Women's group helps scavengers

Women's group helps scavengers

JAKARTA (JP): Mrs. Fahmi Idris, the chairwoman of the
organization of civil servants' wives at the Ministry of
Manpower, appealed to wealthy people yesterday to help scavengers
in Bantar Gebang, an area 30 kilometers of east Jakarta.

"The scavengers' lives depend on used materials they find in
heaps of rubbish in the Bantar Gebang garbage dump," she said at
a ceremony marking the organization's decision to continue
cooperating with the International Labor Organization's (ILO)
Jakarta office in a social charity program for scavengers.

"The economic hardships these scavengers are facing are
forcing their school-aged children to help their family earn a
living," she said, adding that there were about 250 child workers
in the area.

Mrs. Fahmi said the civil servants' wives, grouped in the
Bintang Pancasila Foundation, would provide various donations,
including scholarships for 10 talented children, health and
nutrition assistance, regular medical aid and mass circumcision
for the scavengers.

ILO has provided between US$30,000 and $35,000 annually for
the social charity program since 1993. (rms)