The Bethlehem orphanage

Today the “Bethlehem orphanage”, built in 1992 with funds from St. Anthony’s Charities, is the home of about a hundred children from 4 to 17 years old. Here everyone studies and works. They usually wake up at 5 in the morning, pray at 6, have breakfast and attend school from 7.30 am to 2 pm. After lunch, everybody cleans the house, feeds the animals and works in the garden. At 6 pm there are vespers and the rosary. Dinner is at 6.30, then they study and at 9.30 they go to sleep.
It may seem a very hard schedule for these kids. But Fr. Thomas explains: " Drug abuse is common and almost 50 percent of children of primary school age have a gambling addiction. It is a real educational emergency, even more serious than drug addiction”. So you can feel the harmony that reigns at Bethlehem’s. Everyone is pleased to do their part. They are a real family.

Hope for the kids

What would you like to do when you grow up? ‘I want to be a footballer’ said one 9-year-old boy, ‘a teacher’ replied a 17-year-old girl, others said ‘a monk,’ ‘a hair-stylist’ and the list goes on. Each has his hopes and dreams like kids everywhere else in the world, and you feel that you just cannot disappoint them. Each one has his part to play in the great game of life.
"When they turn 18, they can no longer stay here,” says Thomas. “We must do something, otherwise all our efforts will be in vain. Outside the Bethlehem orphanage there are only palm oil plantations and all these kids are destined to be farm-laborers. But a farm-laborer earns 5 € a day for 12 hours of work. A future without hope and dreams.

Future fruits

Two hours’ drive from Bandar Baru, in the town of Tiga Juhar, there’s almost nothing but forest. Children live in a state of abandonment while their parents work in the plantations until evening. Despite this hard situation, the friars are spiritually investing on this area, and would like to build a school and to start a plantation of 20 acres.
They could start planting palm oil and the plantation would be immediately profitable. But the friars want to invest spiritually on change, since palm oil causes great pollution. This is the reason why they chose salak, a fruit palm. The project is directed by the nation’s agronomists with the aim of introducing sustainable plantations. "You can’t always wait" - says Fr. Thomas "We need to believe in a dream"