“Come on, Baby, light my fire…” – The Doors

What’s more important in life than realizing one’s own dreams?  Not many things matter more than that.

Such is the basic idea of the movie “King”, about Indonesian badminton hero Liem Swie King and how he inspired a local village boy to “reach out, and touch faith”.  While the basic premise was simple, the movie was like a beacon in the midst of a seemingly-boundless-ocean of Indonesian trashy movies without any educational value whatsoever.  Add to that the beautiful directing and filming, breathtaking landscapes, and poignantly emotional scenes, “King” was a wild success when we took the unfortunate children from the Jakarta streets to watch them.  The screening was done in theater 5, Artha Gading XXI, Mall Artha Gading, North Jakarta; at one bright morning on July 14, 2009.

Consisting of two big buses, the participants are :

Nurani Insani: 35 kids, 2 yayasan staff, 2 ANZA representatives (Julie Barnett & Kristin J White), 3 Goodwill uni-students (Kristin, Dewi & Anggri), Yayayan Balita Sehat officer (Aries) & Leonnie FM of PHMF.

Remaja Masa Depan: 35 kids, 2 yayasan staff, Lisa Siregar (Jakarta Globe reporter & member of Friends of PHMF), Fajar Jasmin (member of Friends of PHMF) and Butet from Yayayan Balita Sehat

The ride to the venue was accentuated by basic health and nutritional education by the Yayasan Balita Sehat officers.  Done aboard the first-class of tourism buses of Big Bird, we just knew that this was a start of a successful day.

Arriving at the venue, the staffs of Artha Gading were also more than helpful in helping to arrange everything in order.  As each kids were ushered into their seats, they received a box of popcorn and a tumbler of Coke.

About halfway through the movie, we were joined by the children of Mama Sayang, another orphanage who brought along 19 participants to the event.

The filming session was ended by a photo session at the cinema complex’ lobby. Feel free to enjoy the photos by clicking the picture below.

Of course, the day would not be complete without a lunch session.  After the movie, we moved down two floors to the food court where we have already reserved a special area for more than 100 persons, complete with tables and special lunch menu set.  Everybody enjoyed the food, talking excitedly about the movie and their day out.

Finally, the pretty day was ended by the ride back to their respective dorm.  But not before another story-telling session aboard the buses, led by Aries from Yayasan Balita Sehat.  All kids behaved well, requiring next-to-minimum supervision and direction from the adults.

As we exchange goodbyes and thank-yous with the kids, again we get reminded of the importance of our missions.  And about sometimes, things as small as taking these kids to an inspiring movie may spell a world of difference to their lives, equipping them with the all-too-necessary motivation to strive forward for tomorrow.  To light their own fires.