1rstWAP,
July 19, 2002
1rstWAP’s
Support of Disadvantaged Children’s Education Passes Another
Happy Milestone
Global instant and mobile messaging developer
and service provider, 1rstWAP, worked together with its key
charity, the Indonesian Sunshine Children Organization (ISCO)
to hold an annual gathering for Street Children in Wiladatika
Park, Jakarta, on July 13, 2002. 1rstWAP is the sole supporter
of ISCO, and 345 students ranging up to nine years of age
from the Greater Jakarta area, attended the annual gathering
out of a total of 917 students in the program from across
Indonesia.
The attending children,
from various economically disadvantaged areas around Jakarta, come
from very poor families. If not for ISCO’s help, instead of
attending school, they would likely otherwise have to beg on the
streets from day to day. Though many parents work very hard, this
is often at the lowest paying jobs which exclude the possibility
of paying for children’s schooling, which is consequently seen
as a luxury rather than a necessary right. ISCO, through the sole
support of 1rstWAP, has given these children the opportunity and
the support to receive an education.
38 out of the 165 elementary school (SD) children reached the top
ten rank in their class – even while competing with children
from more affluent families. This great achievement has special
impact on the children’s self esteem as they are able to prove
to themselves and the world that they can perform as well or even
better than more privileged students.
The annual gathering was included impressive performances from the
children, including Betawi, Sumatran and other dances of Indonesia’s
ethnic groups. Other students read poems, sang and performed a play.
This was all done with much excitement and a feeling of happiness
and pride. Each performance was reviewed by judges who selected
the group of students from Kampung Gege Kebon Jeruk as the best
performance.
The event was attended by the Austrian Ambassador to Indonesia,
Dr Bernhard Zimburg and Bapak Marzuki Usman, the chairman of PKB
Jakarta and the former Minister of Tourism and Transport, both of
whom were very welcome guests of ISCO and the children.
Attending the ISCO annual gathering and participating with the children’s
activities, 1rstWAP’s Director of Engineering, Mr Josef Fuchs,
said: “I feel like being in a garden with flowers blossoming
everywhere! I am really happy to see the stunning activities and
also the results, what these bright kids have achieved at school.
At the same time, big thanks also to the parents, who have allowed
and supported their children to be who they are today”.
He added that “ISCO should also be a good example for others
to follow, therefore one day, the need for the education will be
as basic and universal as food. Let’s make this dream come
true in Indonesia”.
About
ISCO
The
Indonesian Sunshine Children Organization (ISCO)
is a non-government organization that was established in 1999 to
help needy children in areas where due to poverty and other factors,
they are likely to become street children. Currently ISCO has 9
program areas – 5 in Greater Jakarta, 2 in Medan and 2 in Surabaya
– with a total of around 900 sponsored children in 2002.
ISCO’s main objective is to prevent marginal children from
becoming street children, and to give these children an equal chance
to get better education. The programs also cover educational support,
children activity centers, health and nutrition, shelter protection,
and child advocacy.
About 1rstWAP
With offices in Vienna and Jakarta, 1rstWAP
has developed a robust global instant and mobile messaging platform.
The company, founded in 1999, is a wireless ASP which provides an
integrated communication platform and branded portals in four languages
which bring together the internet and mobile worlds for consumers
with PCs, mobile phones and PDAs.
1rstWAP operates its own grid of SMSCs and its coverage in over
100 countries through hundreds of telecom operators is truly global.
The most popular 1rstWAP applications include mobile instant messaging
and SMS email notifications, SMS reply to PC, Community Building,
Multi-mode News and Alert delivery and Multimedia Messaging. Some
of its customers are Mobilkom Liechtenstein, Indosat, MobilTel,
China Unicom, MCM, TM1 and several media companies.
For more information about this press release or for images and
artwork, please contact public_relations@1rstwap.com.
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