Foundation tries to put meaning in disabled's lives

Foundation tries to put meaning in disabled's lives

Text and photos by Ahmad Solikhan

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Salim Harama's feet have been his hands since he was nine years old, when his arms were mutilated when he slipped as he jumped between freight cars on a railway track near his home in Surakarta.

It may be a startling sight to some, but Harama uses his feet when he eats, bathes, reads, for almost every activity in which other people would use their hands.

The tall, thin young man even uses his toes to type at his computer in his work as a marketing employee at the Christian Foundation for Public Health (Yakkum), an organization which provides work for the disabled making handicrafts.

Now 32, Harama said he did not feel inferior when he returned to meet his family and friends after his arms were surgically amputated. However, he could not go to school until a year later, when he was sent to the Foundation for the Rehabilitation of Disabled Children (YPAC) in Surakarta.

There he relearned the simple tasks of life, and strove to remain as independent as possible so he would not burden others. He graduated from elementary school, and continued on to a state junior high school.

After graduation, he applied for a job at Yakkum, and was surprised when the foundation offered him a scholarship to continue his studies at Yogyakarta's Nusantara High School.

Although he has never wanted to use prosthetic arms, he decided to make one concession to "politeness" by changing the way he wrote to putting the pen between his lower jaw and shoulder. He finished high school in 1990.

One year later, Harama was assigned to the production team of Yakkum, where he recorded goods for delivery. His perseverance led him to being sent on a six-month computer and English course in New Zealand. Harama has continued to work while taking advanced computer clases. Married to a woman who has a foot disability and now the father of two, Harama hoped other disabled people would make the best of their lives.

"I hope those with physical or sensory disabilities will not be disheartened in facing the ordeals of life. They should experience and enjoy life as normal people. Let's try to lead a better existence and be responsible to ourselves," he said.

It's a philosophy which carries over to the work of the foundation through its handicrafts center for the disabled.

The one-hectare building in Yogyakarta accommodates 120 handicapped people for vocational training. Health facilities and handicraft equipment are provided by general hospitals and clinics based in Surakarta.

Yakkum's rehabilitation director Dr. Istianto said the socialization of care and guidance for the disabled was first conducted at Dutch owned general hospitals in the 1950s, and was later carried on by the Javanese Christian Church (GKJ) and the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI).

New Zealander Collin Lennan MBE took the initiative to establish a rehabilitation project at the center from 1982 to 1990, and it was put under Yakkum's management in 1991.

Before they begin handicraft making, the trainees receive personality development training from Dutch and Gadjah Mada University psychologists. Their rehabilitation lasts for three months to two years, depending on their individual capacity. Support from their families and surrounding communities is also expected to help build their self-esteem in a society where the disabled continue to receive little attention from the general public.

Those who do not pass the training are sent home with a provision of Rp 500,000 for their own projects (half of the amount is expected to be repaid).

"This is meant to teach them to be responsible for their own survival," said Istianto.

The foundation, which receives about 90 percent of its funding from European churches, focuses on the disabled in particular need of financial assistance, regardless of religion or ethnic origin.Criteria for joining the program ranges from a severe or slight disability (some participants have congenital disabilities, others were injured in accidents), aged below 25, from poor families and not being aided by other institutions. It has 34 referral units and in the last 18 years has helped more than 3,700 people.

They produce about 300 handicraft items, including woodcarvings, wooden puzzles, toys, cloth dolls, rocking horses, bags and wallets.

Yakkum's handicraft products range in price from Rp 25,000 to Rp 4.5 million per unit, which are sold in major cities across the country and several countries abroad. "The monthly production rate stands at around 30,000 units," said Sasangka Rahadja of Yakkum's research and development staff.

The handicraft manufacturing currently involves 169 disabled people, 25 of whom are employees, with monthly salaries of Rp 200,000 to Rp 500,000. Others are ex-trainees, who get Rp 15,000 - Rp20,000 daily, including workers' insurance. "These people have higher skills and are more independent than the employees," he added.