Sahabat Insan, the Jesuit centre for migrant workers in Jakarta, helped raise USD 80,000 to provide infrastructure and facilities support to Sister Laurentina SDP who runs an office and shelter for victims of human trafficking in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara province.
Sister Laurentina’s work in helping repatriate the corpses of illegal Indonesian migrant workers has earned her the nickname “Sister Cargo”. Her organisation, JPIC Divina Providentia – Kupang under the auspices of the Divine Providence Social Foundation, welcomes and protects victims of human trafficking, providing them with counselling and empowerment services, and scholarships to their children. The organisation also helps arrange the return of migrant workers’ corpses to their families.
East Nusa Tenggara province is a predominantly Catholic province that has the highest recorded number of human trafficking cases in Indonesia. Many of the victims are driven by poverty into the hands of human traffickers. Most of those allegedly trafficked are women and children, and many die overseas.
Sister Laurentina often makes the trip to the airport to collect the bodies of dead migrant workers. On one occasion she describes the experience of waiting with the migrant worker’s family for the cargo to arrive.
“My heart was very touched while chatting with the little boy, especially when the coffin was pulled out. He innocently told me, ‘Sister, there is Mama!’ I told him, ‘Son, let’s pray first for Mama’. He smiled and we prayed for the deceased and her family, and for the trip back to their village in Atambua to go smoothly.”
Currently, Sister Laurentina’s organisation holds office in a worn out hall, and an old building serves as shelter for the victims. The charity golf tournament held on 4 October aimed to raise funds for the renovation of the shelter and office. It was carried out in partnership with the Santa Maria Devotion Movement, who for years has organised charity golf events, and with the support of the Archbishop of Jakarta, Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo. More than 100 golfers teed off including Fr Ignatius Ismartono SJ, Director of Sahabat Insan, who putted a hole in one!
More than the money raised, however, the organisers hope to increase awareness among Catholics of the prevalence of human trafficking. “The fight against human trafficking does not stop,” says Fr Ismartono. “It is each of our responsibility as Christians to help restore human dignity to the victims.”