Rice swept rice into profit by hard-working market women

Text and photos by P.J. Leo

JAKARTA (JP): The atmosphere that morning was filled with joy and laughter among a group of women at one of the rice stalls at the Cipinang rice market in East Jakarta.

The women, who are mostly single parents (some widowed, the others divorced), work hard for their living. Every day, after tons of rice has been unloaded from the fleet of trucks that arrive here daily, these women set themselves upon the grains accidentally spilt onto the road. From time to time they help the market laborers unload the sacks and lug them to the stalls.

The regular switch of the women's broomsticks brushing against the asphalt can be heard as they sweep up every last grain of rice spilt during the unloading of the trucks.

When business is good, the women can collect enough for their own needs. Working from morning until afternoon, on a good day the women can gather up to 10 liters of rice per person, although when business is slack, three liters is a more realistic target. After cleaning the grains, it is put on sale for Rp 1,500 per liter.

The women often work to gather rice under the hot midday sun. If they are asked by stall owners to help with the unloading, then gathering activities stop. Usually stall owners will not take more than four of them to assist.

"Even though I feel that my job is rather demanding, I feel comfortable working here. We can joke with each other while gathering the rice. It's much better than working as a housemaid or in a factory," commented the 24-year-old Siti Ropiah, known to her friends as Piah.

Piah, the mother of a 3-year-old child, said that the money she makes is enough to support her small family. Piah, who lives in a rented house not far from the Cipinang market, said her husband left her while she was pregnant and the trauma of that desertion is still preventing her from enjoying another relationship.

The 39-year-old Ami, a mother of eight children, has been working at the rice market for 15 years. She said she works to help her husband, a construction worker, to generate income for their family.

"Sometimes I feel that I need to stop this hard work. But I can't. I need to put my children through school and to meet our daily needs. How could my husband's earnings alone support all that?"

The women sometimes feel tired and weak after a heavy day on the job. Occasionally heavy sacks of rice fall on them from the trucks, but it is a risk that these women just have to put up with.