Somewhere in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, out-of-school kids are learning to read and write in the streets through pushcart classrooms– the same unique learning platform that CNN Hero of the Year awardee Efren Peñaflorida and his Dynamic Teen Company (DTC) use to educate the street children of Cavite. Gerobak Pintar or Smart Cart is a project of the Indonesian nonprofit organization Yayasan Wadah Titian Harapan or Wadah, which partnered with DTC to duplicate the project among the urban poor youths of Jakarta. Inspired by the “Kariton Klasrum”(mobile cart classroom) that made an impact on the lives of underprivileged kids in the Philippines, Wadah founder Anie Hashim Djojohadikusumo approached DTC to help implement the program in Indonesia.
Gerobak Pintar was finally launched last July to educate its beneficiary kids and parents in four areas: Education, Health, Extra Food Supplement, and Life Skills. The program will be facilitated by Wadah volunteers, after which it will be turned over to the communities. “Wadah is very grateful for the help and support that DTC has provided to make this project a reality,” said Anie Hashim Djojohadikusumo.
“Indonesia and the Philippines are very similar in the sense that we have the same problems in education and poverty. We hope the Gerobak Pintar here will transform the lives of Indonesian children the same way it changed the lives of many young people in the Philippines,” Djojohadikusumo said.