Hugging The City

Not many people would want to hug Jakarta. It's filthy, over-crowded, noisy and an incredibly stressful place to live in. That said, those nice people at the Sacred Bridge Foundation are encouraging the city's children to do just that.

A city is a wilderness, but not necessarily in a negative way. From the culture point of view, such a wilderness is indeed full of potentials that are ready to be explored. Knowing the wilderness of the city also means knowing and understanding our roots and characteristics. Being unfamiliar with the wilderness of our Surrounding means that we are alienating ourselves from own home. To help children live more positively, transformative relations with elements of their city have to be built. Based on this thought, Sacred Bridge provides a special program for the urban children to learn about their history and identity, as well as the potential that their homes possess.

This coming Sunday, the 10th,.children aged 7 to 17 (with their parents) are invited to visit a mighty trashmaster who has travelled around Indonesia and a man who can turn used paper into something useful. Participants are also encouraged to bring their cameras as an exhibition will be held at Galeri Foto ANTARA the weekend after.

I like the approach of Sacred Bridge. They are intent on offering opportunities for urban communities to appreciate and admire original and invaluable arts and crafts of the indigenous cultures of the country, thereby valuing our differences.

Their website indicates that their programmes of intercultural dialogue are mostly based on Sacred Rhythm and why not? Music is a universal language and transcends boundaries.

I also like their emphasis on working with children.

"How could those children grow up without knowing the roots of their own culture."

Regular readers of Jakartass will be aware that I intensely dislike the mushrooming malls because they take away valuable recreational space. Having, until 20 years ago, run an organisation for school age children in London offering play and cultural activities - before this park was looking so lovely - I've long hoped that something similar was being offered here.

I hadn't heard of Sacred Bridge before today, but then I only do now because I read every page of the Jakarta Post when I'm stuck in a traffic jam and today I noticed their ad for this Sunday's programme tucked inside the business section.

I hope more such weekends will be organised. Who knows, but you may meet Our Kid and his Dad.
 

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