Making ends meet in an East Jakarta slum

By Des Price

JAKARTA (JP): Cipinang Besar slum acts as a base in the capital for poor West Javanese families, with many subsidizing their low incomes from rice growing by scavenging in the city, where there is a plentiful supply of scrap materials.

It is home to 300 families who survive in conditions of squalor and face dangers both known and unknown from the environment in which they eke out their existence.

Discarded building materials lie dumped by the wayside at the entrance to the slum. Hens and cats pick their way through the rubbish strewn on top. Slum dwellers cautiously make their way along the narrow muddy, uneven paths, where pools of murky water have formed in the potholes. A large pond of dark green stagnant water has organic and inorganic waste materials floating on its surface. Adjacent to the pond, a river carries a torrent of floodwater mercilessly through the slum. It has been dammed to help prevent flooding of the dwellings.

Roofs made of rusted corrugated iron, and others of tiles, have been patched up, and plastic bags lie over the holes, often only secured by the weight of old bicycle tires.

On this rainy afternoon most people have taken cover, except small children, who jump and play around excitedly in the heavy downpour. Fishing rods lie temporarily discarded by the pond.

Teenage boys strum guitars, smoke and chat, while younger children gather around electronic handheld games on loan to them. Tattooed men lie around dozing, sheltered from the rain under the overhanging roofs.

For many of the families living here, Cipinang Besar is a second home, where they live for a period of about three months at a time, migrating to the city from the towns of Cirebon and Indramayu on West Java's coast. Some migrate to the city in order to subsidize their incomes from rice farming, which can no longer be depended on as their sole income.

They experienced difficulties making ends meet and sought alternative means to prop up their uncertain economies. The soil in their home areas is not very fertile, and yields and quality of rice are therefore low.

Through living in the slum and scavenging, they are able to get together much needed extra income, returning home to spend the money they have earned on their extended families.

The slum dwellers are creative in their bid to remain economically viable and find ways to make money. One woman runs a laundry service, collecting and delivering the laundry to her customers homes. By far the most important industry is scavenging: right in the center of the slum there are piles of scrap, which will be reused in some way. Old bicycle wheels will be straightened and re-spoked; car parts will be repaired or beaten into shape and sold.

Many families rely on collecting old discarded nails to support themselves. Equipped with buckets and large magnets on handles, people cycle off all over the neighborhood in search of old nails. Each day a dealer arrives and pays Rp 400 per kilogram for the nails.

One man relates that he and his family need to collect at least 50 kilograms a day to make ends meet. Collecting over this amount provides extra income, which will be used to buy little extras, or will be taken to West Java when they return.

All around the pond there are barrels of oil, which are purchased in bulk and then resold. The absentee owner of the business lives in Sulawesi and five men from the slum receive commissions on sales of the oil.

Unsanitary conditions

Some families have toilets, but the majority do not and they attend to their bodily needs anywhere out of sight of prying eyes. The river is so polluted that the slum dwellers were told in 1990 that they should not even wash their clothes in it. Up until then, some families were forced to drink the water because there was no alternative supply.

Now, the river's only "function" is the removal of rubbish from the site as families at the slum, as well as others living upstream, simply throw their waste into the water. From where the river leaves the slum, up to ten items per minute float down the river: aerosol cans, plastic bottles, glass bottles and plastic bags full of household refuse.

Some rubbish is burned and the air becomes filled with the acrid smell of burning plastic and other synthetic materials.

As a woman draws well water from the ground, she explains that some days the water is clear and palatable, other days it is dirty brown and has a foul odor.

A community organization, Jentera Muda Jakarta, with its base at the slum, says that health authorities have not visited the site for many years; nobody knows if the well water is safe to drink, or if there are other health hazards present.

Whole slum area are prone to flooding. Two dams were built to reduce the risk of flooding, but they are not substantial enough to deal with the floodwaters in heavy and consistent downpours. Families living close to the river sometimes have to evacuate, taking shelter at neighboring houses. Some dwellings are built on stilts, but even these are prone to flood water entering the living area. After a recent flood, a neighbor recalls that her house was so crowded that she could not find enough room to lie down and sleep on the floor.

On this November afternoon, after a couple of hours of rain, the occupants of a riverside dwelling stood outside their home, anxiously looking on, as the flood waters gradually rose up the side of the building.

Some four years ago, the river claimed the life of a six-year- old boy. There is still no protection from slipping down the river's muddy banks.

A rickety wooden bridge, which links the whole slum dwelling area, was built over the river after the drowning of the little boy. It was felt that if there had been a bridge, rescue attempts may have been successful. The slum dwellers also realized that, at times, they need each other's assistance, and a bridge would facilitate communication between them.

For the slum dwellers, the bridge is a reminder of their vulnerability and also symbolizes the need for cooperation with each other.