Twins shine a light under Pluit flyover

By Joko E.H. Anwar

JAKARTA (JP): It was Tuesday afternoon under the Jembatan Tiga flyover in Pluit, North Jakarta. A group of some 70 children, mostly shoeless and wearing shabby clothes, were seen waiting impatiently for something.

Minutes later, the kids -- aged between four and 15 -- suddenly exclaimed joyfully:

"Ibu Kembar (Mrs. Twins) is here... Ibu Kembar is here!"

They were referring to two identical twins, who had just arrived in a gray metallic Opel Blazer jeep, parked some 25 meters away.

Three of the children ran toward the two women to help unload two boxes of instant noodles from the car.

The other boys and girls ran into a six-by-five meters shack, to wait for the twins.

The shack, made mostly of plywood and absent a roof, is a school. Two cloth sheets posted on an outside wall identify it as such -- "Kartini emergency school, Under Jembatan Tiga (Flyover) Pluit".

The children, who live with their poor families in shabby huts under the flyover, were waiting for class.

The twins, Rossy Admiral and Rian Faisal, 51, who founded the school two years ago, are the only teachers the school has.

"We call it an emergency school because we don't know a more proper name for it," Rian told The Jakarta Post at the site.

According to her, there are about 150 kids already registered at the free school, which serves the children every day.

Several pairs of desks and chairs are placed outside the classroom to accommodate the students.

While some of the children sat in the classroom with their notebooks ready, other students had to sit outside.

"The room is too small (for all the children to study inside), so once a child can read and write, he or she has to study outside," Rossy explained.

In a few minutes, the children, were busy with assignments given by the twin teachers.

Students inside the room were assigned to draw 11 flags on their books while those outside were doing simple calculations.

Enthusiast

Rossy and Rian said that the subjects given to the poor Jembatan Tiga children included reading, writing, simple math, Bahasa Indonesia, religion and ethics.

Despite the seemingly inadequate facility, the students looked very enthusiastic in class.

A four year old boy tugged Rossy's pants and asked, "Ma'am, how many is eleven?"

"Eleven is the sum of all of your fingers on your hands plus one of your toes, honey," Rossy replied.

Parents of the children, who have been living under the flyover for years, said they were very thankful for the presence of the school.

"My six year old daughter can now write and count," Ipah, 35, said proudly.

Daspiah, 40, whose two daughters, nine and six years of age, attend the emergency school, said the twin teachers also provide the children with books and pencils plus some food for free.

"Mrs. Twins often give the children milk and instant noodles," Daspiah added.

Daspiah, who claimed to be a widow, said she made a living by selling cilok (boiled dough shaped like a meatball) in front of the classroom. She said she could earn Rp 4,000 a day.

According to Daspiah, most of the people there make a living as scavengers, construction workers, and preman (thugs).

Rian recalled that she and her twin sister had to make a cautious approach when they first wanted to build the school.

"First we just sat down with the kids and talked. Then we sang together. The next day we brought milk, and the next day we brought pencils, note books, and asked the children to draw. Then we asked them if they wanted to go to school and they said 'yes'," Rian said.

Rian, whose late husband passed away 11 years ago was a navy admiral, and Rossy, the wife of a gynecologist, said that they run the school with their own money.

"There is not much we can do but somebody has to give these children education, otherwise in 10 years we'll have a lost generation," Rian said.

A local resident, Rusman, 56, who claimed to have been living for 15 years under the freeway said that even if someone in his neighborhood could afford to put their children into a proper school, they would face problems with the registration process.

"A child is required to show a family card and their parents' ID card to register at a proper school and none of the people here has those documents," Rusman said.

"We already asked the head of subdistrict to assure our resident status so we can get ID cards and family cards, but he has never given us a reply," he added.

Thousands of people from all over the country leave their hometowns to earn money in the capital. Many of them end up living in slum areas such as under bridges, flyovers and along riverbanks.

Rian said that she and her twin sister also run eight similar schools on the bank of Sunter river in North Jakarta, near the railway track at Senen in Central Jakarta, at the Bantar Gebang dump site in Bekasi, and five other locations in the capital.

"We leave our house at six in the morning every day and return home in the afternoon," Rian said.

Rian said that they also conduct sewing courses for women in poor neighborhoods such as at Pulo Gadung in North Jakarta and Pasar Rebo in East Jakarta.

"It's exhausting, but we'll continue doing this as long as we live," Rian said and went inside the classroom to check on her students.(08)