Ware sellers struggle to survive

By Ida Indawati Khouw

JAKARTA (JP): Despite the stiff competition in a modernized society, Sarijem and Warjem are trying to make a living as door- to-door vendors of traditional household goods.

This mother and daughter-in-law team are not satisfied with their meager daily income of between Rp 1,000 (28 U.S. cents) and Rp 3,000 -- or sometimes nothing -- but it is the only work they know.

The two women sell wicker baskets and other traditional goods which are rarely used nowadays. People prefer modern utensils which retail at supermarkets for about the same price as the handmade alternatives.

Sarijem, who is aged in her 50s, and 26-year-old Warjem, know the difficulties they face but believe they lack the necessary skills to change their current work.

"It's getting harder and harder to earn money from selling these goods," Sarijem said.

Their customers are mainly owners of food stalls and Padang restaurants, which still use traditional products to prepare meals.

The women carry the goods on their back -- using a long piece of cloth to harness rice baskets and steamers, cooking oil filters and brooms -- and pile them into a high, gravity-defying stack. The weight of the load can reach 30 kilograms, Sarijem said.

They haul their wares for hours at a time, covering long distances and sometimes braving the heat of the day to make ends meet.

"What we think about every day is just how to get enough food to fill our stomachs. We try not to be tempted into buying clothes, good sandals or fancy things worn by rich people," they said.

The women, who live in a rented room in Pejompongan, start their daily rounds before 7 a.m. Their morning journey, with four other vendors selling the same products, takes them along the small alleys near Pejompongan and Palmerah market in Central Jakarta. Sometimes they stop at Kebayoran Lama market in South Jakarta.

"Oh ... I only sold one rice basket and two rice spoons today," Warjem said, fanning herself with the cloth from her harness.

"It's better than yesterday when we did not earn a single cent," the woman's mother-in-law said as the couple sheltered at a mosque on Jl. Gelora, Central Jakarta, to avoid the heat.

They sell a rice basket for Rp 1,700 and the rice ladle for Rp 1,600. The profit from each item ranges from Rp 50 to Rp 500, they said.

Several years ago, Sarijem's income could reach Rp 5,000 or Rp 6,000 a day, she recalled.

It is increasingly difficult to earn money by selling traditional goods nowadays and many of their friends quit the business and went back to their hometown in Tegal Gubug near Cirebon, West Java.

Sarijem said friends invited her to start selling the goods more than 10 years ago when successive droughts made life difficult for the people in her town. Her daughter-in-law joined her three months ago.

With an income of only Rp 2,000 a day, they have to be "smart" to manage their finances, going without breakfast and sometimes resisting the urge for lunch, the women said. A Rp 500 dinner, consisting of rice, tempeh and vegetables, is enough.

Despite their small income, living in Jakarta is better than life in the West Java town during the dry season, they said.

"At least we can still save some of our money and give it to our family who live in the town," Sarijem said.

Sarijem has two children from her first husband and another three from the second. Warjem is married to Sarijem's son from her first husband, who fled because he could not face the hardships.

Their husbands and children are living in the town and cultivating other people's land.

Once every two or three months, the women go back home "to meet our family, of course", Sarijem said.

Part of their savings go toward bus tickets, which cost between Rp 5,000 and Rp 6,000 each.

"What I want is ... to buy a bus so that we do not need to pay every time we want to go home," Sarijem joked.

For Warjem, buying toys and food for her two sons whenever she returns home is a satisfying reward for her labor.

But life goes on and so does the women's daily search for money.

Sarijem and Warjem once again launch into the "song" they sing along the streets and alleys of the city in a bid to draw in customers: "Madam ... buy our wares ... Madaaam ..."