People are kind despite crisis

On the evening of Jan. 31, on the way back from a hospital checkup for my pregnant wife, my family was trapped by the floods and couldn't get back home. Our taxi driver wouldn't go through the water and dropped us off just west of Kedoya near Puri Indah. There were many people in a similar situation. After waiting for about 15 minutes, a local man hailed down a Kijang van and helped guide us in the car. The driver of the car was just coming back from Surabaya.

In all of this no one asked for any money. They helped from the kindness of their heart. I write to thank those people for their generosity. I was touched and my family is ever so grateful.

To top things off, the church at Puri Indah gave shelter to the flooded victims at IPEKA school and food for two days. Personally witnessing this, as well as seeing reports on TV about aid given to the poor, has really made a big impact on me. Despite people's misfortunes due to the bad economic situation here and civil unrest at times, the people of Jakarta have shown their true spirit and demonstrated the well-known kindness of the Indonesian people.

MARK OGILVIE

Jakarta