Kartini Day one of joy at makeshift school

JAKARTA (JP): There's no flag raising, no heroic speech on nationalism. There's no parade of mothers swathed in French perfume, fine clothes and sparkling jewelry.

But, like many other students across the country, dozens of students from poor families living in shabby huts under the busy flyover in the Jembatan Tiga area in North Jakarta still enthusiastically followed the modest ceremony to observe Kartini Day on Saturday.

Just like their more fortunate friends in regular school, Rika, Leni, Padmana, Suriati and dozens of girls of the Kartini makeshift school also colored their lips and cheeks.

With the help of their twin teachers, Rossy Admiral and Rian Faisal, 52, who are founders of the makeshift school under the flyover, the teenage girls wore glittering kebaya traditional dresses, courtesy of the twins.

"Do I look prettier than her today?" asked a girl of one of her friends while indicating, with her eyes, a classmate in the row in front of them.

Knowing that she was being discussed by her friends, the girl looked back and stared at them.

"Yes, you look beautiful, but your sandals are so ugly and dirty. Look at mine!" she said, showing off a pair of nice silver sandals, which were obviously a better size for her mother.

The third girl burst into laughter. The argument stopped immediately after one of the volunteer teachers asked the students to sing the national anthem and after that the song Ibu Kita Kartini.

Right at the back of the rows of students, their mothers, dressed up for the day in so-so dresses, could not hide their happiness to see their daughters attired in such "glorious" costumes.

Kartini Day is celebrated nationwide every year to mark the struggle of a Javanese girl, who was forced to marry a man who already had three wives, for gender equality based on letters she wrote in letters to friends in the Netherlands.

The school is actually a six-by-five-meter shack and made of secondhand plywood and wooden planks.

The twins, who have a long record of helping the unprosperous, started to give free education to the kids of Jakarta's poor five years ago at this Jembatan Tiga school, which they call the Kartini Emergency School.

"In the beginning, we only attempted to serve a few dozen children. But the first time we opened the school, over 150 parents registered their children," explained Rossy.

"Our question is where is our government?"

Today, the twins, who fund most of the school's requirements, have 1,550 students studying at similar makeshift schools at five spots across the city. Besides studying basic subjects and skills, Kartini students also get books, pencils, soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, cookies and milk from the twins.

Some talented children have been sent to regular school and education institutes by the two businesswomen.

"Every month we spend at least Rp 20 million for the kids," said Rian.

According to the twins, they had no choice but to accept the requests of poor parents, who mostly earn a living as beggars, scavengers, truck drivers, hoodlums and street prostitutes.

"After school hours here, most of the children go to the streets to help their parents by begging or collecting domestic waste," Rian said.

During the Kartini Day ceremony on Saturday, the twins -- with the help of a young donor -- also provided three computers to introduce their students to the world of modern equipment.

At the end of the ceremony, one middle-aged woman hastily approached Rossy and -- with a serious look on her face -- carefully whispered something to Rossy.

When asked what it was all about, Rossy replied: "No ... it's nothing serious. She just told me that her 15-year-old son, who's also my student, was just imprisoned for killing a man," Rossy said.

"In all, I have three students who no longer join us in class. Instead they spend their days in jail on the same charge," she said. (bsr)