Vacation means hard work for Muhammad Iman

JAKARTA (JP): The school holidays will mean hard work for Muhammad Iman, 19, who works until late at night after finishing school each day at SMEA IX Muhammdiyah IX in Kramat Sawah, Central Jakarta.

"Vacations do not mean much to me because I do not have any money for holidays," said Iman, the eldest of three children of a 50-year-old tailor living in Paseban, Central Jakarta.

"Actually, in the coming long vacation I want to study computers but do not have enough money. I will probably have to work in the morning selling newspapers to earn more income before taking a computer course," Iman said.

He said his father, who is now often sick, only earned about Rp 5,000 (US$2.05) a day, which was not enough to support his family of five and pay the Rp 300,000 yearly rent for their small house.

"Often no one goes to my father to give him an assignment for a whole day," Iman said. "That means my father does not earn any money that day."

He said that, to help his father support the family, he had been working for two years as an office boy at a pharmaceuticals company in East Jakarta, while his sister Inung, a secondary school graduate, worked for a cleaning company.

"Back from school at 1 p.m., I go home to have my lunch and study for about an hour," he said. "I start work at 3 p.m. and finish at 10 p.m. from Mondays to Saturdays."

"My salary is Rp 130,000 a month. It is not big money, but I must use it for my studies and to help my family," he said.

He said Inung had failed to continue her studies because his parents could not afford the tuition. His youngest sister, Eni, was studying at a secondary school.

Iman said he expected to make Rp 3,000 more a day selling newspapers in the morning in the coming holidays to pay for the computer course.

"Many of my friends are luckier than me. They plan to go to Yogyakarta or even Bali for vacation. But it is not my business. My business is to ensure a better future for me and my family," he said, expressing his ambition to make a better living in future.

"I want to continue my studies at a university. I am interested in accounting because I want to have my own company. By having enough money, I can buy a house for my parents and pay for a better education for my two sisters," he said.

Iman acknowledged that he did not have enough time to study and that it was lucky he had ranked third among the students in his class.

"My teachers promised me a scholarship in July if I could improve my ranking," he said.

Iman, who takes part in extracurricular student activities, said he never felt inferior although he came from a poor family. (06)