Scavengers consider health risks an occupational hazard

Scavengers consider health risks an occupational hazard

Annastashya Emmanuelle, The Jakarta Post, Bekasi

Persistent health related problems are not a concern among the
scavengers of Bantar Gebang, the country's largest dump, as they
have a more profound issue to focus on: physical survival itself.

Respiratory infections, diarrhea and various skin complaints
are considered as being minor problems and "part of the job." And
they claim they would only think about consulting a doctor if
they were faced with much more serious problems.

At the 108-hectare site located in the Bekasi area, about 30
kilometers from Jakarta's heart, more than 21,800 cubic meters of
garbage from the capital are dumped daily.

"I can't afford to go see a doctor every time I get an itch.
Besides, what would you expect living around this filth?" said
Heri, who has been scavenging for the past 10 years.

Heri and his family live in a slum area about 15 meters away
from the dump proper.

His two-year-old daughter once suffered from diarrhea but,
because Heri thought it was not dangerous, his wife merely
treated the child with water and sugar.

"It was effective and my daughter is fine now, thank God," he
said, adding that he could barely provide for his family with his
average income of Rp 60,000 on the good days.

Halim, 12, also did not seem to care much about health
problems and sanitation.

"I got a rash on my arm the other day and it went away by
itself. It was nothing, and I'd rather save my money instead of
using it to pay the doctor for something so insignificant," said
Halim while sorting garbage with his bare hands. When he spotted
a bag of potato chips and found some leftover crumbs, he happily
scoffed them down.

Not too far from where Halim was working, Masamah was sifting
through a bag of trash that had just been dumped from a garbage
truck.

Masamah said she had consulted a doctor once. That was when
she found blood in her stool. The doctor told her it was caused
by the unhygienic food she consumed.

"I had to pay Rp 25,000 (US$ 2.48) for the medication. That's
a lot ... but I was worried," she said.

Another woman said that a doctor from the city health agency
sometimes came to the site, but only once a year.

Meanwhile, a group of men who were cleaning plastic bottles
laughed when asked whether they were worried about health
problems.

"Worried? About skin rashes? If I had some extra money, which
I don't, I'd go to a doctor, but if didn't ... I'd just put up
with it," said scavenger Ali Akbar resignedly.

For the thousands of scavengers on the site, there are good
days and bad days. The good days are the ones when they make
around Rp 60,000 per day while bad ones are when they barely make
Rp 3,000.

At a makeshift coffee stall at the dump, men munched on snacks
and sipped their coffee during a break while flies buzzed all
around, perching on their cups and food.

The wet season is the sparsest time of the year as it becomes
difficult to poke through the trash, and it's at this time that
the pungent smell of the garbage is at its strongest.

But the smell does not bother them, they say, as they are
accustomed both to it and the swarms of flies that hover over the
dump.

The city administration, which started to dump garbage at
Bantar Gebang in 1989, has a permit to continue using it until
2003. Later, it plans to move the dump to a 100-hectare site in
Ciangir, Tangerang.

The Bekasi authorities, however, have been threatening to
close the Bantar Gebang dump at the end of the year due to
environmental problems.

Negotiations between the two administrations are still
underway.

Most scavengers, however, are unaware of all this.

"I don't know what I'd do then (if the dump were to be
closed) ... maybe I'd find some other job or move to the new
place," said Budi, 25, who arrived from West Sumatra five years
ago.