Bomb victims face difficult future
Bomb victims face difficult future
Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali
How to survive the future is haunting Endang Isnanik, a 31-year old widow who lost her husband when the devastating Bali blasts killed him and over 190 others on Oct. 12, 2002.
She survives with her three sons -- Garil Arnanda, 10, Dwiga Meiza, 5, and Izzul Haq, 2 1/2 years. They live in a rented boarding house consisting of two rooms in the Kepaon Muslim area, about four kilometers from Legian, Kuta.
In addition to her hardships, Endang has been suffering from a type of rheumatic disease since giving birth to her youngest son, which affects her left knee. Her foot is sometimes swollen and consequently, she has to take medicine every day so that she can walk.
Her ailment forced Endang to quit her job as an administrative staff at the warehouse of a small-sized company in Denpasar, the capital of Bali.
It is unrealistic for Endang to rely on her maternal family since the death of her father in 1996. Just last July, three months before the Bali bombings, Endang's elder sister had passed away.
Endang's husband, 37-year-old Aris Munandar, was a driver and offered private taxi services at Paddy's Cafe in Legian, the site of the first bomb explosion, which was quickly followed by a second and much larger bomb in front of the neighboring Sari Club. Aris was killed instantly inside his Kijang van -- the car he used as a taxi -- which was also destroyed by the blasts.
Married in 1991, Endang is a migrant from the East Java town of Banuwangi, and Aris was a Muslim originally from the Central Java town of Brebes.
Several days before the tragedy, her husband had asked her and their sons to perform ritual prayers together.
Endang woke up at around 12 p.m. on the night of the bombings. Minutes later, her relatives knocked on her door and told her that bombs had exploded in Kuta. She panicked, and felt sure Aris was killed after his colleague told her that her husband's car was among those destroyed outside Paddy's Cafe. However, she could not verify the report immediately because the blast site was cordoned off by the police and closed to the public.
Endang identified her husband's body at 10 a.m. on Oct. 13 at the Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar, where the victims' bodies had been taken. She, along with the families and relatives of other victims, including those from Australia, packed the hospital in search of loved ones.
Endang fainted immediately after confirming her husband's death.
The bombing tragedy occurred one year after Aris had started working at Paddy's as a taxi driver. Last August, he had to pay a fee of Rp 6 million to obtain a license to queue every day in front of the cafe for passengers, mostly consisting of foreign tourists.
In order to cover the fee and daily needs, her husband borrowed Rp 12 million from a local bank. Fortunately, the lender understood Endang's loss and exonerated her of the debt after she handed over the wreckage of her husband's burned-out Kijang.
"For the time being, my family and I are living on funds provided by the government and private agencies. As for the future, I don't know," Endang told The Jakarta Post at her home.
She said she received a total of more than Rp 20 million in humanitarian aid from donors including the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Bali provincial administration, the Hati Foundation and the Rotary Club.
The assistance included a government compensation of Rp 4 million for Aris's destroyed Kijang, which is valued at Rp 40 million.
Her difficulties are typical of those encountered by other widows who lost their husbands in the bombings.
In spite of her hardship, however, Endang faces her uncertain future with hope and strength.
"I believe that behind every incident, there is some goodness for human beings," she said, consoling herself.
She remains traumatized by the bombings and sometimes cries when she thinks of her husband.
Residents in Kepaon, which comprises more than 100 families such as Aris's, depend on the transport services they offer at clubs in Kuta for their livelihood.
Aris was among the eight casualties -- four Hindus and four Muslims -- from Kepaon.
These are but a few of the lives ruined by the bombings in Bali, and the families -- along with the rest of the world -- are still searching for answers that the investigating authorities, as of yet, have been unwilling or unable to provide.