poverty — Tatter Scoops

Cassava Girl

12 Nov posted by Maureen

This is a second guest post coming from my friend, Erita Mann she writes so beautifully that I just have to share another post from her.

A Child’s World – The Cassava Girl

Pic from Black & White

Happened about two months before I moved to the state in 2003. It was a nice Saturday afternoon in Depok city, a suburb about 20 miles away from Jakarta. I grew up in this city. That Saturday afternoon, I had a wallet full of money and ready for some shopping in the mall.

I parked my car, and as I was walking toward the mall I was stopped by a little girl, age 5 or 6, dark skin girl wearing an oversize originally white dress but look almost brown. She carried a black grocery plastic bag full of stuff. She said to me : “would you like to buy cassava chips?” and she pulled some individual chips wrapped in a clear plastic bag filled in with homemade cassava chips. I did not plan to buy it. I am not a big fan of cassava but I bought 3 bags from her. Rp.3000 each (about 25 cent). Then I went shopping.

I came out from the mall happily with some shopping bags in my hand. I passed Dunkin Donuts located in the lobby of the mall. Then I saw the little girl who successfully sold me the cassava chips. Her black plastic bags was on the floor, she put both of her palms in the glass door of Dunkin Donuts. Excitement was in her face. I looked through the window, curios what made that little girl so excited about what she saw. There was a birthday party inside Dunkin Donuts. Kids were having fun, eating donuts, wearing the cone size birthday hats, laughing to the clowns, all the fun being inside of Dunkin Donuts enjoying the party.

I kept walking to my car and put the shopping bags in the trunk when I saw a security guy from the mall (or from Dunkin Donuts I am not sure) approached that little girl and told her to stay away from the door. That little girl would not listen and she did not move a bit. The security guy pulled her hand and roughly dragged her away from Dunkin Donuts. Some people saw that with disgust on their face towards the security guy but would not say a word, including me.

However, I had something else in mind when I saw that incident. I approached that little girl. I told her I wanted to buy some more cassava chips. Then I bought some more and handed her the money. She looked happy. Then I stepped into the car but my heart was telling me to do something else. I stepped out looking for the girl. She was still there, asking people to buy her cassava chips but she could not take her eyes off of the party inside Dunkin Donuts.

I called her and told her to come with me. That afternoon, part of Dunkin Donuts had a birthday party for a kid but the store still managed to sell their donuts for the public. I asked her which donuts she wanted but she asked me to pick one for her. I found a table that had an easy access to see the party. We were eating our donuts and enjoying the party at the same time. Well, I did not enjoy the party but the cassava girl did. She had a big smile on her face. What I enjoyed the most that afternoon was the short time I got to spend with her and to see her excitement of eating her first Dunkin Donuts and watching a birthday party she never has. That feeling I had was nothing compared to the bonus I got the day before.

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Filed Under: Jakarta Livin'

McDonald Boy

29 Oct posted by Maureen

When I read this post on my friend’s Facebook, it touched me so deeply that I asked her if it’s ok to share it here with everyone. Let me introduce my dear friend, she’s very smart, she writes eloquently beautiful – I really think she should become a writer – she’s a proud mother of two…her name is Erita Mann and this is her story:

A Child’s World (The Boy Who Begged For Food in The Street of Jakarta)

Photo Credit: Need Magazine

I spent three hours from 9 AM to 12 PM today staying with my son on his first trial day on Pre School. I watched him studying in the classroom, I watched him playing in the playground, I watched him having lunch with other kids his age. I also watched all other kids happy faces while they are playing, studying and eating. I saw no sorrows, I saw no problems, I saw no fears, I saw no hatred. All happy faces with smiles enjoying their childhood. That’s what being kid is all about.

I was sitting on a bench at the school playground during break time watching the kids playing and my mind was wandering of a lifetime experience I will never forget…

It was around 9 O’clock at night, the traffic was pretty bad on Jl. Gatot Subroto (one of main street in Jakarta). A little boy about 7 years old knocked on the window of my car. He’s a beggar, singing a song I could not understand the lyric. With no doubt or fear I rolled down my car window so I could hear his little voice. When he stopped singing I handed him a Rp. 10,000 (about $1). He shook his head weakly and asked if he could get the McDonald’s meal box I put on my car’s dash board instead. He said he is hungry and only had one meal that day. I froze for a second, trying to absorb what I just heard. I then handed him the meal that I haven’t touched and reached for a Rp. 50,000 bill from my purse. All I could think of was giving him more money. He refused the money, he said he’s just hungry. I told him to take the money and put it on his almost ripped pocket shirt. He smiled, he bowed and thanked me then he walked away from my car. I was watching his back as he walked away just to realized he had a big hole on the back of his dirty looking shirt and he’s barefeet.

I cried quietly inside my car, all alone. Feeling hopeless not being able to help that child more. While other kids are snuggling with their parents at home or sleeping peacefully, that boy is working at night, singing songs from car to car in the busy street of Jakarta and only had one meal that day. I have never seen that boy again since but I could never forget the expression on his face when he told me he’s hungry and would rather have McDonald meal than the money.

Life is not fair for that boy. While he supposed to be loved and enjoying his childhood and not to worry about what to eat , he has to work from day to night, trying to survive in the cruelness of a big city like Jakarta.

Tonight my son is sleeping quietly in his room, and tomorrow he will be ready to explore another great day in his life. The boy I met that night eight years ago will be eight years older now. Wherever he is, I hope he is in much better situation and condition. God Bless you child.

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Filed Under: Jakarta Livin'

Sex Tapes & Quake Victims

22 Jun posted by Maureen

That got you wondering what the heck I’m talking about?

I’m talking about the recent scandal of sex tapes involving a singer, and two model/actresses that crowded not only the airwaves but also became Twitter trending topic. Everyday their news are on TV from major news time slots down to those infotainment gossip shows.

A sex tape(s) is a sex tape(s)…deal with it…move on already!

Not so much! This thing had caused so much uproar in Indonesia that the parliament members feels it is important to hold a special meeting to discuss it? Holly cow, Batman!

Ridiculous is an understatement, many Indonesians doesn’t even know that a pretty big earthquake at 7.1-magnitute struck Papua province last week, June 16, 2010. Why? Because everyone is too busy talking about these stupid sex tapes! What about the quake in Sumatra just last month? These people deserves more attention than these so-called porn stars wannabes.

People are living in poor conditions there and all the parliament can talk about is the sex tapes scandal? Way to go!

Using the anti-pornography law as an ‘excuse’ this has been dragged for far too long while people in these quake stricken areas can’t even have clean water! My heart breaks and enraged seeing the news as it clearly shows the priorities of our government. There are way too many problems in this country from corruptions to poverty so why on earth two sex tapes took over these big guys’ concern is beyond me!

When will our government really shake up and prioritize? Maybe in 20 years from now…well one can hope can’t I?

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Filed Under: Indonesia, Musings

Jakarta Poverty Tour – My 2 Cents

20 May posted by Maureen

After seeing this on the evening news on Tuesday I can’t stop thinking about it.

Jakarta Globe did a great write up about this on Voyeurism or Philanthropy? Jakarta Poverty Tours Sparks Debate and I stumble into this article on Karbon Journal.

When one of the news anchor that interviewed Ronny Poluan, the man behind this Jakarta Hidden Tour and asked: “Aren’t you ashamed to show this kinds of life to tourist?” – I got all worked up! Kudos to Ronny for his honest answer “What’s to be ashamed for? It’s reality!” Bull’s-eye answer!

Poverty stricken people does exist in this country especially in Jakarta. In fact it’s one of the biggest problems here but rarely address. Urban poverty numbers are still high even when they are circum-fenced by the skyscrapers or pushed to the corner of the city. The gap between the haves and have-nots in Jakarta are huge!

Denying it won’t make it go away! Ignorance will not help these people, pronto!

Growing up in a small mining area, with many expats around me then later married to one – I realized most expats couldn’t care less about fancy-swanky-5-stars-rated malls. They would rather ‘taste’ the local cultures, traditions and way of living. Plenty of those expats that used to live in that small town would rather take a ride on a motor powered small raft to go to the village and check out the traditional wet market like the picture below.

Why would we, Indonesians be ashamed of showing the real faces of Indonesia living if it includes the less fortunate people who have no clean water let alone solid roof above their heads?

Would love to go there myself and take pictures of real living urban poverty stricken people. That’s why I was pretty upset when I couldn’t join the Photo District Jakarta‘s photo walk a couple of months ago, they were going into the ‘kampung’ (village) tucked behind Jakarta’s downtown area.

Seeing the hardship of surviving in such a big city like Jakarta other than raising awareness also would show others that life is hard! And maybe some of the participants would come home and be thankful for their comfy beds – when they had seen these people sleeping on a cardboard mattress.

I’m all in when it comes to the awareness but not exploiting. There are fine lines and I’m glad to hear that Ronny Poluan seems to be in a great mindset over this – unlike some of the oh-so-famous-local-reality-shows on TV here. His tour participants also donates money to these poor people out of their own pockets. To say that the poor will then thinks “Oh, I’d rather stay poor and waited on the donations from these tourists” are so sad. Yes, some people might monetize too much but let’s not judge the poor to be such a great manipulator! Some of them are actually the hardest working people in Jakarta. They have to or else they will not survive.

What’s your take on this poverty tour? Do you think it’s wrong?

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Filed Under: Indonesia, Jakarta Livin', Musings