Beng-beng makes money from rubbish to help the poor

Beng-beng makes money from rubbish to help the poor

Fathuddin Muchtar, Contributor, Yogyakarta

Compassion never turns a blind eye towards those who are in need.
And compassion does not encourage one to wait until he or she
prospers before they lend a hand.

Bambang Sudiro has set an example of what one can do to
improve the welfare of poor people.

Bambang, or Beng-beng as he is fondly called, is not a rich
man. He does not even have his own house. The long-haired
28-year-old born in Banda Aceh is a lapak, or broker, who
collects junk and other recyclable waste from scavengers.

He manages a place on a 200-square-meter area in Balerejo,
Umbulharjo, Yogyakarta, where he receives the recyclable waste
from 35 scavengers.

The industrious young man also helps makes life worth living
for others. Beng-beng is a foster parent of 13 street children.
Most of them are children of the scavengers who sell their goods
to him.

With the income he generates from the business, Beng-beng
sends them to school. Seven of them study at the elementary
school, three at the junior high school and three others at the
senior high school.

Every month Beng-beng allocates Rp 595,000 (US$70) to pay
their school fees. The elementary school children receive Rp
30,000, the junior high school students Rp 45,000, while the
senior high school students get Rp 50,000.

"This program started in August last year. Next year, if there
is good fortune, maybe there will be more (foster children)
because there are still some other children who want to continue
their studies but their parents can not afford it," Beng-beng
says.

Why does he have so much concern about these children? Beng-
beng says it is a long story.

In February last year, he heard some scavengers complaining.
One of their complaints was that they could not pay their
children's school fees. The scavengers, Beng-beng says, were hard
workers and they wanted to set aside part of their income to
finance their children's education.

"It turned out that there was something wrong in their working
relations with their boss. The boss bought the (waste) from the
scavengers, but that's it. There was no sort of partnership
between the boss and the scavengers. This gave me an idea, how
about if I helped them to market their goods? The revenue was
divided into two, a part of it was for them, the rest was to pay
the children's school fees. They agreed," Beng-beng said.

Therefore, in May 2003 Beng-beng started his program to
improve the welfare of the scavengers and to enable their
children to go to school. He asked the scavengers to work
together and he became a lapak.

He raised funds to buy the items collected by the scavengers
and he sold them to a pengepul (a businessman who buys recyclable
items from brokers) in Yogyakarta.

In just a short time, there were many scavengers who sold
their goods to him. With the scavengers he started a good working
relationship.

"I told them that this business was not just to make money,
but there were other benefits they would enjoy. The concept that
we agreed upon is this: from the monthly profits, 20 percent is
set aside for education, 20 percent for health, 10 percent for
organization's petty cash, 35 percent for (business) development,
10 percent for tactical funds, and 5 percent for the
consolidation fund," he said.

Beng-beng said that beside education, there are two other main
problems facing the scavengers and their children: health and
identity. Almost all of them could not afford to pay for their
medication when they were sick. And most did not have ID cards.

Scavengers often become the victims of loan sharks. One of
such victim is Tembong, 54.

"Before I joined mas (brother) Beng-beng, I could barely
survive and had a lot of debts. But now I can save my money, even
though only a little," he said.

Beng-beng said that the daily turnover of his business was
between Rp 800,000 and Rp 1 million. Asked about the monthly
profits, however, he said he never really made an exact
calculation.

But the situation speaks for itself -- and it's clear the
business is profitable. Besides paying the school fees of 13
children, Beng-beng can also hire three employees and he often
gives out allowances if someone is sick or gets married.

In truth, Beng-beng says, he was not interested in becoming a
lapak. He was afraid people would accuse him of exploiting
scavengers for his own interest. But he did it anyway as he was
concerned with the scavengers' fate.

"So, if you ask me about the benefits that I can make for
myself, my answer is "social benefits". Just look what I have
other than my clothes and this old motorcycle. I am quite happy I
can help them," said the high school graduate.

Beng-beng is also a member of Taabah, an advocacy team for the
poor. He established this independent organization with friends
who were concerned about street children, scavengers and street
musicians.

In this organization, one of his activities is securing ID
cards for street people. Some street people now have the document
they have wanted a long time for, thanks to his advocacy.

Beng-beng is now working to improve the image of scavengers.
Many people have the wrong idea that scavengers are thieves, he
says. This stigma is seen in the signboards erected at some
housing estates, which say: "Scavengers are not allowed". Such
treatment really hurts the people, Beng-beng said.

"We are currently talking with the government about
prohibiting scavengers from entering an area. We will try to urge
(the government) to ban such signboards," he said.