Sopiah dreams to get free school fees for her children

Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Every day, 40-year-old Sopiah spends between Rp 16,000 and Rp 20,000 (between US$1.80 and $2.20) buying staple foods, giving her children some spending money and providing cigarettes for her unemployed husband.

To get this money, Sopiah works from morning to evening washing, ironing and cleaning for the neighbors. For all her hard work she makes about Rp 500,000 a month, which is barely enough to support her family of six.

As the family's sole breadwinner, Sopiah can only say: "It's hard, it's really hard. I just hope there are no more price hikes."

Her thin body is proof of the hardships she endures trying to support her family. When asked how she makes ends meet, all she can manage is a faint, bitter smile.

"Well, I have to do it enough for the family. Alhamdullilah (Thank God) there are always people who need my services," she said.

Sopiah is one of the many poor people who will certainly fall further below the poverty line as a result of the recent increases in fuel prices and telephone and electricity rates.

At the beginning of 2003, the government raised electricity rates by 24 percent, telephone rates by an average of 15 percent and removed fuel subsidies so prices will be 100 percent determined by the market.

The government has repeatedly said that the increases were necessary to lift the country out of a six-years economic crisis.

However, the increases were implemented at the expense of people like Sopiah, who will have to bear a tremendous burden because the hikes will certainly result in increases in the prices of other goods, particularly basic commodities.

But Sopiah, like many other poor people, cannot protest and vent her anger with the government. She is too busy working for each rupiah to ensure her family can eat three times a day.

She begins her work at 7 a.m. at the first house on her route, where she washes and irons clothes until about 10 a.m. She then continues to the second house, where she does more of the same work.

At midday, Sopiah runs to a nearby kiosk to buy rice, a liter of kerosene, vegetables, tempeh, tofu and some spices, which she will use to make dinner for her family when she gets back home.

"I have to spend abound Rp 10,000 every day for our meal. Usually, I just cook vegetables and fry some tempeh and tofu. I can't afford to buy fish, meat or eggs," she said.

After a quick lunch, Sopiah heads to the third house of the day for to wash and iron some more clothes, as well as to clean the house.

"Every day, I wash and iron big buckets of clothes, depending on the number of people living in the house, which usually consists of between three and five people," she said.

She can work until 9 p.m. if there are any other families around her neighborhood in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, who require her services, for which she charges Rp 10,000.

Her husband, Sulaiman, 43, has never made a significant contribution to the family's income. Since they married 17 years ago Sulaiman has only done odd jobs. And he hasn't even done that for four months. His last job was washing motorcycle at a nearby auto shop for Rp 2,500 per motorcycle.

Even with his old job, her husband could only bring home "enough money for his cigarettes", said Sopiah.

Aside from her daily expenses, Sopiah also has to pay Rp 70,000 a month for her family's 2.5-by-2 meter rented room.

There is also the Rp 48,000 she must pay for all her four children's school tuition. All four of the children must go to private schools, which are more expensive than state schools, because they don't have birth certificates.

"The fee (for birth certificates) is much too expensive," she said, adding that birth certificates cost Rp 75,000 per child.

Additionally, every four months she has to pay from Rp 20,000 to Rp 48,000 for each of her child's schoolbooks.

If she doesn't have the money, she asks the schools to allow her to pay the tuition later. Often, Sopiah cannot pay for several months and the schools hold her children's academic reports until she does pay.

"My children often get angry with me because they can't see their academic reports ... but what can I do?" she groaned.

Sopiah doesn't know what she will do about the skyrocketing price of goods, because she just can't afford to spend any more money on her family's daily needs.

"I can't take any more washing orders. The jobs are tiring and time consuming," she said. "I just hope the people who have hired me will be willing to pay me more."

Sopiah now only dreams of getting the money to make birth certificates for her two eldest sons, 15-year-old Ade Mulyana and 12-year-old Pian.

Ade will be going to high school in the middle of this year, while Pian will go to junior high school. She hopes both boys will be admitted to state schools.

When both children have birth certificates, Sopiah plans to request a letter from the subdistrict office stating that her children come from a poor family.

"Therefore, they can be exempted from school fees. It would really ease my burden and they could still go to school," she said.