Women giving their all for others

Women giving their all for others

By Barbara Anello

JAKARTA (JP): The talk was animated over dinner at a chic
restaurant in Jakarta.

It ranged from topics as disparate as Fifth Avenue fashion, to
the depletion of species and forests throughout the archipelago,
to the skills of Indonesian women, the quality of their health
and living conditions today in Balinese mountain villages,
refugee camps in Timor and in Java's largest cities.

The intense exchange of ideas and expertise continued
throughout the four-day Femina & Sari Ayu Awards: Women of the
21st Century, in meetings with Indonesian cosmetics executive
Martha Tilaar and with First Lady Shinta Nuriyah Abdurrahman
Wahid at the palace.

The first awards, presented at a seminar on Kartini Day last
month at Jakarta's Shangri-La hotel ballroom, went to three
unique women, distinguished in their fields of education, health
and business.

They are very different women, with one thing in common: the
empowerment of women. In the field of education, the award went
to Susy Maria Dauselt Katipana; in health, Dr. Inne Susanti, a
pathologist; in business, Della Murwi Hartini.

Femina's panel of judges noted some shared characteristics in
that the three women are dedicated and consistent even in the
face of obstacles. They set goals and meet them and, in the
process, raise standards for other women. Each has a vision that
serves as an inspiration for us all. Ideas, strength, creativity
-- these are the ingredients to shape a future.

Susy Katipana, a vivacious Timorese-born Ambonese, lives in
Kupang with her husband and son. She has a degree in education,
focusing on maternal/child health care.

Susy became active in women's issues in 1981 when Mt.
Galunggung erupted in West Java. With CARE International
Indonesia, Susy worked on projects to deliver clean water and
upgrade sanitation in Java, Sulawesi and Nusa Tenggara.

She worked on projects designed to train health-care workers
and community development fieldworkers in eastern Indonesia.
Through her strong bond with the women of East Nusa Tenggara, the
poorest of Indonesia's provinces, Susy was inspired to organize
existing NGOs into a consortium . She founded Womintra/Women in
Transition (womintra@kupang.wasantara.net.id), a consultant
service, and the associated foundation Yaswit. Her objective is
to empower and educate women.

"We fund the foundation through our consultant's fees, and in
this way, we can implement a whole range of projects in Flores,
Sumba, Timor, Alor, Sulawesi and, soon, Wetar and Irian Jaya,"
Susy explained.

"Our consortium, Women & Democracy, bringing together 49
women's organizations and NGOs from all over East Nusa Tenggara,
meets in Kupang to develop strategies to voice women's rights and
address their needs. Our mission is to strengthen women so that
they participate in all levels of government, politics and law.

She also fights gender bias.

"We are a voice against gender discrimination. We've just
launched a bimonthly magazine, Lentera Perempuan (Women's Light)
to raise issues related to children's rights, women's rights,
democracy and gender.

"Basically what women need are skills and the means to earn a
living and feed their families."

She said they faced a perennial obstacle.

"The problem is they have no money. I help them evaluate their
existing skills and use their resources to start small businesses
and build wider networks. A field officer living in each village
where we have a project teaches management skills, simple
accounting, how to organize a business, how to market the
product. Our projects involve all sorts of crafts, farming and
small industries, including potters, sugar makers, weavers. We've
also introduced electricity into many villages, and worked out
funding systems through cooperatives."

She told of a project in Nusa village, South Central Timor,
where she organized 11 groups of women farmers to grow
vegetables. In six months they saved Rp 40 million and organized
a savings and loan cooperative.

She said they helped with 40 families of lepers and after six
years found a sponsor for the water supply for the village.

"When we brought the first harvest to market, no one would
touch it because it was grown by lepers. We were in tears. OK, I
said, I have to find a new strategy. None of you go to the market
-- we'll find some neighbors to sell the vegetables. That's what
we did, and now twice a year the harvests sell out and no one
knows who grows the vegetables!"

Mobile health

Inne Susanti's Women's Health Mobile Clinic bus has become a
familiar sight to Balinese women in rural villages all over the
island.

It delivers free health care, examinations, PAP smears,
condoms, information and education services. WHMC has been on the
road since August 1997, and has served to date over 2,000 women
with health care and over 4,000 with information/education
services.

"If we want to improve women's health we have to improve their
reproductive health," Inne explained. "In almost all rural areas,
RTI (reproductive tract infections) diagnostic and treatment
services are not available. With a mobile clinic, we can share
our knowledge, experiences and abilities to improve women's
health."

Inne's work since the late 1960s, both in family planning and
as a pathologist, has put her at the forefront of women's health
care. Her report, Maternal Mortality in Bali, 1980-1982 provided
the first, and still the only, statistics on numbers and causes
of death among women of child-bearing age.

"Women need more information so that they can express their
needs and problems, protect themselves and get the care they
need," Inne said. "And health-care workers must be attentive and
thorough so that they diagnose the problem accurately in the
first place. Establishing and maintaining high standards of
practice and hygiene is essential."

Inne's commitment, dedication and ability to see both the big
picture and the tiniest, microscopic details make her so
effective. She is precise and painstakingly accurate with regard
to facts and numbers, but she also has a graceful ease and
ability to convey to the layman what those facts add up to, what
the numbers actually mean in terms of the consequences of one
person's health or a nation's long-term development.

She can hobnob with the women in a mountain village, pull out
a wooden penis and slip on a condom to show them how it should be
done. Not the least bit condescending, she creates an atmosphere
of trust and mutual respect, enabling people to discuss their
most intimate or troubling issues.

Funded thus far with donations from the Rotary Club Bali
Taman, the Rotary Foundation, Illinois, the U.S., Rotary
Yamaguchi/Hiroshima, Japan and other donors, the WHMC is
answering a critical need in Bali. Data collected by the WHMC
indicates a high percentage of STDs among the low-risk population
(rural women and their families), sounding the alert for the
potential for increased incidence of disease, including the
spread of HIV/AIDS among Bali's rural, low-income population.

"Most AIDS projects currently are directed at commercial sex
workers -- it's time for the general public to start being
aware," Inne commented in a 1995 interview. It's still true
today. In 2000/2001, Inne hopes not only to continue, but to
expand services.

Bag business

Delia Murwi Hartini is petite and elegant. Her youthful looks
belie the fact that she is a wife, mother of two and the CEO of
PT Rumindo Pratama (rumindo@indosat.net.id), a hugely successful
women's bag manufacturer.

On the road to Parangtritis, outside Yogyakarta, Dolly's
factory produces The Sak, a line of bags for women, selling now
on Fifth Avenue and featured in a recent spread in Vogue. Where
does Dolly's entrepreneurial success story bisect with the social
commitment of Dr. Inne and Suzy? It is in the lives and
livelihood of nearly 7,000 women who produce the bags that she
sells from Manhattan to Sydney.

With a degree in communications from Gadjah Mada University in
Yogyakarta, Dolly married and started a family. She decided to
open a business designing leather and rattan goods for women.
With smart design and hard work, her business took off quickly.

By 1990, she was already exporting to Sweden. American buyers
Mark Talucci and Todd Cliot joined with her on The Sak. Dolly
started with five employees; nine years later, she had 900.
Because of the nature of her production, requiring weaving of
rattan, nylon and other fibers, crocheting and other fine work,
Dolly found it more effective to employ women.

Now, in addition to the 900 full-time employees, between 6,000
and 7,000 women around Yogyakarta produce bags for Dolly, working
from their homes and earning between Rp 8,000 and Rp 15,000 a
day.

"We've had a dramatic trickle-down effect on the villages
surrounding Yogyakarta, especially in this monetary crisis," she
said.

Many women are supporting families, paying children's school
fees or supplementing other family income through their work for
The Sak.

"I have to observe strict labor rules because our clients are
interested in where and under what conditions our bags are
produced," Dolly said. "In fact, some of our home-work girls are
still in school. Because they can crochet for Le Sak at home, on
their own time, they can work an hour or two a day, and still
make some money in after-school hours.

"This kind of work makes a critical difference to many
families in Java, now, where unemployment and living expenses are
both high, and the economic crisis is still very real."