Stella’s Mini Charity Project

I earlier blogged that Stella went to Indonesia to visit her mum’s friend. I also revealed a little about a charity project that Stella and her mum were participating in. Here is what happened.

Sometime in May, I was instructed to look in bags of Stella’s old clothes to pick out summer clothes suitable for children living in Indonesia. Stella and I looked through them weekly and picked out the ones she was interested in giving away. Shoes were not selected because of their weight. Stella’s mum explained that they would be visiting a friend in Indonesia soon and they will be giving away the clothes.

This friend in Indonesia is an Aussie expatriate currently working over there. In her spare time, she and another two Aussies help out at an orphanage. She had arranged for Stella and her mum to meet the children at the orphanage. She had apparently planned the same thing for another group of friends last year.

Stella’s mum was really looking forward to this visit. I thought she was probably looking to adopt a child. She told me that she wanted Stella to be involved in charity from a young age and this was to be one where she could be involved actively. In the days before they left the country, Stella’s mum bought a whole heap of Australian biscuits as extra gifts.

On the morning they visited the place, the friend drove them there in her car. They were introduced to some senior staff. The gifts were presented at the office. For a little while there seemed to be some kind of communication break down. The staff began to see them off, apparently not aware that the visitors would like to see the children. After reminding them again, Stella and her mum were allowed to tour the facilities briefly. One staff member said that most of the older children were away. They were first shown the babies’ room and then the toddlers and preschoolers.

According to her mum, Stella walked around the place with her eyes wide open. Stella was her usual friendly self, playing with a few preschoolers and sharing a laugh or two with a few of the toddlers. The children were very fascinated by the look of Stella. She kept telling them in English that she had clothes for them in the office but none of the children understood what she had meant. Stella’s mum was hoping that her daughter could have morning tea with the children but that didn’t happen. Then they were ushered back to the office.

Inside the office the bundles of clothes had been opened. The bags of biscuits were gone. The senior staff member thanked Stella and her mum over and over. She also thanked their family friend and her friends for helping out regularly in so many ways.

When Stella’s mum told me the story, I somehow felt that the visit somehow fizzled out. I felt that she was hoping for something more to come out of it. I asked Stella if she enjoyed visiting the orphanage. She proceeded to explain to me what an orphanage was. She seemed to think that if an Indonesian child lost both parents, he or she would go and live in the orphanage that she had visited. I asked her how she felt giving away her clothes and she told me the children didn’t need them anyway, because they already have clothes when she was there. Was she thinking that the children were really without any clothes prior to her visit? I also asked if she would talk to the children at her Kindergarten about her visit to the orphanage. To this she said that she would tell them of her visit to Buller and that she is now the best skier.