Selaras Membangun Bercerita is a community-centered social enterprise and empowerment movement based in West Java, Indonesia. We believe the only thing that truly changes a life is another person who shows up, sits down, and stays. We build an inclusive ecosystem of relationships that allows communities to serve one another, collaborating with frontline charities, empowering grassroots leaders, and connecting local wisdom to global conversations about economics and human dignity.
We are all treasures to one another.
Research
Research on the Economy of Communion shows that businesses structured around gift, gratuitousness, and fraternity consistently outperform on worker wellbeing and community trust — not despite prioritising relationships over profit, but because of it.
Source: Economy of Communion, Chiara Lubich / Sophia University Institute
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Caca
"I didn't expect anyone to still want me after what happened. Sembarita didn't ask me to explain myself. They just asked: what are you good at? I said I like to read. They said: then come, we have books, and we have children who need someone to sit with them."
— Caca, Rumah Baca Social Reinclusion Intern, Jakarta
Our stories →
Charles
"Most organisations bring resources. Sembarita brought people. Real people with creativity who are willing to build something together, who came back the next week, and the week after that. That consistency changed what was possible in this place."
— Charles, Founder, Rumah Ruth Pregnancy Home
Our stories →
$25 helps a single mother in our shelter learn useful skills, $55 helps a child in the slums sit their national exams and access public middle school. $190 secures a year's supply of formula for one baby in our pregnancy shelter.
NGO, church, business, university — if your work touches human dignity, let's build something together.
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Come to one of our Perjumpaan Bermakna gatherings. Bring a skill. Leave a friend you didn't expect.
Find out when →Fourteen ways we build an ecosystem of human dignity and empowering relationships across West Java and beyond. Tap a card to read more.
Restoring belonging to those the world has pushed aside.
Learn more →Building the ecosystem of relationships that makes everything else possible.
Learn more →Removing the barriers between children and their futures.
Learn more →Connecting grassroots entrepreneurs to dignified economic participation.
Learn more →Creating spaces where people can be known, not just helped.
Learn more →Standing with mothers in crisis through the Rumah Ruth pregnancy home network.
Learn more →Perjumpaan Bermakna — meaningful encounter as a practice, not an event.
Learn more →Building friendships that cross every line, starting with a shared table.
Learn more →Chanaya Resort and Blessing the Home as proof that dignity-centred business works.
Learn more →The Feminine Genius Collective and skills empowerment for vulnerable mothers.
Learn more →Economy of Francesco, Oxford, Assisi — bringing Bandung's voice to the global stage.
Learn more →Kithkin network: members donate a portion of profits to community causes.
Learn more →Sundanese wisdom, Franciscan ethics, and the theology of encounter.
Learn more →Translating the vision of human dignity, the preferential option for the poor, solidarity, and the common good from principle into daily practice.
Learn more →Bandung's story of friendship-led economics travels to Italy for the global gathering of young economists and entrepreneurs.
An evening of music and story marked the launch of our anthology of voices from the margins.
An Indonesian perspective on religious freedom, carried to one of the world's oldest academic institutions.
A new cohort begins their internship, sitting with children and rebuilding their own sense of purpose.
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Months of tutoring came down to this morning — nine children, nine exam papers, one shared future.
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Every loaf carries the name of the woman who baked it. Meet the hands behind Blessing the Home.
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Crafted by mothers in the Rumah Ruth pregnancy home, each piece supports a mother rebuilding her life.
Price TBC
Stories from the margins, presented at Oxford. A collection of the voices Sembarita has been privileged to sit with.
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A monthly prayer and letter kit connecting you to a saint's story and a moment of reflection.
Find out more →You don't need to donate to be part of Sembarita. You need to be willing to show up, sit down, and see what happens when you actually meet someone.
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