Indonesia is an important country, a member of the G20 group of economies, and expected to rise to be one of the top five economies in the world by 2050. It is also Australia’s closest and most important neighbour.
Although Indonesia’s prospects are bright it is, at this stage, a developing country with wide disparities of income – from billionaire entrepreneurs – typically in Jakarta - to some of the poorest people in the world – typically in more remote areas such as the eastern islands.
The people we serve in the islands of West Timor and Flores in the East Nusa Tenggara province have incomes averaging less than one US dollar per day. With a climate, like northern Australia, of ‘droughts and flooding rains’, the people of these islands suffer recurrent famine conditions during the dry season – called locally the ‘hunger season’. A recent (2008) survey found the incidence of stunted growth caused by malnutrition to be 36.8% of the population.
Illiteracy, infant mortality and life spans are amongst the worst in Indonesia and 30% of people live below the Indonesian poverty line. They are our nearest neighbours. They are wonderful, resilient people but we can help to improve their livelihoods, raise their incomes and ensure their food security.