What's a sweet boy doing in this place?<\/p>\n
By Aida Greenbury<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): So there was Sarah, killing her after-office
\nhours one Friday night. She was standing across a pool table in a
\nBlok M sports bar, feeling bored to death after watching her male
\nbuddies amuse themselves around the sacred green table for more
\nthan two hours.<\/p>\n
She said that she isn't any good at ball games. She didn't
\nknow why. Maybe she felt intimidated by their bald, shiny
\nappearance - promising nothing but uncalculated, unsystematic and
\nunpredictable rolling movements, which only seemed to increase
\nthe possibility of her becoming a loser in the game.<\/p>\n
Sarah glanced around to find the small face of a teenager
\ncarrying a wooden box full of shoeshine tools peeking behind the
\nclub's main entrance door. He vividly caught her eye. His name
\nwas Ucil - the sports bar's shoeshine boy.<\/p>\n
Ray, a good friend of hers had made him one of his charity
\nprojects. Every time Ray visited this place he gave a generous
\namount of money in exchange for the boy's service (polishing his
\nshoes).<\/p>\n
"I just want to help him out," Ray used to say. While Sarah's
\nother friend, Jenny, is a bit cynical about it. "Right, give him
\nmore money so he can use it to gamble or to buy drugs and God
\nknows what else," Jenny frequently bickered.<\/p>\n
Sarah nodded when the boy approached - asking if she wanted
\nhim to polish her leather boots. Curious, she asked him to give
\nan on-the-spot service. "Let's talk here while you're cleaning
\nthem," the 30-year-old woman said, offering him her beef nachos
\nat the same time.<\/p>\n
"No Miss, I find western food to be rather ticklish in my
\nstomach," he replied while suspiciously staring at her plate.<\/p>\n
The 14-year-old boy has been working as a shoeshine boy in the
\nbar for almost a year, so he explained. He left school and his
\nhometown when he was only eight. Armed with a broom he started
\nhis career as a train sweeper.<\/p>\n
"I used to ask the passengers if they wanted me to clean the
\nfloor between their seats. You know, in economy class trains,
\npeople sleep on the floor so they can stretch out. They usually
\ngave me about a hundred rupiah (about one U.S. cent) in return.
\nIt wasn't a lot - but enough to survive. I used to sleep in the
\ntoilet cabin and the train's waiters gave me some water and
\nleftover food. I basically lived on a train that went between
\nSurabaya - Jakarta back and forth," mumbled Ucil, his hand
\nvigorously brushed the tip of the boots. Gee - talk about a
\nfrequent flyer!<\/p>\n
His story gave Sarah a shiver. There's no way in the world
\nthat she, a well-educated and respected Jakarta citizen, would
\nsend her children to face such a harsh life so young. Money was
\ndefinitely the issue in this case. Ucil's mother was a housewife.
\nShe stayed back home in Kerawang with her husband who worked as a
\nseasonal construction worker.<\/p>\n
Ucil also said that he could earn up to Rp 1 million a month.
\nThis was surprising, not bad for a boy his age. He made far more
\nmoney than a government official's basic salary.<\/p>\n
"What do you do with your money?" Sarah asked.<\/p>\n
"I buy clothes and food. I send some money to my mother at
\nhome too. The foodstall owner at the front has been very kind to
\nkeep my money for me. But mostly I use it to buy clothes. Living
\nin a cardboard box hardly big enough for an adult, with not a
\nsingle lock - my clothes often get stolen. Like now, I only have
\ntwo sets of clothes left," he shrugged. He was telling his story
\nin a tone, that a "normal" boy would use when describing a
\nfootball game. No pain - no grief.<\/p>\n
Living and working in a dangerous area such as that particular
\nstreet in Blok M - which seethes with prostitution, drugs and
\nalcoholics would prompt any normal person to feel concerned about
\nhis safety. But he said it had never been a problem for him. His
\nso-called "protector" - a street hoodlum Ucil met whilst working
\non the train gave him his recent job - and was also the person
\nwho always made sure he came to no harm.<\/p>\n
"My protector...(he mentioned his name) is the head of all the
\ngangsters in Blok M Plaza. He's in charge of that area - the
\nPlaza itself is as large as 50 hectares of paddy fields," Ucil
\nsaid proudly naming the protector.<\/p>\n
He works as a shoe shine boy from 2 p.m. until sometimes 3 a.m
\nin the morning. With those extended working hours, the kid knew
\nall kinds of weird stories happening in his dark neighborhood.
\nFrom how to find a safe taxi in no time for his frequent
\ncustomers; to how many times a week Mr. X visits certain places,
\nwhich are occupied by many night butterflies - or even how much
\nthose light skirted girls charge their clients.<\/p>\n
"Not a lot of foreigners give me enough money for my service
\nthough. Some of them don't even have the heart to give more than
\n500 Rupiah after I work hard for half an hour to clean their
\nmuddy shoes. But my worst experience was when I mistakenly used
\nblack polish on a customer's brown shoes. I apologized of course,
\nbut he still threw his shoes at me and called me stupid many
\nthousands of times," he explained.<\/p>\n
"So, what do you want to do when you grow up?" Sarah asked
\nagain, carefully checking her boots - hoping he didn't make the
\nsame mistake.<\/p>\n
"I want to work for this sports bar one day. Nothing fancy -
\nbecause of my lack of education. I want to earn decent money from
\na decent job. Not like those lost street kids who spend their
\nwhole day stealing stuff and sniffing glue," he was staring
\nblankly at the floor; carefully he placed Sarah's shiny boots in
\nfront of her feet and smiled. It was a smile of a young boy who
\ntried to make an honest living within this harsh city.<\/p>\n
Sarah's attention was back to her cheering mates. Tonight,
\ninstead of chalk-caked hands and a hangover, somehow she knew
\nthat she would go home with slightly different perspective on
\nlife.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/whats-a-sweet-boy-doing-in-this-place-1447893297",
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