How can you help?

Providing a lasting solution

Karunia provides a good education for underprivileged children in Papua, Indonesia. After Papua was granted special autonomy within Indonesia in 2001, education went downhill rapidly. Karunia - Indonesian for "gift" - stands for meaningful education that touches the heart, a profound change of mindset that transforms teachers into inspiring examples. They pass on their gifts to the next generations.

What is Teach the Teacher?

Dramatic state of education

In Papua, teachers are barely educated and often see their work as a way to enrich themselves. They also resort to physical punishment. Often teachers do not or hardly attend school, while being paid. After primary and even secondary education, they can often barely read and write. Illiteracy is on the rise. Future prospects diminish.

Key to change

If teachers provide more and better teaching, children will learn more, their chances of further education will increase, there will be more highly educated professionals in society, and thus more chances that other children will be taught better and their prospects improved. The aim is to provide better education, by better-trained, idealistic teachers. Your help can contribute to achieving this change.

1. Support the indigenous Papuans

The indigenous Papuans belong to the Melanesian peoples and have been predominantly Christian since the arrival of the missionaries in the 1960s. A lack of education and opportunities drives them to the fringes of society. This is reinforced by the clash with the dominant Indonesian culture. The Christian Papuans feel marginalized and have little self-esteem. They need your support.

2. Fighting poverty with education

Poverty is often the result of a lack of opportunities. Education offers opportunities and is therefore vital from an early age. This education should be provided by dedicated and capable teachers who can teach the children the appropriate skills and mold them into valuable people. They can then make a difference and help break the vicious cycle of poverty in their families and in their communities. That is what you are helping to do.

3. Providing the necessary resources

Teaching teachers is not confined to the classrooms, but also takes place outside of these. Lectures, talks, communal activities, living together in boarding schools, it all happens at Karunia’s campus. This requires educational materials, maintenance and expansion of buildings. Your support is indispensable.

4. Contributing to Papua as a Dutchman

In 1962, the Netherlands withdrew from Papua. Papua was then ‘not yet ready for self-determination’ and was forcibly incorporated into Indonesia. Since then, things have not improved. The Netherlands can still help Papua develop by supporting education that takes place from within and is therefore sustainable. It is our responsibility as a Dutch people.

5. Christian values and norms

Society in the highlands of Papua is in crisis. The rapid changes taking place since the sixties, the arrival of Indonesia and the crumbling of traditional forms of society have taken their toll. Aggression and frustration are rife and norms and values are fading. The young generation is growing up without a sense of direction. The warmth of Christian values and norms like loving the other, focusing on the other instead of focusing on yourself, are our guiding principles. Living with a purpose makes one grateful. This radically different sound is what you are helping to propagate.

6. Spreading Teach the Teacher

Karunia’s approach has proven itself at a local level by stimulating intrinsic motivation among teachers and ensuring anchored development that is passed on to the next generation. With your help, we can take this forward nationally and also internationally.

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