Project Jakarta: Arming a kampong with awareness

Project Jakarta: Arming a kampong with awareness

Pritam Narula and Andrew Briggs, Grade 10,
Jakarta International School (JIS)

"Faster, farther, cheaper and deeper," wrote Thomas Freedman in
The Lexus and the Olive Tree. Our world is one interrelated
society where borders are open for trade and where horizons seem
ever so broad.

However, as the public open their eyes to the benefits of
urban life, little does our industrial society know that
sustainable development will soon be out of our reach, and that
our children will face the danger of environmental destruction
caused by industrialization.

About five weeks ago [around mid-March], my classmate Andrew
and I started a group to take action as [part of] a project at
Jakarta International School, to try and make a difference here
in Jakarta, a city facing problems associated with rapid
development.

Jakarta once held a reputation for being a sluggish township,
yet over the past 20 years, it has transformed into a booming
Asian metropolis. However, with a hastily growing population
exceeding nine million people, the city's pollution problems, due
to urbanization and other factors, are increasing. As more people
migrate to the city in search of opportunity, the situation will
worsen.

As Indonesia continues to develop in the areas of
telecommunications, transportation and technology, more rural
dwellers will feel tempted to move to the big city, because only
a small percentage of these new technologies are available in
their area.

Yet, how does urbanization affect the overall pollution
problems in Jakarta?

As more people fill Jakarta, more waste will be produced by
the city. More cars, trucks, buses, and production of goods (just
to name a few) will be seen; therefore, more emissions of carbon
dioxide and carbon monoxide will be produced, exacerbating the
pollution in Jakarta.

This rapid growth threatens to stretch the resources of
Indonesia to the limit. In order to prevent such a prediction
from becoming reality, people must take more responsibility for
this city. Individuals, organizations and the government alike
must take action before it is too late, and this is why Andrew
and I tried to do our part to help combat pollution created by
urbanization at a kampong in South Jakarta.

Before taking action, we wanted to see the pollution situation
at the kampong, which is located near the Federal Express office.
The kampong turned out just as we had expected: It was densely
populated and plastic wrappers, soda cans and wooden popsicle
sticks were scattered across the ground. The kampong itself did
not have anywhere to dispose [its] garbage, except for one or two
worn-down large containers. In addition, a lot of motorcycles
crammed the small streets weaving through the kampong. Overall,
the area was similar to what we expected, but the school system
for its children was superb, compared to other local schools here
in Jakarta.

Considering the severity of urbanization in the kampong, we
realized that as only two people on a mission, we had to limit
our scope to a small area. Despite this, our group was determined
to contribute, to make even the slightest difference. In an
effort to contribute, our group and several other JIS students
organized a project to reduce pollution, promote the preservation
of the local environment and measure the severity of
urbanization.

After assessing the pollution situation in the area, we
discovered that the core of the problem was that the inhabitants
were not educated about the effects of pollution and they did not
have a proper place to dispose their waste.

Therefore, Andrew and I went to a hardware store to purchase
trash cans and we had already printed out posters encouraging the
local community to throw [their] garbage into the garbage bins.

The second step was to actually spend a couple of hours at the
kampong cleaning. We called up several friends to assist in this.

By the end of the day, we were extremely successful, as the
dwellers started to understand the objective of our visit. Before
departing, I had a chat with a respected kampong elder, and I
asked him to make sure that the trash cans we purchased (which
were going to remain at the kampong) were to be used
appropriately. I also asked that, instead of leaving trash on the
ground, the trash can would be used whenever necessary in order
to preserve the cleanliness of the area.

After three weeks of periodical visits to clean, educate and
assess, the project proved successful. There was a clear
reduction in the amount of road-side trash, and young children
were increasingly mindful of disposing of their garbage properly.

Seeing that such a small-scale project was successful, we
believe that everyone has the potential to make a difference.

We were also overcome by the amount of progress that could be
made if non-governmental organizations, or even the government,
did more to control urbanization. Large-scale action, such as
regional planning to appropriately distribute health, educational
and entertainment services to rural areas outside Jakarta, could
relieve the city of its currently high rural-to-urban population
influx.

Other solutions such as "smart growth" could be implemented,
which revolve compact cities with high-density development and
mixed land uses. This would reduce the number of shantytowns
within Jakarta and limit the city's "pancake style" expansion.

Overall, something must be done to address urbanization, and
action must be taken on any scale.

Andrew and I, merely two individuals, proved, using only the
resources available to us, that making a difference was
achievable. We urge that the inhabitants of this city take action
and help reduce pollution, because if we work together, we can
work wonders.