`What is SARS? I've never heard of it'
`What is SARS? I've never heard of it'
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) can affect anyone,
regardless of their nationality, gender, age or social status.
But people on the street told The Jakarta Post they were not
scared at all and even believed that SARS could only affect the
rich.
Suhadi, 59, is a street sweeper who lives in Tomang, West
Jakarta, with his wife and three children:
What is SARS? I have never heard of it. I have no idea about
that kind of illness. Actually, medical terminologies now sound
very complicated and weird to my ears.
Besides, the kind of ailments nowadays vary greatly. Perhaps
it is because modern food almost always contains chemical
substances to preserve the food.
Well, if it's like influenza I don't need to worry about it.
If it deals with respiratory problems, a massage would help I
guess. Because I always do that and it works.
I don't know what a virus is either. I wonder if there is a
Javanese word for it because I'm not familiar with that word at
all. Well, I suppose perhaps it's like a germ, or something like
that, which is contagious.
I have learned traditional healing from my ancestors and have
not needed to take medicine from doctors. In my opinion the best
thing to do is to drink red ginger because it is very hot and it
would probably kill the bug.
Drinking a very bitter traditional herbal concoction would
also help eradicate the illness, I'm sure. That's the easiest way
to make our body more resistant to any ailment.
In addition to the above, I myself would tackle the ailment by
thinking positively. I mean to say that we should cleanse our
heart and mind of hatred and envy. Such negative feelings will
surely worsen the physical condition. That's the most efficacious
way to prevent any illness attacking our body.
Aning, 23, is an employee at a private company in Ciracas,
East Jakarta. She resides in Semper, North Jakarta, with some
relatives:
Honestly speaking, I'm not worried about the possible threat
of SARS because I work in a healthy environment.
I don't need to take special precautions. I think the threat
is still far away from people's lives here.
The most important thing is to stay in a healthy condition,
take more vitamins and avoid getting over tired. However, I
don't think there is any urgency about it.
The government, in my opinion, has been slow to anticipate the
threat.
But, I don't blame the government because the respiratory
ailment is not yet a very serious threat to the nation.
Ali, 27, is a sidewalk vendor who sells used books and
magazines in Taman Anggrek, West Jakarta. He resides nearby with
his fellow vendors. His wife lives in Bogor, West Java:
As a matter of fact, I don't worry about it because I don't
know exactly what kind of syndrome it is. The terminology is
quite strange to me.
The low-income people like me are not familiar with that
respiratory syndrome at all. That illness is still very far from
the lives of the poor.
It would be different if it were malaria. Everybody would know
about it and would be very concerned about the outbreak. That
illness is more common among the poor compared to SARS, I reckon.
Besides, the outbreak originated from neighboring countries
that are far from our country. So, why should we worry about it?
The hardest thing for poor people like me is how to get by.
Thinking about survival is much more important than worrying
about the disease.
Well, we haven't made any preparations. We are accustomed to
struggling hard. It means that we have already developed immunity
to such a strange ailment. So, we don't need to wear a mask to
cover our nose or face. The poor are immune.
-- Leo Wahyudi S