With a casual glance, you wouldn’t know that these children were special. They looked just like any other kids waiting to enter Kidzania children’s adventure centre.
But if you looked a little closer you could begin to see what made them, and this trip, feel so special. For a start, they were all in their best clothes, because it was not often they had an opportunity to visit an upscale mall like the one in which Kidzania is located (the trip was made possible thanks to the generosity of the community at Australian Embassy in Jakarta). Some of the kids were in wheelchairs and many had bandages on some part of their bodies. There were many more adults accompanying these children than normal, and some were nurses.
And, if you could spend a little more time with them, you would invariably see the combination of sadness and courage in their eyes. Especially in the older ones, the ones who had developed enough understanding about how this world works and how the deck is heavily stacked against them. Their eyes are a shade too mature for their age; eyes that have probably seen too much grey rather than colours.
But kids are kids. There’s a spark of playfulness in them that they just can’t hide – no matter the challenges or misfortunes life throws at them. Take Budi*, instead of letting the escalator slowly take him up to the Kidzania entrance, he was practically running up the escalator that was not moving. It seemed like there was a spring underneath his half-broken sandals, making him bounce up and down constantly.
Just as we were about to enter Kidzania, with excitement and anticipation ready to burst out of these children, it hit me again just how unfair life can be. All of these little heroes were living with serious or life-limiting illnesses, like HIV and cancer. Almost all of these children came from the marginal communities in Jakarta. Some were living in shelters, coming from across the country to access the national medical services which are based in Indonesia’s capital. Some were living with grandparents, aunts or even neighbours; their parents having lost their own battles with HIV. The childhood happiness and stability that the rest of us take for granted was denied to these kids. And that made me think how a little touch of care and love would mean a world to these kids – like a fun day trip to Kidzania today.
Time for PlayTime!
Inside Kidzania was a world of its own. The mini version of real-life shops and enterprises are here! There were parades where policemen, policewomen and kid- police entertained the visitors around the town. There were little-doctors examining doll patients. There were little chefs baking variety of goodies.
“What do you want to do?” ibu Diah, a community volunteer (Kader) with Rachel House, asked the three kids she was tasked to look after. There was no response, only three shy smiles from children overwhelmed by an abundance of sounds and activities. That’s when we passed through a scene where there were kids spraying water on a supposedly burning building, playing fireman.
“Let’s try fireman!” I suggested. Three nods. Good. Here’s a start.
In the beginning, these three little ones was not too excited. It’s not that they didn’t enjoy Kidzania, they kept wanting to try another activity. But there was a shyness in them, like they felt they didn’t belong here. You could barely hear their voice when they replied. I wanted to say, “It’s all right, this is your world, you belong here, even just for a day. You deserve goodness in life”. But how was I to convey this.? How to make them believe it despite their circumstances?
By noontime, most of the kids were exhausted. Budi* was feeling so dizzy he had to lie down and barely touched his lunch. Ibu Diah let him sleep on her lap. Half an hour later, however, everyone rallied and was back hunting for more activities. We went on to bake some cookies, fly an aeroplane and even had a chance to perform on the stage in a Peter Pan show.
By the end, you could not mistake the exhaustion from the kids. But you also could not miss the smiles that crept up to their eyes. Something had touched their hearts and created memories that will last for a long time – forever. A different kind of day for them today, a happy day in Kidzania.
“Say goodbye to Om Rudy,” ibu Diah said to the three kids I had accompanied. And they took my hand and respectfully said thank you. I said my goodbyes and left the kids, their carers and their nurses, as we each returned to our own worlds.
With a casual glance, you wouldn’t have known these kids were special. But after spending a day with them I can tell you how special they were.
Click here to support Rachel House and children living with serious and terminal illnesses.
*All children’s names in this story have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the identities.
As told by Rudy Yuan
This trip was made possible thanks to the generosity of the community at the Australian Embassy – Jakarta. We thank them sincerely for their wonderful support.