Hard life

An acquaintance of mine, Mrs. Amy (not her real name), goes to the same church every Sunday, where she met a vendor of roasted pork, who always sells his snacks by the entrance of the church. His shabby appearance and miserable face evokes compassion in the parishioners of the church, and Mrs. Amy is one of them.

She now knows that the pork vendor has six children, and he and his wife are both illiterate. Selling roasted pork for Rp 500 per piece makes him Rp 10,000 per day, which is barely enough to feed eight mouths. No wonder he told Mrs. Amy that he could not pay school fees for two of his children.

Overwhelmed by compassion, she spontaneously gave him Rp 22,000 to pay one child's school fee, and for the other child's school fee she suggested that he approached other buyers. She told me this story in the hope that I might give him a donation.

It is difficult for me to believe that such a family exists in this modern age and in a metropolitan city like Jakarta, where the struggle for life is most severe. How irresponsible of the couple to raise six children even though they knew from the outset that they could not possibly give their offspring a proper education. And being illiterate, the man and his wife could not possibly secure a well paying job. I think that this is one of many ways to create misfits in society.

A. DJUANA

Jakarta