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.