Kagama serves cheap lunch for the needy and students

By Sri Wahyuni

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Would you expect to have lunch for only Rp 500 (about 6 US cents) especially at a time of crisis like this? Come to Yogyakarta and you'll get it. You'll have a portion of rice and vegetable soup, plus either a slice of meat, tempeh, egg or fish, and a glass of water.

"But you have to be patient as we serve no less than 400 portions a day," Oetari Koento Wibisono, Coordinator of Warung Murah Kagama (Kagama Cheap Food Outlet), said.

The warung was opened on April 30, 1998, by Kagama, an association of the Gadjah Mada University alumni, to help the poor, especially students, to have cheap but healthy meals. With a starting capital of Rp 2.5 million, it initially served only about 150 portions a day.

The response was amazing. Although it was scheduled to open at 11:00 a.m., customers, mainly students, becak (three-wheel pedicab) drivers and street vendors, were queued in front of the Kagama secretariat, where the food outlet was located, even before 10:00 a.m. Everything was sold out in less than an hour.

"Now, with about 400 portions to serve a day, we're open at 10:00 am and close at about 11:15," Oetari said.

The warung is managed by members of Kagama, mostly females, and a number of volunteers consisting of students and housewives. It employs about 12 part-timers to cook, wash the dishes and clean the room.

"It's also relieving that in a time where the unemployment rate is rising, we can create jobs for the needy, with a wage as much as we can pay," she said.

It's hard running a place like the warung. With a turnover of only about Rp 5.2 million a month, it has to spend nearly Rp 10 million a month for employees' wages and the meals. That means that it needs a subsidy of nearly Rp 5 million a month.

Fortunately, aid poured in. Without asking, donors came to their aid, and gave mostly food supplies including meat, eggs, vegetables, cooking oil and rice. A local professor, for example, donated 20 kilograms of raw meat a day for 20 days. There were also students who donated Rp 10,000 or Rp 20,000 or just a bottle of cooking oil each.

"Thank God, we've survived so far," chairman of Kagama, Koento Wibisono, said two weeks ago.

Yet lately, there is a growing concern about the warung's survival especially since both raw materials and the fund decrease day after day.

"We don't have the heart to raise the price," Oetari said.

He said that the management once invited about 25 customers and only a few of them stated they would pay more for the meal.

The existing fund, according to Oetari, would last only for a few more months.

The management has so far made themselves ready for the worst. Various alternatives have also been prepared to anticipate the worsening condition. For example, what if they can no longer afford to buy rice due to the worsening economic condition? What will they do about that?

"We once tried to serve sawut instead of rice and it was not bad. The customers seemed to enjoy it as well," Oetari said. Sawut is a traditional meal prepared from rice mixed with gogik, a lower quality of dried cassava.

It's this idea that has made the management change the name of the food outlet from Warung Nasi Murah Kagama (the Kagama Cheap Rice Outlet) to Warung Makan Murah Kagama (the Kagama Cheap Outlet).

"It's because we are afraid that someday, if the economic crisis worsens and rice becomes a luxury, we no longer can serve rice but tiwul or sawut instead," Oetari explained. Tiwul is a meal made of dried cassava.

Some pedicab drivers who are customers of the restaurants told The Jakarta Post that they hoped the restaurant would not be closed down.

"We do feel the advantage of the program. It helps, especially in a time when our income has dropped dramatically," Warso, one of the pedicab drivers, said.

Compared to other food outlets, Kagama's is certainly the cheapest. "If it is closed down, I will have to spend at least Rp 1,000 for a meal. And I won't get even a slice of boiled egg for that amount, just rice and vegetable soup," Warso said.

Student customers also feel the same. The warung makes it possible for them to save at least Rp 25,000 a month as they would have to spend a minimum of Rp 1,500 for the same meal at another place. "It's cheap here, and delicious," said a student in the queue.