In addition to the kindergarten, Friday, Saturday and Sunday are reserved for volunteers who can use these three days to travel around the island and discover more of the beauty of Indonesia.
In this area of South Lombok, education is very important, especially education in English and computer skills due to the rapidly growing tourism industry. The children’s English language skills give them the opportunity to further their studies and gain employment in the newly emerging accommodation and restaurants. Children from poor backgrounds who attend schools in the area, if they do not get an education, will not only lose the opportunity for later employment in the developing Kuta or more distant towns, but in addition their families and homes will be pushed further inland to make way for the construction of new hotels. Thus, locals will not be able to benefit for themselves from development in their homeland, but will instead lose even more. That is why we are trying to educate these children in such a way that they can continue their studies and be employed in the tourism jobs that already dominate the region.
We also try to emphasize and educate the locals on waste and environmental issues, which is a difficult challenge for everyone, especially in Indonesia and on the island of Lombok, where awareness of these issues and topics is really low.
Unfortunately, there is a shortage of local teachers and their education and qualifications are deplorable, as is the awareness of children and their parents about basic hygiene and habits, resulting in a number of childhood skin diseases and other related problems. Thus, Kintari Foundation is trying to help in providing medical care and medicines for sick children and adults, and teaching hygiene habits to children at school.