Yayasan Sinar Pelangi Jatibening

In 1974 a Catholic Nun from a Franciscan Congregate - Brothers and Sisters of Jesus and Mary Sacred Hearts from the Netherlands named Zr Andre Lemmers came to Irian Jaya, Indonesia as a social work volunteer. After four years she went to Jakarta to plan for other social works and she saw the needs of the people in Jakarta and try to understand the problems facing the people in Jakarta. She became interested in helping the people in Jakarta.

Zr Andre Lemmers and several of her friends had some ideas to do social projects. In 1978 she came to work for a foundation called “Yayasan Usaha Mulia” which was located in Pejompongan, Central Jakarta. The clinic ran by “Yayasan Usaha Mulia” had about 50-70 patients per day who needed general medical help. Most of them are poor families from around Jakarta who can’t afford to pay for regular doctor practices. Zr. Andre Lemmers served in “Yayasan Usaha Mulia” for 11 years until March 1989.

In the beginning of April, 1989, Zr. Andre Lemmers started to rent a pavilion in Jl. Kerinci I/7, Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan for 2 years. She and her friends did something different than the social work in “Yayasan Usaha Mulia”. They specialized in rehabilitating handicap for the poor which can be treated with surgical operations such as: harelip, cleft palate, burn injury trauma, struma, tumor, etc.

In the beginning of their work they met one girl with harelip called Rena Nurkasih. “Rena” became the name that was used for a foundation in the Netherlands which work together with Zr. Andre Lemmers and her friends in rehabilitating the handicapped through Yayasan Sinar Pelangi (YSP). There were so many patients who came for help until there were not enough space for them. YSP was looking to move to a bigger place because the number of patients increasing day by day and they came from other places in Java: Bekasi, Tangerang, Bogor, Bandung, Central and East Java, and other places in Indonesia also such as: Lampung, Medan, Aceh, Pontianak, Kupang, Lombok, Sumba, until Irian Jaya. YSP could not afford to find a place in Jakarta because of the high price of land. Finally YSP found a suitable place in the outskirt of Jakarta, which is Jatibening.

For the foundation operational activities Yayasan Sinar Pelangi was given foundation registration number: 224/Binsos/1992 by Social Affairs Agency Bekasi Office and registration number: 200/246/Sospol/1992 from Social and Political Affair Office.

Yayasan Sinar Pelangi is also registered with the Coordinating Agency for Social Welfare with registration number: 056/BKKKS/KU/SK/VII/1993.

At the end Yayasan Sinar Pelangi changed its name to Yayasan Sinar Pelangi Jatibening.