Child Survivor relief + recovery + care + growth

spatial prototypes | resources



Initial findings.

Up to 150,000 children in Aceh and North Sumatra provinces are believed to have lost one or more of their parents. Due to a strong tradition of kinship ties, many are being claimed by extended family, however at least 20,000 children have lost both parents as well as other family members and relatives.

The Indonesian government has placed a ban on adoption of orphans from the region, among others, due to fears of child trafficking. Adoption policies within Indonesia remain strict, a child may not be adopted into a non-islamic household, an international couple is required to live within the country for two years prior to adoption.

Overall feelings within the region seem to be centered around the desire to keep the children within their homeland; to have as many children as possible placed with appropriate extended family members.

   

Current Efforts .

Boarding schools have held a prominent place in the social network of children's education within Aceh, and in the aftermath of disaster, now serve as aid camps.

UNICEF has launched a four-point plan to save the children in the region
-focusing on basics such as clean water, adequate sanitation, nutrition, and routine medical care.
-giving high priority to identifying children who have lost their families, and reuniting them with their extended families and communities.
-ensuring the children are protected from child traffickers and sex trade predators.
-helping children cope with the tradegy by getting them back in school as soon as possible and training teachers to recognize signs of severe trauma.

Orphans International (OI) has begun the process of the organized renting of 10 homes within the next six months around the outskirts of Banda Aceh, housing orphans and house parents. There are plans to raise the number of houses to 20 within the second six months.

Other plans for the care of children include the building of more Islamic boarding school facilities, much like existing boarding schools within urban areas, which now serve as relief camps.
   
Project Mission Statement .

This project works to explore the ways in which social programs and spatial design can provide relief and reunion for displaced children, as well as provide long-term communal connection plans for those children who have lost every familial connection, or who's familial connections do not have the means to care for them.