Twins shine a light under Pluit flyover

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)