Laurencia Ika Wahyuningrum, Uncompromised Love for Special-Needs Children

Laurencia Ika Wahyuningrum pleaded with people to discriminate disabled children, instead giving these talented children a chance to empower themselves for their future.

KOMPAS/RUNIK SRI ASTUTI

Laurencia Ika Wahyuningrum

The terrible fire that razed her school could have left Laurencia Ika Wahyuningrum (46) giving up on her humanitarian outreach if not for her exceptionally great love for children with special needs. It was the power of love that called her conscience to continue to walk the dream she has been harboring, and foster entrepreneurial hopes for the sake of the children's empowerment.

Students began to arrive at the entrance gate of Cita Hati Bunda School into the classrooms, in Sidoarjo, East Java, on Tuesday morning (2/5/2023). Some came late, but they looked generally excited. It was the first day of school after a two-week-long Idul Fitri holiday. The teachers welcomed them in an amicable manner. The children seemed to be struggling to shake off the holidays with them falling into a tantrum of sulking, whining or crying.

Cinta Hati Bunda provides education for elementary (SD) and junior high school (SMP) levels for disabled children. There are currently 50 students.

Apart from Sidoarjo, the children come from Surabaya, Madiun and outside of East Java. "The families’ economic backgrounds vary, but many come from the middle bracket and lower," Laurencia said.

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Cita Hati Bunda school is one of the educational services initiated by Laurencia for special children, such as those with autism and intellectual retardation.

In providing educational services, Laurencia, who is a graduate of psychology from the University of Surabaya (Ubaya), is assisted by 15 volunteer teachers. She hailed them as dedicated teachers who are not discouraged by the fact that they were paid below the regional standard minimum wage.

Classes for disabled children with below-average intellectual abilities start from 8 a.m. to half an hour past midday. In the afternoon, the school gives extracurricular educational therapeutic services for public or regular school students who have specific learning as well as socio-emotional barriers. Some of them, Laurencia said, showed exceptionally high levels of intelligence.

We collaborate with several public schools that need assistance in handling children with special needs.

The educational and therapeutic services are referred to as the Sebaya program under the Sebaya Riang Surabaya Institution. The students’ learning problems range from dyslexia, dyscalculia to dysgraphia.

“Educational services at Sebaya are provided after the children come home from regular school. We collaborate with several public schools that need assistance in handling children with special needs," she said.

KOMPAS/RUNIK SRI ASTUTI

Learning activities for children with special needs at Cita Hati Bunda Special School, Sidoarjo, Tuesday (2/5/2023).

Self-funded institution

Laurencia said to help educational services for children with special needs she had initiated the Sebaya Riang Surabaya Institution from scratch. Her internship at a school for children with special needs while she was still in college seemed to have helped grow her passion for the work.

Her sympathy and empathy for the children grew further when she found that many had not received much attention. She opened an educational service at her house by using a room with a desk and several chairs. Her first student was an autistic child from a poor family.

As the students were beginning to increase in numbers, she looked for a more spacious and accommodative room. She rented a house at a residential complex in town. She also invited friends to join as educators, and admitted them to a training program in order for them to further develop their skills in dealing with special-needs children.

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She never advertised or marketed her educational services, but the number of students continued to grow. This prompted her to move to a bigger rented house before she could afford to buy a plot of land to build a modest school at Sidokare village, Sidoarjo.

Unfortunately, the services there had hardly run for a year when a fire broke out at the school building. The incident caused no casualties, but the building had been destroyed almost entirely. In despair, it had crossed her mind that she might have to abandon the work for good until she made a turnaround.

Laurencia summoned her soul to keep on living the dream. Her uncompromised love for the children, coupled with her fellow teachers’ undimmed spirit, encouraged her to continue to serve, even if they were not paid, for the sake of rebuilding the school. Laurencia’s perseverance paid off as she was able to rebuild the school even bigger than before.

KOMPAS/RUNIK SRI ASTUTI

Laurencia Ika Wahyuningrum

Entrepreneurial initiative

Laurencia said many parents of the students at her school had complex problems, mainly related to the limited financial resources to spend on education, while the children required a sizable amount of time in the learning process for their level of intelligence.

To overcome the problem, the 2010 Nova-sanctioned most inspirational woman came up with the idea to cultivate entrepreneurship among the children by training them the skills in shibori, a fabric dying process by wringing and squeezing cloth.

Children over 14 get involved in the production and sales of shibori cloth, with them being entitled to the proceeds after a deduction in the production costs. Each child can receive between Rp 300,000 and Rp 500,000 per month on average.

"Their entrepreneurial skills are being cultivated. Children with special needs are expected to become more empowered in their future lives," Laurencia said.

Also read:

> The Voice of Disabled People

Winner of the 2012 Femina Entrepreneurial Woman in the socio-entrepreneurship category, she said one of the educational methods applied to children with special needs was learning by action in everyday life. As an example, she said the children were practicing math calculations while shopping at a mini market. The learning program entails children going to study outdoors for them to train in adapting to the environment.

The outdoor learning program also serves to get the public more acquainted with children with special needs. It means that not only do children have to adapt to life, but society must also learn to accept them as social members.

Laurencia said she had an interesting experience when the children were brought to the zoo and one of them had a tantrum, with the child turning into such an explosive emotion that the child’s attitude became uncontrollable. People around them thought the child was possessed by a supernatural being. One of them then uttered a mantra, seemingly trying to heal the child.

“Tantrums are common with children with special needs. This is where the process of educating the public is needed so that they can accept and understand the condition of children with special needs," Laurencia said.

Coinciding with National Education Day, Laurencia appealed to the public to pay more attention to children in their neighborhoods, especially those with special needs. She pleaded with people to discriminate disabled children, instead giving these talented children a chance to empower themselves for their future.

Laurencia Ika Wahyuningrum

Born: Surabaya, December 9, 1977

Education:

- School of Psychology, University of Surabaya

- CAE (College of Allied Educator) Diploma program in Management of Children with Special Needs

Achievement/Recognition:

- Owner of SLB Cita Hati Bunda Sidoarjo

- Owner of educational institution for dyslexic children, Sidoarjo

- Owner of a talent-scouting Sebaya Riang Surabaya Institution

- Counselors and ABK practitioners

Inspiring Women, Nova 2010

- Winner of 2012 Femina Entrepreneurial Women in socio-entrepreneurship category

- Winner in the 2014 Kartini Next Generation education category (Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry)

- Representing Indonesia at the 2013 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Nusa Dua, Bali

This article was translated by Musthofid.