Homes Of Hope Press Release, The Southern Courier, 12 May 2009

Local charity tackling Indonesian poverty
Make a difference one child at a time
Local entrepreneur Nick Perkin, director of landscaping business Sydney Lawns and Gardens, was pondering the issue of how one person of limited resources could really have any impact on the horrendous problem of global child poverty.

“The problem just seemed so big and my influence so small,” says father-of-two Perkin. “But when I began talking with a locally-based charity I realised that for the cost of a daily newspaper I could literally save a child’s life.”

The local charity was Randwick-based Homes of Hope International (HOHI), an organisation set up in 2004 by CEO Greg Beech to help women and children at risk throughout the third world. But Perkin wasn’t satisfied with just sponsoring a child. “HOHI was about to launch a new orphanage project and I decided to become involved by rallying sponsors to support the project,” he explains.

In April 2009 HOHI, in partnership with Yayasan Kasih Anugerah will open a new children’s centre in Surabaya Indonesia which will cater for 10 to12 children. Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city, struggles to care for numerous children who are at risk. Many children are complete orphans or categorised as neglected by the government because their parents are in poverty.

The centre will provide total residential care for these orphans, who otherwise have very little hope of housing or schooling. HOHI needs three sponsors per child and is hoping to rally support from the local community. “We know times are tough for everyone, but saving a child’s life costs as little as A$1.15 per day,” says Perkin.

HOHI is also planning a local capacity building project – a motor cycle repair school - that will, in a small way, address the issue of local unemployment.

“You can’t fix everything,” says Beech, whose organisation already has two successful projects up and running in Indonesia as well as homes in China, India and Mozambique. “But you can make a difference one child at a time.”

For more information go to
http://www.homesofhopeint.com/Surabaya.htm