Grandma Ponirah, 'becak' driver<\/p>\n
Ponirah, 55, a mother of six children and grandmother to two, is
\nno ordinary woman. The woman from Jeblog village, Kasihan
\ndistrict, Bantul regency, Yogyakarta, sports a crew cut and is of
\nsolid build, the muscles of her biceps and forearms clearly
\ndefined.<\/p>\n
At first glance, Ponirah, better known as Mbak Pon, looks like
\na man, and with her strong physique and short hair, people
\npresume she is a soldier.<\/p>\n
She is not -- she is a becak, or pedicab, driver and has been
\nfor the last 15 years because of financial constraints.<\/p>\n
Except for Sundays, she starts her rounds at 6:15 a.m. after
\nfinishing her housework, transporting several students of
\nKeputran elementary school who are regulars. Later, she picks a
\nspot at Beteng Kulon corner to wait for passengers, and works
\nuntil late afternoon.<\/p>\n
Ponirah said she became a becak driver 15 years ago, when her
\nhusband, Suparjo, also a becak driver, could not earn enough by
\nhimself to support the family and the educational costs of their
\nsix children.<\/p>\n
\"Besides food, the children also needed pocket money for
\nschool. I didn't have the money to set up a small business. The
\nmost I could do was to drive a becak, as I could rent one without
\nhaving to buy it,\" she said.<\/p>\n
The initial objections came from her immediate family. At
\nfirst, it was her husband who forbade her to work as a becak
\ndriver, then her children.<\/p>\n
But she was determined to make money to support the family, so
\nshe persevered, became the talk of the neighborhood and has been
\na becak driver ever since.<\/p>\n
\"My embarrassment over working as a becak driver has long
\ngone. If I stopped doing this, how would my children eat? They
\nalso have schooling needs. The main thing for me is working and
\nearning money lawfully,\" said Mbak Pon.<\/p>\n
Besides objections from her family, Ponirah had to adapt to
\nher new trade, which required her to have great stamina and
\nendurance.<\/p>\n
She acknowledged that, during her first week as a becak
\ndriver, she could not bear pedaling the heavy vehicle. Her legs
\nwould turn to jelly and she almost passed out with fatigue. She
\nusually resorted to pushing the becak when she ran out of energy.<\/p>\n
Her perseverance bore fruit, however, and her husband and
\nchildren never complained again about her new trade. Suparjo even
\ngave up being a driver himself and opted to tend their farm and
\nraise livestock.<\/p>\n
\"It's not nice to see both of us pedaling away. Who would tend
\nto the livestock then?\" said Suparjo.<\/p>\n
Suparjo recalled meeting Ponirah when she was young, a girl
\nnext door who was different from the other girls: she used to
\nclimb coconut trees.<\/p>\n
\"When I was still a becak driver, it was my wife who usually
\nplowed the field. She's different from the others,\" Suparjo told
\nThe Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Taking turns driving the becak, Ponirah eventually applied to
\nbuy it on credit in daily installments of Rp 2,000 (25 U.S.
\ncents). After two years, she finally owned a pedicab of her own
\nthrough her own toil and labor.<\/p>\n
She has dozens of regular passengers, most of whom are
\nstudents of Keputran elementary school.<\/p>\n
The Riri family in Kadipaten, for example, has entrusted her
\nfor the last decade with the responsibility of ferrying their
\nchildren to school.<\/p>\n
\"I used to drive Pak Riri's son, Rendi, who is now a 10th
\ngrader, and Rino, now a seventh-grader, when they were still in
\nelementary school. I'm still driving Riyoga, who is a fifth-
\ngrader at Keputran,\" said Ponirah.<\/p>\n
One experience she has not forgotten in her 15 years of being
\na pedicab driver is when she was hired by a foreign tourist to
\ntake him around the Yogyakarta ring road, which is about 40
\nkilometers long.<\/p>\n
She was hired for Rp 5,000 an hour. \"The amount was considered
\nquite a lot in those days -- 1995. I was really worn out pedaling
\nfrom 8:00 a.m. to 4 p.m., even after resting occasionally on the
\ntrip,\" she recalled.<\/p>\n
On the Sunday afternoon that the Post called, Mbak Pon was not
\nout driving passengers around Yogyakarta, but was relaxing at
\nhome, her trusty becak parked inside the house.<\/p>\n
Ponirah said she had not worked because her husband was still
\nrecuperating from an operation he had a few days ago.<\/p>\n
Suparjo was lying on a reclining chair made of bamboo, and
\nlooked weak.<\/p>\n
\"I have not worked for a month because my husband is sick. Who
\nwill tend to him if I work,\" she said, lighting a cigarette.<\/p>\n
With no money coming in, the family had sold two of their cows
\nfor Rp 5 million to pay for medical expenses and daily needs.<\/p>\n
\"We've spent all the money. As my husband is recovering, I
\nwill return to work in two to three days,\" said Ponirah.<\/p>\n
Although she exerts herself to her limit every day, Ponirah
\ndoes not neglect her responsibilities as a woman, a wife and a
\nmother.<\/p>\n
In the morning, before she sets out with her becak, she wakes
\nup at 4 a.m. to clean house, make tea for her husband and prepare
\nbreakfast for her family.<\/p>\n
\"Everything is finished by 6 a.m. and the children's breakfast
\nis ready. I leave the house at 6:15 a.m.,\" she said.<\/p>\n
In recognition of her hard work and determination to support
\nher family, Yogyakarta's Kartini Day 2004 committee awarded
\nPonirah with the title \"Strong Woman\", a woman who could endure
\nanything, and gave her a cash prize of Rp 100,000.<\/p>\n
Ponirah did not place much importance in the award, saying
\nthat it was more important to work and not to exert oneself
\nunduly, to lead a simple life without stress.<\/p>\n
\"The most important thing is, I work hard to earn an honest
\nincome. It doesn't matter if the amount is small; as long as it's
\nlawful, I'm content,\" she said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/grandma-ponirah-becak-driver-1447893297",
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