Programs

Chance International is running very successful education support, health and child welfare programs in the area of Aceh Besar just outside Banda Aceh. Natascha Barrymore, the charity’s founder, lives in Lam Asan, a village with a population of c.400.

Need

The district of Aceh Besar, just outside Banda Aceh, has been mercilessly battered by the Tsunami and 30 years of internal conflict. Many of the men in the area have been killed and families separated.

• Severely impoverished families are obliged to give up their children and place them in orphanages to avoid starvation. According to a report published by Save the Children, 83.37% of children in orphanages have families.
• The villages rely wholly on the local brick factories for employment where women work in dire conditions for which they are paid €1.30 a day, taking their children with them as they have nowhere else to leave them. No prospects for improvement or advancement of any kind exist. These factories are starting to shut down.
• Access to hospitals and higher education facilities are limited as most inhabitants in the region are too poor to afford public transport. Most of those who can afford the public transport cannot pay for medication, treatment or attendance at higher education facilities.