Meet Rafael

Hi my name is Rafael, I live in Sidorejo, Java, with my mom and my little brother. I have a dream to one day become a chef and own my own restaurant. My father left us when I was young. Because of that my mom works and must provide for our family by herself. She works everyday and takes care of our house as well. My mother didn't have a job when my father left, so to provide us she started to go to the forest and look for young bark to make into ropes and then sell. When she goes out to look for the bark, it takes more than 5 hours. That leaves me to care for my little brother while she is out. Sometimes I feel it is so tiring to care for my brother, while being so young myself, but when I think about how my mom tries so hard to work to feed us, it makes me happy to help. The rope she makes is not much, she usually only gets 15,000 Indonesian Rupiah or about $1 per day.

Because of our low income my education is at risk. I hope to continue my education to middle school and high school but somehow I feel it will be impossible. I am still young so I cannot go and work to help my mother with income, so I choose to study hard, even though I'm not sure if this year after graduating from elementary school I will be able to continue to middle school or not.

Rafael is an amazing young man, who has an amazing mother. They both work hard to care for each other. When you come alongside this family to provide for Rafael’s education, you are giving him a great opportunity. One he only dreams of having. You are lifting a huge burden from his mom and you are allowing them to learn more about their purpose, potential and worth.