In July 2013 a group of excited children in inner-city Jakarta registered for the first ever summer ‘Creative Hour’ program in their area. Forty six to 12 year-olds took part in the summer club which ran for six days during the month of Ramadan, while schools were closed.

Short term volunteers designed and led a fun-packed program on the theme “Our colourful world”, collaborating with long term colleagues already working in the area. During the program a parents’ session allowed the children to perform a selection of new songs that had been learnt, and show off a huge brightly coloured banner they had made.

In addition to the sessions in the team community centre, the workers also took an adapted version to a community living by a nearby railway line. Parents got involved with setting up a tarpaulin and helping the children with the activities, and the whole community joined in laughing with the children’s songs, dances and games.

Most of these children do not attend school, spending a part of each day singing at busy intersections and on public transport to earn a living. In this summer programme they were encouraged to be creative and to have fun, and we hope they will continue to join the ‘reading garden’ twice a week by the railway, so that they can learn to read.

These two groups of children are already regularly interacting with long-term SEEDS workers through weekly programs, and the special Ramadan events helped to cement developing relationships, and open opportunities for new ones. Through connecting with the families of these children the team are building trust in the area, networking with key people and finding ways to talk about the challenges and opportunities in the community.