Inspired by love: Rosa Silvana, Founder & Chairman of Jakarta With Love

IO, Jakarta – Gathering together with friends from various circles and pro­fessions encouraged Rosa Silvana to establish the ‘Jakarta With Love Foundation’. it was established in 2011 and has been involved in var­ious social activities ever since.

When meeting with the Indepen­dent Observer, the woman, usually called ‘Chaca’, shared stories about Jakarta With Love and the ratio­nale behind it. ‘Initially we only like to do the regular social gath­ering. After a number of pleasant occasions, I realized one thing: why don’t we do something positive with this many members on board? At first, it was difficult, but with pa ­tience, it began to emerge and we were able to conduct a series of social activities. A small exclusive circle was transforming itself into a charity and social venture contrib­utor’ explained the woman, wear­ing a head scarf.

Diverse Professions
Chaca notes that her friends have pleasant personalities, positive man­ners, care for others and some are environmental activists.

Currently, Jakarta With Love has 200 active members from various professions. ‘Some are housewives, while others are entrepreneurs, law­yers, artists, and singers,’ she said.

Jakarta With Love itself was cho­sen as an official name because all of its members live in the capital city. ‘I think these Jakarta people have a sense of love for their surroundings. Therefore, it became known as Ja­karta With Love. Despite mentioning Jakarta in the name, this community often carries out charity events out­side the city,’ she pointed out.

In the various activities managed by Jakarta With Love, they not only care about poor and marginalized people but also about the environ­ment. ‘Currently we are working on clean water provisioning at Penjerni­han, North Jakarta. Challenges and obstacles are in our way, while they urgently need clean water to support everyday activities. Obviously, this needs a really big investment ahead, and because of that, we are currently looking for a feasible way to realize this project. Provision of clean water facilities implies a processing center. So many things we need to provide,’ she explained.

For children, Jakarta With Love routinely conducts mass circumci­sions and fast-breaking events. For such events, they usually invite 600- 700 children, often gathering in Sen­ayan City.

What’s more, Jakarta With Love members support children with can­cer. ‘We have recently been helping cancer-stricken children at Kramat Hospital 128. We donated medica­tions to them. They cannot depend on BPJS-Health insurance because certain medicines are hard to find. We are also partnering with doc­tors in the hospital. It turned out to be quite a lot of money, but we are grateful to be able to help a num­ber of less fortunate children in this case,’ she said.

Other activities also routinely per­formed by Jakarta With Love include free cataract surgery. In fact, they have just returned from Yogyakarta. While in Gudeg City, they visited a group of working women, on duty from 12 noon until dawn. For these great ladies, Jakarta With Love mo­tivates them to maintain their hope and endeavor because they are the backbone of the family. In the future, Jakarta With Love wants to provide business capital assistance.

Other things Chaca wants to do together with Jakarta With Love, is to get involved in the waste manage­ment of this huge city. ‘Waste is a complex matter and we cannot say that Jakarta is free from garbage problems, because this is the cap­ital. I sometimes see people do not care about disposing of waste, even though it could harm them with po­tential floods and bad air circulation. So, again we’re still hallway through the plan, determining the right re­cycle treatment. We know that hav­ing a good intention is not enough, because obstacles are always in the way. The thing is that we will never surrender,’ she added.

Funding
Regarding the financing of various social activities, until now all still re­lies on Jakarta With Love members. ‘We routinely hold a bazaar. We’ve done a garage sale at Hard Rock Café, from which 100% of the profit goes to charity,’ she said.

Along its 7 years of existence, Chaca is grateful for never having experienced any shortage of funds for various activities. ‘God has al­ways blessed us. I believe that if we have good intentions, fine results will always follow. Everything has taken place beyond my expectations. Every year we hold a fast-breaking event in Senayan City, together with hun­dreds of orphans. I believe in devot­ing care to orphans. So, yes, I believe that God maintains his blessings towards us through those children. Every year we can get around IDR 600 million. We are really thankful for that,’ she observed.

A strong sense of empathy and humanity developed in Chaca from her parents’ convictions. Her father, a former government official in Jam­bi, always gave an example by taking to the street directly to meet people. Moreover, when his public was suf­fering from a natural disaster, he was involved. ‘I was born to pay attention to the situation of such family envi­ronments, so it’s embedded in me,’ she explained.

According to Chaca, love for one another is a value of life she always believes in. ‘Everything done with sin­cerity will bring a reward beyond our imagination’ she concluded with a smile. (Dessy Aipipidely)