Jakarta's social workers work tirelessly for the handicapped
Jakarta's social workers work tirelessly for the handicapped
In observance of National Mental Health Day on Friday and
World Mental Health Day on Saturday, The Jakarta Post reporter
Ida Indawati Khow talked with several social workers at
psychiatric centers in the capital.
JAKARTA (JP): "Thank God we do not turn insane although we
have interacted with them and been together with them for years,"
said social worker Sumarno of Panti Sosial Bina Laras Harapan
Sentosa 02 in Cipayung, East Jakarta.
Some of them work at different centers, but Saminem, Sri
Astuti, Kirwo and Rustam expressed the same sentiment.
Many workers also reside at the centers. Living round-the-
clock with the mentally handicapped, dealing with their sometimes
erratic behavior and individual characteristics, is not an easy
job, they said. Unsurprisingly, the job has a high turnover.
The workers who stay on take comfort in their ability to
function as normal human beings despite the stresses of their
work.
Patients can be unpredictable, and sometimes physically
threatening.
Kindly workers, perhaps gifted with the hearts of angels, have
learned to take the behavior in their stride.
They sit down to dine with restless patients in rooms reeking
of pungent odors.
They consider it all part of their job.
"When we open our eyes first thing in the morning, we know
that we're dealing with patients who cannot do their daily
activities by themselves like normal people," said Sumarno, 27,
who has worked at the center for four years.
It's our task to bathe them, to lead them to the toilet. We
must look after them. Otherwise, the center will be messy and
smelly."
They try their best, but there are still the overbearing odors
of urine and feces. Flies cluster around small pools of human
waste.
Saminem, who has worked at the center since 1988, recalled his
first days on the job as particularly tough.
"It's very hard in the beginning. For the first two weeks, I
couldn't have my meals inside the complex."
The head of the Harapan Sentosa 02 center, Mundhori, said
workers must have empathy and dedication. They are also required
to follow to the letter the social workers' declaration "to treat
human beings to become human beings".
Harapan Sentosa 02 has 16 social workers to serve its 267
patients. Unmarried workers live at the center.
Sri Astuti put their tasks into basic terms. "We even help the
female patients put on their sanitary napkins during their
period."
Rustam of Panti Sosial Bina Laras Harapan Sentosa 03 in
Jelambar, West Jakarta, related how the job shows humanity at its
most abject.
"We always start our day not with breakfast but facing human
feces, urine and other wastes."
At 4:30 a.m., Rustam begins work by bathing the patients,
cleaning toilets and tidying up beds and rooms.
"Sometime we have our breakfast quite late if the patients
need more attention," he said.
They end their work at 5 p.m. after the patients have eaten
dinner.
It is free time for the social workers, but many stay in the
center and watch TV with the patients.
It is not uninterrupted viewing -- patients often become
fidgety or rowdy.
"It's quite difficult to find fully dedicated workers as most
of them refused to continue with the job in the first week after
they face the unexpected realities," Mundhori said.
"On another occasion, parents forbade their daughter from
working here as they did not have the heart for her to live with
the mentally handicapped."
Despite the job stresses, the pay is low. With a daily
allowance of Rp 8,000 and a monthly salary of Rp 100,000, the
social workers urged the city administration to upgrade their
employment status to that of civil servants.
"It's very difficult to get the status as we have to compete
with thousands of applicants (from other institutions)," Sri
Astuti said.
It may be cold comfort for social workers struggling to
survive on low wages but, in the eyes of angels at least, their
work is a blessed and unselfish contribution to society.