Asian Children's Relief Fund

New Computer Center at the Green House, B.A.

2009-07-14T00:46:00.004+08:00

Misba and Regen painting the garage at the green house in B.A. in preparation for the new computers that were donated by B.E.A.T.S and Bosham Youth Group.

Here is the finished lab on the with the computers ready to be hooked up and linked together with new software to run the programs.

Mishb will be helping to run the center after he finishes his exams this month. We hope to have our children involved here and other ones from our neighborhood.

The B.A. Team saying hello to all our sponsors and supporters from the green house.

2009 Beach Retreat - ACRF Kids

2009-06-22T00:32:00.003+08:00

We had a great time at the beach retreat with the youth sharing different challenges for three team competitions and the younger children playing games and singing and dancing.

Even the younger children like Kiki were able to participate in some way.

We were also able to share in a positive way the love children should have toward their mothers. Many of them were able to say that they loved their mothers for the first time.

Visitation and birthday celebration!

2009-04-04T00:27:00.005+08:00

Birthdays are a special occasion for the children in the projects that are run by ACRF.

Prior to the tsunami Acehnese children never celebrated their birthdays. This was started by our staff and now they look forward to the parties every other month.

We have gotten so big we have to combine the parties so that we can get all of the celebratees to have an equal part of the day and make it even more special.

Every child is given a gift and recognition from the staff when it is their birthday month.

Sister S, the Keeper of the House

2009-03-27T21:32:00.000+08:00

Sis, as we call her is a great help to us here at the green house and a valuable member of our team. Not only does she provide valuable insight into the local culture, she is taking a computer course at a local college.

She helps us by doing the majority of the shopping, keeping track of the household expenses and cooking most of the meals. She always has a great smile and laughs a lot, which can cheer up most anyone on even the cloudiest of days. Without Sis I’m not sure we could operate as efficiently as we do.

Meet Matthew!

2009-03-19T22:26:00.002+08:00

Meet Matthew, our latest associate who has come to join us for six months.

He is already fitting in quite easily, eating the local foods including durian, rice and fish. He is also learning the Indonesian language quite quickly and making friends with the children.

Glad to have you in the team Matthew!

Unexpected visitors in the Jantho facility!

2009-03-15T03:22:00.001+08:00

Visiting Ibu Norhalim

2009-03-15T03:17:00.001+08:00

We drove up and visited the facility at Jantho and met with Ibu Norhalim whose husband died a few weeks ago. He left her and eight children, three still living at home.

It is quite difficult for them as she can only sell peanuts in the local market or around the IOM camp. So, we gave her some rice to help with the food situation and said we would help more in the future.

Birthday party for 100!

2008-10-27T03:03:00.000+08:00

The team had our monthly birthday party on the 26th of Oct. That went well with 80 children and 20 adults! We had so many show up that we ran out of gifts for everyone.

Visit from Pak Max and Jueni

2008-10-24T14:54:00.001+08:00

We had Pak Max, our newest addition to our Medan team, come up to Banda Aceh with our project manager Jueni for some training and refreshing. They got to see our operations in Banda Aceh and also learn the new computer program.

It was a great time of refreshing for them and a chance for all the team to finally meet up!

Plans for Future Office near Paenayaong

2008-10-10T10:00:00.002+08:00

We are planning to start an office center for local businesses and an English school in Banda Aceh near Paenayong. This facility will provide a business to help with visas for foreign workers, provide space for our tutorials and provide computers for our sponsored children to learn and do their homework on.

Computer and English Classes in Jantho

2008-10-05T02:22:00.000+08:00

We now have 41 Students at the computer lab in Jantho and Saut and Regan started to teach English classes in the public schools around town in addition to the classes and after school sessions that we have been doing.

We are planning to start charging a nominal fee for lessons and computer time.

Team Retreat - Sabang, 27 - 30 Sept

2008-10-01T01:18:00.004+08:00

The team had a great time learning how to snorkel at the Marine Park out at Sabang Island as well as doing some sight seeing around the island.

The guns were donated by the Portuguese Navy and are to commemorate the events from WWII that took place at Sabang, which was occupied by the Japanese some 60 years ago.

We all felt recharged and ready to start the work again after Ramadan.

Teaching How to Teach English

2008-09-25T00:57:00.003+08:00

We are thankful for Nance, who flew in from Kuwait, to train our staff in how to teach English to children.

Nance did a great job, teaching two sessions a day and more than helping everyone to understand the principles involved when teaching young learners the English language. Everyone had a great time and learned a lot of practical teaching methods that will be put into practice once the tutorials start again in October after Ramadan is over.

Thanks Nance for your diligence and hard work!

Building School Desks for Jantho

2008-09-10T01:11:00.001+08:00

Thanks to Geoff from England who bought the wood we were able to construct 32 school desks for the facility at Jantho.

We are now able to better teach the children at Jantho as they learn English and other subjects.

Ramadan Begins

2008-09-01T01:26:00.000+08:00

The fasting month of Ramadan commences today and will end on the night of 30th Sept.

We must stop most activities as the children will be out of school for five weeks.

Jantho Classes

2008-08-28T22:49:00.002+08:00

Pedro is making good progress with the agricultural program with some vegetable plantings, fruit trees and fish ponds. This has been started after the compost project was started and used for fertilizer. Next we hope that he will get some chickens to place over the fish ponds to complete the cycle agricultural project. With a well this will be a complete reproducible project that will help the community.

Saut and Regan have also been busy. Besides helping Pedro and Eny in the house they have started teaching computer basic skills classes and basic English conversation classes.

We now have three computer class with five students per class learning basic word and typing programs. The English and tutorial classes have between 30 and 41 kids two to three times a week.

Visitors from England

2008-08-26T22:38:00.005+08:00

Geoff and Sarah from St. John’s Church in England arrived in Medan on the 12th and we took them to stay in our Medan children’s home on Jalan Permai. We stayed in Medan for two days visiting the new children’s home that we will move into later this month and then boarded a flight to Banda Aceh. We spent the next two weeks taking them around to visit all of the children and experience local culture.

Geoff helped us by buying wood for children’s desks in Jantho and for the new computer cabinet at Punge.

We had a great visit and hope that they will come again next year!

Medan Children's Home - An update

2008-08-24T00:33:00.003+08:00

Jun and the boys moved into the new boys home on Gong Cherry in Padang Bulan on 20th Aug. We also gained three new boys from two families, both of whom have financial hardships and cannot send the boys to school. By living in the home they will have that opportunity.

Thanks so much to SIB Seremban for providing the funds to rent the new home and for the refrigerator, cooking stove and rice cooker from CVI.

We also had a new couple join us at the Permai house to take care of the girls. Welcome to Pak Max and Ibu Dewi!

Our latest team member!

2008-08-23T00:46:00.004+08:00

Christina Coleman, our latest addition to the team, arrived today in Banda Aceh!

She will be joining our Jantho team as a teacher for our children there, teaching them English as well as leading sports activities.

Christina plans to be here only until the Christmas vacation but we know that she will be a valuable addition for that time. Thanks for coming all the way to Banda Aceh Christina!

Earthquake Imogiri Project

2008-07-20T22:25:00.002+08:00

Mena and Jim visited the village of Imogiri in July and met with village elder who welcomed us to the community.

Ibu Sri and Judias our Papuan teacher both agreed to expand the program for the children with help from the village elder.

We were able to visit all of our 10 children and address the current situation. They really need our help especially in the area of education assistance, as they cannot afford the tuition fees. One of our goals to see all of the children to be able to attend school.

We determined that we will continue to support the project and help Judias and Roy, another member of the team, to visit the area once a week and have tutorials and after-school activities not only with our 10 children but also with other children from the community.

A New Team Member!

2008-07-15T22:18:00.002+08:00

We were blessed to have our newest team member Regen join us in early July.

Regen has been doing an internship in Jakarta after graduating from a college in Indonesia. Regen will be helping with the children’s classes in Jantho.

Medan Children's Home

2008-07-10T22:07:00.004+08:00

We have found a wonderful house in Medan that suits our needs for a boys' home which we are able to rent at a reasonable price. We are very thankful that the owner is willing to leave most of the furniture for us so it is already 75% furnished!

With funds that came from SIB Seremban we are able to rent the house for three years and plan to move in next month. Now, all we need is a couple to take over the Permai home to care for the girls.

Thanks SIB Seremban!

Computer lab at Jantho

2008-07-08T20:59:00.004+08:00

David and Su Fern arrived for a visit and helped us set up our computer lab at Jantho. They were able to setup six computer systems - five for Jantho and one ready to go into the Punge classroom. So we hope to have two computer labs operational by next month.

Birthday party at Jantho for 100!

2008-06-24T20:54:00.007+08:00

We held a birthday celebration and green day Dunia Kasih Allah (God loves the Earth) retreat for the children at Jantho.

We had a lecture by Pedro and Saut about what is good for the earth that God gave us and promoted energy conservation.

After wards the kids went out to pick up plastic around the kampung (village) where the Jantho project building is located in the IOM and Care camps that are close to us. Then we came back and piled up all the plastic collected in a special place to be disposed of later. After that we had a great meal prepared by Mena and the team. Then the birthday celebration started with Mishbahudin and his sister acting as the m.c.’s.

Everyone had a lot of fun!

Dedication of the Riting and Jantho project centres

2008-06-12T20:48:00.006+08:00

On 10th June 55 people attended the dedication at Riting. We had speeches by Jim and the secretary for the Desa Mamplom community (Riting).

The dedication for Jantho took place two days later on the 12th with over 70 people attending. Again we ate and had speeches and lots of pictures with the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Baking session at Riting

2008-05-28T21:49:00.004+08:00

We had a training session at Riting and taught the 20 ladies how to make Indian Puri bread. Thanks to Barnabus from Malaysia who showed us how to make it.

Moving forward!

2008-05-24T20:24:00.007+08:00

We have finished moving into and setting up the team house and office in Banda Aceh, and are very glad that Sarah and her two children have moved in to take over the administration! We are thankful for our friend from Malaysia who helped us upgrade our accounting system.

Today we moved in team members, furniture and equipment into the Jantho project site.

All our shipment has arrived!

2008-05-15T18:14:00.000+08:00

All our shipment have arrived safely in Banda Aceh! We are now moved to and settled in Banda Aceh, staying in a rented house.

Visitors and Visitors

2008-05-11T18:20:00.002+08:00

One of our new neighbors looking for something to eat in our backyard. He seems to think that this area belongs to him.

A team from Malaysia will be coming on 18 - 27th May to visit and help us set up the new place. More updates shortly!

Punge Playground Ready!

2008-04-15T10:04:00.001+08:00

Thank you to all who helped in the building of this playground. The children are really enjoying it!

4 more sponsored!

2008-04-09T10:47:00.002+08:00

After sharing ACRF with some churches in the States, we got news later that a family from Index wants to sponsor four children from the projects!

Playground's Progress

2008-04-08T10:43:00.000+08:00

We are digging foundations and pouring cement for the equipment and should have it all done by the 10th of April.

2 more sponsored!

2008-03-31T10:20:00.001+08:00

We have 2 more children sponsored. The sponsors are from USA, Portland, OR. and Bremerton, WA.

Also, funds are coming to outfit Jantho and the playground in Punge school is almost complete.

Updates from Aceh

2008-02-20T09:34:00.001+08:00

The children here are doing well. They now have mandatory lessons at school. We will be having birthday celebrations and field trips in March for them. The baking classes have also gone very well in Jantho with plans for another session in March.

Our friends will be moving there soon in hope to set up some agriculture and fish ponds, and also starting some children and women's training classes in April.

Updates from Medan

2008-02-20T09:30:00.000+08:00

The children in the home in Medan are doing very well. They all got some bumps on their skin for some unknown reason but it is cleared up with lots of prayer.

Juni, our house mother there takes care of the children for us. She really looks after the children and gets up early everyday to cook breakfast for them, which usually consists of rice and some fried eggs and fish. Then gets them off to school. After school time, they come home and have Bible lessons and school work. They are then free to play games and visit friends. All of the children are healthy and doing well.

Gratitude

2008-02-13T09:05:00.001+08:00

We have secured a house for rent for two years in Banda Aceh, at an affordable price. Furthermore, our lost shipment has been found and is en route to our new rental house. Thank God!

More sponsored!

2008-02-10T09:11:00.000+08:00

We have four more children sponsored by one couple from Index, WA.

One Year Old and Happily Running

2007-12-21T07:30:00.002+08:00

It was such a pleasure to see Kiki the little girl that lives with her mother and her brother in our team house in Banda Aceh, running around and being an inquisitive child. Kiki has been walking for about two months. I last saw her in October when she was still crawling. When I arrived back in Banda Aceh, we found her not only walking but running and around the house, screaming with joy and laughter.

You see it was a pleasure because Kiki almost wasn’t born into this world. Her conception was a result of the tragedy of the tsunami of 2004. Her mother and brother had to move into the relocation barracks at Camp Mataie near Banda Aceh, as their home was destroyed by the wave. While their Kiki was conceived out of wedlock and almost done away with, our team member Santy was able to intervene in time and convince her mother to continue the pregnancy. Today Kiki is loved by all of us at Asian Children’s Relief Fund. We don’t know what the future holds for her and her family but she does know the love of God through all of us who love her very much. Please continue to pray for Kiki, her brother and her mother.

Exciting December Visit

2007-12-20T07:15:00.000+08:00

In Jantho the community leader and the ladies affirmed that we are doing what they would like to see in their communities. They want additional help with cooking, sewing & embroidery classes. They also indicated they want computer training, English language training not only for the children but also for themselves. The village leader is fully supportive of all this. This opportunity presents over 350 families that can be helped.

Mercy Teams International also came to visit and is interested in helping to fund fish ponds and various agriculture projects. This could happen in the spring of 2008. We also had some people stop and visit who might want to join us in the work by the summer and help in Riting and Jantho.

After that I was able to receive the major shipment that left Malaysia on the 26th from our home in Seremban.

Plans for 2008

2007-12-05T11:19:00.000+08:00

We hope to increase the number of sponsors for our children in Banda Aceh and Medan. There are 56 who have funding thus far of the approximately 190 we have registered. More are waiting to register with us.
Outfitting of four buildings for widow and orphans ministry, three in Lhok Nga and one in Jantho. Connect Lhok Nga to water source.
Start widow training in Jantho in January.
Our team will move in February.

November thrill ride

2007-12-01T10:47:00.000+08:00

First of all Mena took off to Los Angeles to help with the delivery of our sixth granddaughter. Then I started to pack up the house in Seremban and get it ready to ship to Indonesia. In the middle of that I had to leave to attend a Cutting Edge Conference near Bangkok for Children at risk 19-22. After settling the shipping and bills and stuff, I stayed with a friend, went to K.L. to have a couple of meetings it was back to Seremban and then to the airport for the flight to Medan, where I was able to visit the children’s home.

Updates

2007-11-30T11:08:00.000+08:00

We have a promise for water by pipe system from Leupung 7 kilometers away. This should be in by March or April 2008.
We bought a 1994 Panther with the pledge from England, thank you.

One Happy Grandma with new Granddaughter

2007-11-13T10:57:00.000+08:00

Some updates

2007-10-30T10:42:00.000+08:00

We have partial funding for the outfitting of Jantho, this will get us started in February 2008.
We have 3 new sponsors from England and two from Malaysia. The new number is 44 for Lampulo, Punge and Paenayong. 12 in Medan. For a total of 56 sponsored.

Looking ahead

2007-10-20T10:35:00.000+08:00

We are also looking into a computer lab/coffee house/bakery/language center to start in Banda Aceh. This will be a multi-faceted place of business and training to the local people. We pray for this to become a reality in the near future hopefully by next spring.

ACRF is 2!

2007-10-17T10:31:00.000+08:00

God provided the means to get the beds, furniture and kitchen all ready for the dedication. We celebrated the 2nd anniversary of ACRF at the home dedication. Our friend Jun agreed to be the house manager and she will move in the 1st of November. So, with a staff of two, she will be taking care of 10-12 orphaned children in Medan.

ACRF celebrates 2nd Anniversary!

2007-09-30T14:49:00.000+08:00

We will celebrate the second anniversary of Asian Children’s Relief Fund with the opening
of the new orphan home in Medan on October 17th.

Some other news to celebrate:-

We have 3 new sponsors from England
We have pledge for $10,000 for outfitting the orphanage in Medan and part of Jantho.
We have pledge for a new motorcycle for Banda Aceh.
Stephen raised 335 Pounds for ACRF

Moving to Indonesia

2007-09-02T14:45:00.000+08:00

In November, we will be packing up here in Malaysia and moving to Indonesia by the end of the year. This will facilitate the progress of the work there as well as for future projects.

More updates on this soon.

Trip with our sponsors from England

2007-07-30T14:19:00.001+08:00

Rob and Sarah Page (sponsors from England) visited us first in Malaysia, and together we went to Medan and Banda Aceh to visit the projects and the team there. On our journey over we were able to transport the other 2 computers - one to our orphanage director in Medan, the other for Nelson and Ruth, our project managers for Punge. The computer will give us greater reporting and administrative capability. A big thank you goes out to John who supported us by providing the three computer systems that are now in place.

We also were able to rent a house in Medan for two years to start our first orphanage in Indonesia. We now are sponsoring 11 children in Medan and hope to have this first home set up soon.

We visited all of the orphans and children at risk that we are sponsoring in Banda Aceh. We have now 40 children sponsored in Banda Aceh (the city itself) with about 100 waiting sponsors. The monthly birthday party was a big success with all of the family members of the children coming and participating. Sarah helped out by playing the guitar and teaching a new song to the children.

Aside from the sightseeing and visits to the projects in Banda Aceh, we also visited the sites in Jantho and Riting for our future projects. Someone has pledged to provide a desalination system for the location in Riting. This is an answered prayer as there is no fresh water available at the location. If the system can produce enough fresh water, even the refugee settlement across the road from us can benefit.

The Jantho location has 367 families that can be helped in the areas of child development and transportation to school. Most have to walk about 3 kilometers for elementary school and 5 to 6 km for junior and senior high school into town. The people also need help with micro-enterprise development. The government has given some land for husbandry use and we think we can help them with the fishpond development.

Mataie Camp moving out

2007-07-01T13:44:00.000+08:00

These two, along with the others, will have to move soon. The army is reclaiming the land that the Tsunami victims have been using as an IDP (internally displaced people) barrack.

We hope to help them relocate into the Lhok Nga project in the next month or two.

Project visits with Mercy Indonesia

2007-06-30T13:36:00.000+08:00

After meeting with the sponsors of the Lhok Nga project in Denpasar, we met with Mercy Indonesia and proceeded up to Banda Aceh to visit the ACRF projects. We discussed how to channel water to the site where 3 of the houses are and had a good time of sharing about the children in the ACRF programs.

We will need funds and staff for the outfitting of the buildings in Lhok Nga and Jontoh Aceh. We hope to move in new orphans and widows as soon as possible. We still need water and about $10,000 USD to outfit each building.

More sponsor's photos

2007-05-29T15:31:00.000+08:00

Sponsor's photo

2007-05-29T15:16:00.000+08:00

Notice the change in countenance of the sponsored child's face. Your care and love can and does makes a difference!

Photo recieved by the sponsors in Feb 2007

Photo taken at registration (2005)

1st Computer arrives!

2007-05-08T13:25:00.000+08:00

The first computer has arrived in Banda Aceh. Our friend Randy helped to set it up and was brought over by hand by Apryl and Christina, who were visiting the projects in Banda Aceh.

Thanks everyone!

MOU signed with Mercy Indonesia

2007-05-01T13:29:00.000+08:00

It was a fruitful trip to Bali. We had a good discussion with Mercy Indonesia and ACRF signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with them to operate 4 buildings in Aceh for the ministry to widows and orphans.

We hope to have the buildings up and running in about 6 months.

Possible new buildings

2007-04-07T13:22:00.000+08:00

There is a possibility of using 3 buildings in Banda Aceh as an orphanage and training centers. We will be going to Bali to meet and discuss with an Indonesian NGO, probably next week.

A wedding and a visit to Mataie

2007-04-07T13:14:00.000+08:00

We were privileged to be present at the wedding of our manager (with ACRF) in Banda Aceh, as well as to be able to visit the children at the Mataie Camp.

Computers arrive!

2007-04-05T13:21:00.000+08:00

The 3 computers have been purchased have arrived at our doorstep and are awaiting delivery to Medan and Banda Aceh.

More sponsor's photos

2007-03-30T15:09:00.000+08:00

Sponsor's photos

2007-03-30T14:53:00.000+08:00

Here are some photos of our sponsors from England with the letters written from the sponsored children.

More sponsors needed

2007-03-14T13:13:00.000+08:00

We now have 110 sponsored (out of 250 children) with more waiting to register.

A house for our team!

2007-01-25T13:05:00.000+08:00

Thanks to the churches in England who helped us to rent a new house in Banda Aceh for our team. This house is the former headquarters for World Vision and has 6 rooms. It is a much needed blessing to our efforts to help the children in Banda Aceh.

We also started 2 after school care programs, one in Mataie and the other in Paenayong. We are giving tuition assistance to the children in all of the projects. John, also from England, is continuing to work out the details for the purchase of 3 computers for our projects in Medan and Banda Aceh. Thanks John!

More work & more workers

2006-12-20T12:54:00.000+08:00

For the next few months, an external team from the Philippines will be working together with our team in Banda Aceh. They will be working with the children in ACRF projects in Punge, Lampulo and Paenayong.

Our work in Banda Aceh will be increasing as our kindergarten and after school program will be starting next year. This is for about 250 children in Camp Mataie.

Your love matters!

2006-12-02T15:46:00.000+08:00

An awaited visit

2006-11-07T12:38:00.000+08:00

In September, one of our team members visited us in Malaysia for 3 weeks. They had just returned from the earthquake zone in Jogjakarta with news of more children at risk.

New project in Medan with 7 children

2006-10-05T12:32:00.000+08:00

In September we were able to visit our projects in Banda Aceh, also to start up a new project in Medan with 7 sponsored children, followed by a 2-day team retreat on Sabang Island.

We now have 107 children sponsored with 240 children registered in the Asian Children's Relief program (ACRF). We are also starting a project in one of the earthquake areas of Jogjakarta.

TCRF to come under ACRF

2006-10-01T03:30:00.000+08:00

Due to the growing demands for child relief in the Asian regions, Tsunami Children's Relief Fund (TCRF) will come under Asian Children's Relief Fund (ACRF) as one of the major projects. ACRF will not only be related to the work in the tsunami affected regions of Sumatra, but will also encompass work in the Asian regions.

Welcome to our new blog!

2006-10-01T03:06:00.000+08:00

Dear friends and supporters,
A big warm welcome to our new blog page! All future updates will be posted here and do let your friends know about it. We hope that through this blog you will be able to better stay tuned to what is happening with us as well as on the ground.

Thank you for the support over these 2 years and it is because of your generous and kind support that we are able to do this. Our prayer is that with each step taken together, the present and future lives of these children will be brighter with each new day!