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Child Sponsorship
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Indonesia: Sponsorship through Geni's eyes
Maria Eugenia Puka, popularly called Geni, is grateful for the opportunities for education that sponsorship has provided.
“Because of the support from my sponsor, I have the opportunity to continue my schooling to higher levels,” Geni said.
Thirteen-year-old Geni lives on Flores Island, Indonesia, some 2,500 kilometres Flores east of Jakarta. She lives with her father Hendrikus Beda Puka, her mother Benedicta Boleng Tobi, and her twin brother Emanuel Liberatus Puka in a simple two-room hut measuring 3 x 5 metres. One room is a bedroom for the children, and the other acts as dining room, study, sewing room and parents' bedroom. Geni's eldest brother, Mikael, works as a fisherman in a nearby village. He didn’t finish his Junior High School because of poverty. Now he is the main earner for the family because Hendrikus and Benedicta have not been well for some time. Her elder sister Agatha Sabu Puka is in second grade of Junior High School, but lives in another village because there is only a primary school in their village. Geni treasures the memory of receiving a financial gift from her sponsor who lives in Hong Kong. Accompanied by local World Vision staff, she travelled to the city to spend it - a shirt for her dad, two blouses for her mother and elder sister, a dress, shoes and uniforms for herself and her twin brother, schoolbooks for all the children. She also bought household items, such as a big bucket for clean water, thermos, and 50 kg of rice, and put the leftover 150.000 rupiah (almost US$20) in a bank. Geni and Eman study at the same school and same class in sixth grade of elementary school. Eman is also sponsored. The two children both want to be doctors when they grow up.
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