Motorcycle wash brings hope to Kampung Bali
Leony Aurora , The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Five motorcycles were parked behind the wooden fence encircling Pelita Ilmu Foundation (YPI) in Kampung Bali, Central Jakarta, while two young men vigorously cleaned a Yamaha Jupiter, spraying water and wiping it off with a sponge for a tip-top shine.
YPI volunteers and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), who started the motorcycle wash to help the neighborhood's unemployed, goofed around as they served their first customers on Wednesday free of charge.
"It's only for today. Starting tomorrow, we will charge Rp 5,000 (54 U.S. cents) for one motorcycle," said Anto (not his real name), coordinator of the PLWHA Business Association, which was recently established by the foundation.
With a Rp 1.5 million capital provided by YPI, the association bought a compressor, soap, several buckets and sponges.
YPI Kampung Bali program manager Pungky Djoko said the project was born when youths in the foundation -- most of them practicing or former injecting drug users (IDUs) -- asked for help to become financially independent.
Many high school graduates of Kampung Bali can get jobs only at the nearby Tanah Abang textile market as laborers or parking lot attendants.
"It's difficult to get office jobs because of their low education and the stigma attached to the area," said Pungky.
Kampung Bali is notorious for drug trafficking, with its narrow streets home to many families trapped by drugs not only chemically, as users, but also economically, as dealers.
"Every house here has at least one motorcycle," said Anto, optimistic about the business prospects. "That's why we started a motorcycle wash. There are also lots of ojek (motorcycle taxi) stands."
The business is not restricted only to PLWHA, but to anyone in the neighborhood without a job. "We will split the fee 50-50 with the washers," said Pungky.
The motorcycle wash is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Rp 2,500 from each washed motorcycle will go toward operational costs.
Any profit will be saved to provide capital to future businesses, such as a small-scale bookbinding shop or bakery business.
"We want to provide other services, like oil changes, at the motorcycle wash... But we'll see. We have to take it step by step," said Anto.
YPI came to Kampung Bali in 1999, concerned about the spread of HIV/AIDS due to the increasing number of IDUs, who often share unsterile needles.
The foundation currently provides for monthly doses of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for 10 HIV-positive patients in the area, and expects to help more PLWHA -- some 30 percent of 188 neighborhood residents need daily ARV treatment -- upon government support.
The government has made a commitment to providing 4,000 people with free ARV treatment this year.