking at the possibilities and interests of the young adults, we want to expand the activities to gain real working experience with which the young adults can gain a small own salary in the future. This can be in the workshop or dining restaurant which will be founded in the future or within a job outside of Sjaki-Tari-Us. Through a weblog link on the starting page you can follow the developments of the activities.
Click here to see more pictures of the young adults group
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Teach the teacher programme on the Special education schools (SLB)
Although there is a school for children with a mental disability up from 7 years in every region of Bali (eight in total), there is no specific knowledge about these children and about suitable education methods. Education is in classes and aims mainly on cognitive development through writing and mathematical education. This is done in the same way as takes place within the regular education on Bali. The teachers try to connect to the individual needs and possibilities of a child by their own insight, but their knowledge and resources fail in this.
We arranged contacts with two special education schools in Singaraja and Gianyar. The board and teaching employees are enthusiastic about the projects and plans of the foundation to improve their professionalism by doing workshops.
The boards and teachers are invited to visit our groups. This way we can explain what we do and why. After that they are invited to join information sessions, presentations and workshops. In the mean time a number of workshops have been given and we are looking for possibilities to enhance the collaboration with the SLB schools. One of our volunteers visits the SLB of Singaraja weekly since October 2008 to work along with different classes. She brings along game materials, discusses with the concerning teacher how their class is running and gives advise were possible. Our aim is to extent this initiative to a close collaboration and exchange.
Apart from that, the volunteers collected information about the selection criteria the SLB schools handle for the selection of children. They counsel the parents who face a difficulty in placing their child or getting their child placed.
The volunteers visited the schools together with the parents to get acquainted with the school and to get used to the fact that they will apply their child to a special school. Furthermore, the volunteers initiated conversations with the teachers to investigate what the individual child in this group needs to learn in advance, to be able to move up to the SLB school.
Click here to see pictures of the special education schools
Returning projects
The yearly sports- & activitydays
Both in Selat as in Ubud, a sport- and activity day will be organized with the motto: “Ayo bermain bersama!” (Come on, let’s play together!). The day is initiated to give all children, with or without a disability, a fantastic day and to let them play and sport together. For the children with a disability and their parents it is a way to show the world that they can also have fun together.
Three interns special exercise education made a programme for that day with all kinds of fun activity games. They arranged it in detail! All Balinese teachers, volunteers and present friends and family helped by guiding the different games.
In Selat, all children from the regular pre-school (on which terrain the play-learn class is situated) and the special education children from Singaraja were invited. More than hundred children were having fun by doing the activities and games that day.
In Ubud, the children of the regular pre-school and the special education children of Gianyar were invited. On the football field of Ubud more than two hundred children were participating that day. Both days were such a success that we will let these projects return every year around April.
Click here to see more pictures of the fun- and activity days
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One time projects
The art and culture project (September 2007 till February 2008)
Within this project in Ubud there was being worked with the children and their parents at home by doing all kinds of painting- and art techniques. This project was guided by the volunteers Ingrid van Bokhoven and Jeroen Laan. They worked within the theme: “What makes my child my child”.
During the visits, a special open atmosphere was created in which the parents were showing a lot of themselves and their view on their child. This resulted in a great number of special art works. In February 2008, Ingrid and Jeroen organized an art exposition in Ubud of the art works that were made by the children and their parents. The Jakarta Post issued a nice article on this day. You can read more about the art project through:
http://adaproyekseni.hyves.nl
The art works were brought to Holland in January 2009 and were being shown during four weeks in the child museum Villa Zebra in Rotterdam. It was beautiful and heart warming to see the art works in the museum on which was being worked with so much love so far away.
Next to that, Ingrid and Jeroen have repeated this project on the ZML (special education school) De Herman Broeren school in Delft with a small number of parents. The way of illustrating what your child means to you was also being experienced by these parents as very special.
Click here to see more pictures of the art project
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The publicity day in Selat (November 2007)
Especially in Selat, it is hard to find new children for the class. Parents are ashamed or are in denial of having a child with a mental disability. Thereby Selat is a small town and the time was there to give some more publicity to the existence of the play-learn classes. For the publicity day, also known as “Hari Publisitas Sjaki-Tari-Us”, a lot of important guests were invited, like teachers of special education schools in Singaraja, Dutch companies, the major and the heads of villages, journalists, but also the parents of the children from the regular pre school with which our school is situated. In a meeting room everyone was being welcomed and the work of Sjaki-Tari-Us was being explained. Of course our children with their parents were being presented on the stage as well. After that everyone could watch movies and pictures on the laptops about the play-learn classes. There were also boards with information and pictures. The children could play with our materials. Everybody was very enthusiastic and an article was published in the newspaper!
Click here to see more pictures of the publicity day
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