One million to get free rice

One million to get free rice

Arya Abhiseka, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Ibu Mien's face brightened when volunteers started to take
coupons from people standing in line at the Semanan district
administration office near Kalideres in West Jakarta on Sunday.

After an hour of queuing, she was more cheerful and anxious to
know if she would soon receive rice from the volunteers that
collected her coupons.

"The rice will serve as a nice treat for my family during the
upcoming months," she said.

Mien, who sells coconuts at the Semanan traditional market,
said she sometimes had difficulty sustaining a decent life for
her family of three children on her own.

"It (the donation) means a lot to me because I can now use
some of my income ... for something else," she said, smiling.

Mien shook hands with the volunteers as soon as she received
the rice in expression of her gratitude. Other recipients also
did the same thing as the woman.

Those residents in the Semanan neighborhood were among many
others who would and have received rice from the Indonesian Tzu
Chi Buddhist Foundation in cooperation with the Ministry of
Social Affairs and the Indonesian Military (TNI).

Sunday's rice distribution was part of a series of events the
foundation will sponsor nationwide to help provide free rice to
the poor.

The foundation began distributing the rice to the poor in an
event held in Panjaringan, Pluit, North Jakarta on May 31.

Present at the ceremony were Minister of Social Affairs
Bachtiar Chamsyah, State Minister for National Development
Planning Kwik Kian Gie, Jakarta Military commander Maj. Gen.
Djoko Santoso and City Police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul
Padmanegara, who officiated the start of the distribution.

"It is a humanitarian effort to help the poor with basic
necessities they often cannot afford," Daud Dharsono, a spokesman
for the foundation, said in Semanan on Sunday.

He said his office would give around 10,000 tons of free rice
to about one million poor people in 200 locations across Greater
Jakarta alone, adding that distribution in the capital would
continue until June 22.

Daud said his foundation planned to distribute 50,000 tons of
rice to the poor across the crisis-hit country, targeting about
five million people.

So far, the free rice -- donated by the foundation's branches
worldwide -- has also been distributed in the neighborhoods of
Penjaringan and Kemangan in North Jakarta, and the neighborhoods
of Kapuk and Jembatan Besi in West Jakarta.

"After the first stage of rice donation is finished in Greater
Jakarta, we will begin moving outside the city to distribute the
remaining 40,000 tons to the needy," Daud said.

Thousands of volunteers, including dozens of soldiers and
officers from local district administrations and neighborhood
units, assisted with the distribution in Jakarta.

A team has been set up in each neighborhood unit with the task
of distributing two coupons to each poor family.

Families will be able to exchange their coupons for a total of
40 kilograms of rice.

"The responses are overwhelmingly positive. Some people have
expressed their gratitude and said the rice could last several
weeks," said Daud.