Sleman people line up for 'hygienic toilet' loans<\/p>\n
Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post\/Sleman, Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
Until some four months ago, Poniyem, 56, and many other residents
\nof Ledokan hamlet in Umbulmartani village, some 15 kilometers
\nnortheast of the regental capital city of Sleman, had to rush to
\nthe nearest river to defecate.<\/p>\n
As a matter of fact, the nearest river in this Javanese
\ntraditional housing complex is some 100 meters away. They still
\nhad to pass along a dusty, narrow path and walk down the sloping
\nriverbank before finally being able to satisfy their biological
\nneed.<\/p>\n
Thanks to a loan program managed jointly by the PKK
\nUmbulmartani and [e] Foundation organizations in cooperation with
\nthe provincial Health Promotion Coordination Agency (BKPK), they
\nnow have toilets in their houses.<\/p>\n
\"Now we no longer need to hold back defecation -- if we want
\nto do it in the middle of the night, for example, and are forced
\nto wait until very early in the morning,\" Poniyem told The
\nJakarta Post recently during a visit by a funding company.<\/p>\n
Launched in August 2002, the \"healthy\" toilet loan program or
\nkredit jamban sehat was initially funded by the World Bank. The
\nfund was provided to the village in the form of a grant from the
\nprovincial government through the BKPK.<\/p>\n
\"We received a total of Rp 15.3 million at that time and
\nstarted off providing loans to 12 poor families to build new
\ntoilets in their own houses or renovate old ones,\" chairwoman of
\nPKK Umbulmartani Heni Kusharyani said.<\/p>\n
Through the scheme, the selected families received Rp
\n1,275,000 each, with which they were required to fix up their old
\ntoilet or build a new one. Many of the toilets that poor families
\nin the village had previously built were open-pit, often without
\na roof or a permanent floor, much less a water reservoir.<\/p>\n
They were also obliged to build a \"healthy\" toilet at least 10
\nmeters away from the nearest clean water resource, with its own
\nwater supply, a roof and flooring, ventilation and a drainage
\nsystem.<\/p>\n
Provided in the form of a rolling fund with an interest rate
\nof 1.5 percent a month, the debtors are given two years to pay
\nback the loan in monthly installments of Rp 85,000. Yet,
\naccording to Heni, as most of the families prefer to pay the
\nmoney back in installments of Rp 100,000 they can pay the lot
\nback in less than two years.<\/p>\n
Of the interest drawn from the loans, one third goes to the
\nadditional food-giving program conducted by the PKK organization
\nthrough the village's integrated service posts or Posyandu, one
\nthird is allocated for administration expenses, and the other one
\nthird is added to the capital.<\/p>\n
So far, as the fund keeps rolling from one family to another,
\na total of 40 families in Umbulmartani village, which has a
\npopulation of 7,500, have enjoyed the benefits of the program.
\nStill, many others are already lining up for the chance to have a
\nbetter toilet.<\/p>\n
It is fortunate that through its Ford Motor Company
\nConservation and Environmental Grants, PT Ford Motor Indonesia
\n(FMI) granted in 2004 an additional fund of Rp 22.5 million
\nthrough the [e] Foundation as a supervising non-government
\norganization to help the village accelerate the program.<\/p>\n
According to [e] Foundation, the sanitation in Yogyakarta
\nprovince in general is concerning. Quoting data from the
\nYogyakarta Urban Development Project (YUDP), Momon Hermansyah of
\nthe [e] Foundation said that only 53 percent of families in the
\nregion had proper sanitation facilities prior to the loan
\nprogram.<\/p>\n
Of the figure, 29 percent live in rural areas, while 78
\npercent live in urban areas.<\/p>\n
In Umbulmartani alone, according to Momon, nearly 900
\nof some 2,000 families continue to make do without healthy
\ntoilets.<\/p>\n
He said that the water pollution in the area would increase if
\nnothing was done to solve the problem as defecating in rivers had
\nbecome a local habit.<\/p>\n
The ADB Sanitation Journal 1999, he said, had listed Indonesia
\namong the worst countries in Asia in terms of sanitation.<\/p>\n
\"That's why we ask the FMI to give us the same funds that it
\nallocated for its 2005 conservation and environmental grant
\nprogram,\" Momon told visiting president director of PT FMI Will
\nAngove last week.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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