Rock breakers count their blessings, despite hard life

Agus Maryono and Mamock NG, The Jakarta Post, Banyumas, Central Java

The middle-aged man sits at the riverside, in his right hand a hammer, in his left a rock the size of the hand that clenches it. He swings the hammer and shatters the rock into small pieces.

Pasirun, 50, examines the pieces carefully. If they are not small enough he will again use the force of his hammer before adding them to the steadily growing pile by his side.

He is one of some 300 residents of Notog village in Patikraja district, Banyumas regency, who make a living from rocks. Besides Notog, there are many other villages in the district like Kedung Randu, Sidaboa and Karang Gude, which are known for the large number of villagers there who work as rock breakers.

The villagers mostly live along the Logawa river, where rocks are abundant. In effect, the rocks provide them with food for their families and schooling for their children.

There are two categories of rock breakers. The first is those who break rocks into koral, used for roads, as the foundation for asphalt.

The second is those who break rocks into "splinters" which are later mixed into concrete.

Pasirum breaks rocks for use in road construction. He collects them from the Logawa river and can gather about one cubic metre daily.

He collects the rocks with his bare hands -- one by one -- and throws them up to the riverbank. After smashing the rocks into pebbles, he sells them to a broker.

Pasirun has been in the business for three years, previously he did odd jobs... whatever he could find.

"It's not bad, I can make a living. It's better than looking for a job in the city," said Pasirun, who works from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m.

He sells the pebbles for Rp 18,000 per cubic meter to a broker, who then sells them to a contractor for Rp 40,000.

In Karang Gude, most of the rock breakers are women because the rocks are smaller than those found in other villages. The rocks are broken into splinters to be mixed into concrete and for other building materials.

Supinah, 30, one of hundreds of female rock breakers in the village, does not collect the rocks herself. Instead, a broker brings the rocks to the women.

A woman receives Rp 22,000 for breaking one cubic meter of rocks. But breaking enough rocks for one cubic meter of pebbles will take Supinah up to four days. On average the women's daily income is Rp 7,000.

"But we don't work full-time, we work for about four hours a day," said Supinah, who spends the rest of her day completing household chores.

Sapardi, one of the brokers, said that he bought the rocks from rock collectors for Rp 7,000 per cubic meter. He sells the stones, broken into pieces, to a contractor for Rp 50,000 per cubic meter.

This is a profitable business for him, although he has to pay to transport the materials.

"We can make a net profit of about Rp 10,000 per cubic meter. Not bad... because we can sell at least five cubic meters of stones a day," said Sapardi, 45.

On a bad day, the income of the rock breakers and the brokers drops. If the river floods no one dares to collect the rocks.

But the workers are still grateful for the little that they have. They consider themselves lucky to have survived amid the economic crisis and believe that as long as the Lagowa river flows they are blessed by God.

"Yes, maybe God grants us good fortune through the rocks of the Lagowa river," said Pasirun.