From a humble beginning
This is our story
As Sakinah Foundation or also known as Yayasan Rumah Tahfizh As Sakinah (“As Sakinah” is Arabic for ‘peace’ and ‘serenity’) is a charity organization located in a small village in Pamulang, Tangerang called Bambu Apus, two hour drive away from Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia.
Founded in 2005, it started as a small gathering for street children and children from low-income families in Bambu Apus. We started with opening a tahfizh class, a class to memorize Al Qur'an, hence the name "Rumah Tahfizh“, or ‘house to memorize Qur’an’.
Our Rumah Tahfizh then became a platform to reach local communities, as in addition to Qur’an classes, the gatherings were also used as an opportunity to look after the children, checking in on who hadn’t been able to go to school, who needed health check up and any other form of support.
Nowadays, in addition to our Rumah Tahfizh, As Sakinah Foundation provides educational and nutritional aids for more than 650 underprivileged children living in the area. We have education fund to financially support children who are not able to go to school. Moreover, we have opened a kindergarten, primary school and junior high school that focuses on entrepreneurial-based curricula.
With help from donors we are also able to create events as well as bringing the children on field trips where they can learn more and explore new places. We also welcome volunteers who are interested in working with us and the children.
a talk with our founder
Lisma Gaus, was raised by a single mother who worked very hard to provide for her and her other 10 siblings. As the 8th child, she studied hard to ease her mother’s financial burden and landed a prestigious job as a public auditor.
However, she was faced with harsher truths, when she found a small village behind her neighborhood, populated by underprivileged families. Many of them live in houses made out of cardboards, without windows, with only one room for everyone. The population grew rapidly each year because many of villagers got married when they were very young.
Find out how she started As Sakinah Foundation by watching our afternoon talk with her.