Rice swept rice into profit by hard-working market women

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.