Ex-lepers struggle to survive in Tangerang

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.