Riski is a very happy kid who just turned 17 years old. His story is incredible. He is one member of a set of quadruplets. Yes, four babies at once. Sadly, one of them died. He is from a village close to Cirebon (about a four hour drive from our city.) We had the chance to go to his home and meet his mom. Riski’s mom is so humble and kind. His parents divorced when Riski was in 3rd grade, and both parents have since remarried.
At the moment Riski‘s mom does not work, but his step-dad is a carpenter who makes around $90-$120 USD a month, which supports the whole family.
Riski has been with us now almost 1 month, and he has adapted very well. He is one of the best cooks at the Transition Home, and everyone is always laughing or smiling when Riski is around. We are very blessed to have him here and to have the opportunity to make an impact on his life.
Riski has one more year in SMK (technical high school) where he is learning mechanics, like how to fix motorcycles. Besides that, he is following our program from morning until night learning English everyday, playing soccer, etc.
Riski’s dream is to make his family proud, and he wants to be a professional soccer player. If he does not become a soccer player, Riski wants to become an officer in the army or work in a school or hospital.
Jayadi comes from the same village as Riski. Jayadi has one older sister who went to Hong Kong one year ago to work as a housekeeper. She left three kids behind with Jayadi and his mom. They are 2, 4, and 8 years old. Jayadi shared that many months his sister does not send money for them, so Jayadi‘s mom has to provide for all of them. To make his story even more difficult, Jayadi‘s dad just died this last December. So the mom has started selling things to be able to provide for all of them. She is making $80-$140 USD a month, working 12-15 hours a day.
For us, seeing a kid coming from these circumstances and doing nothing is not an option. Now, we are paying for Jayadi to go to high school, providing for all his needs, and even trying to help his mom financially. Jayadi will be here with us until he finishes high school.
He mentioned to us that for him moving to our city of Bandung is a dream that he always had. Now that he’s here he dreams about becoming a professional soccer player.
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