Ex-lepers struggle to survive in Tangerang

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Often overlooked and dismissed, recovered leprosy patients who have been discharged from the leprosy hospital Sitanala in Neglasari district, Tangerang, have no one to turn to in looking for work.

Those who don't have any work skills get their lunch money by begging on the streets or at other public places.

Braving the heat of the sun, several of them can be seen sitting orderly in a line at the intersection of Jl. Veteran and Jl. TMP Taruna, stretching out their hands to passing motorists and asking for money.

"This intersection is the most strategic place for us to beg. If we didn't beg we would not be able to survive a day," said 27- year-old Husni who contracted leprosy when he was eight. His legs had to be amputated due to the disease.

"Who would be willing to employ a disabled and disgusting man like me?" the father of a two-year-old girl from his marriage with a healthy woman told The Jakarta Post recently.

Hailing from Cirebon, West Java, Husni lives along with some 4,200 other recovered lepers and their families in the Serba Guna housing complex located behind Sitanala Hospital.

The housing complex, which was first occupied in 1980, is part of 53 hectares of idle land in the hospital compound. Currently, the area has been developed into a village comprising three community units.

The surrounding neighborhoods blend in well with the community since the area is also home to several schools which are also attended by their children.

Most of the recovered leprosy patients chose not to return home because, they claimed, their families had abandoned them.

Asma'ah, 19, contracted leprosy when she was 10 due to which she lost her left leg. She said none of her family members who live in Bogor paid her a visit while she was hospitalized.

"This is my fate and I have to face it alone. I feel sad when I remember how I was rejected by my family when I returned home. I have decided not to go back. I enjoy living as a beggar here," said the woman who is married to a recovered leper.

But Sudarman DG, now head of one of the community units and the first cured patient to live in the area, has refused to life on charity.

He was able to feed his family and help his neighbors by starting small businesses which now include a telecommunication kiosk equipped with two telephone booths, a book and computer rental kiosk, plus a small shop which sells daily necessities, including Muslim attire and shoes.

"Most of us turned to begging because the government abandoned us ... They are often treated like dogs by public order officers who want to remove beggars from the streets," he told the Post.

"What we need is a training center where the jobless can learn various skills to support their own lives ... the government should also provide us with work," Sudarman added.

He explained that the cured patients once received five sewing machines from the Banten provincial administration via the municipal's Community Empowerment Office (KPM), but there was no follow-up after that.

Dewi Antarawati of KPM said that her office was ready to help the community, "but a discussion must be held first to find out what they really need".

She acknowledged that KPM had never given any skills training to the community.

"But we once gave them training in raising chickens and goats, but it stopped due to a shortage of funds allocated by the Tangerang municipal administration," she said.