Cleaning up: Riverbank residents trash bad habits

Agnes Winarti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 12/23/2008 10:58 AM  

Clean and tidy. It might seem out of place in all the commotion of an area known to outsiders as a slum. But residents of the Ciliwung riverbank in South and East Jakarta are proving they can keep it clean. 

The lively Pasar Rakyat (community bazaar) features some 60 knockdown wooden stalls selling food, drinks, children's toys, shoes and slippers, clothes and even ceramics, lined up neatly along the decked-out 320-meter alley connecting four of the 12 neighboring units (RT) in the Bukit Duri slum in South Jakarta. 

"We want to show the public that people living in slums can also hold such a well-organized festival," Catholic priest Sandyawan Sumardi, from community group Sanggar Ciliwung Merdeka, told The Jakarta Post on the first day of three-day event. 

He said he hoped the administration, after seeing the bazaar, would provide a place and an opportunity for the urban poor people to improve their lives and their environment. 

"Municipal administrations in European countries and the United States, for instance, are willing to allocate space in city parks for poor people to set up a temporary market like this during weekends. I hope that can be applied here too." 

Since 2000, Sanggar Ciliwung Merdeka has fought for the improvement of the squatters' living conditions and their environment, especially in RTs 5, 6, 7 and 8 of Bukit Duri and RT 10 of Kampung Pulo in East Jakarta, stretching along the Ciliwung riverbank. 

In 2007, the group worked hand in hand with the riverbank residents to manage waste, plant trees, set up a clean water and sanitation facility, promote healthy eating for mothers and babies, build a community clinic, and work on environmental education programs. 

In December this year, a composting house built on a 200-square meter plot of land in the Kampung Pulo area, began running its four composting machines, which have a capacity of 750 kilograms each. 

Lestari, a volunteer worker at the composting house, says 200 kilograms of organic waste are collected from the five RTs daily. 

"We need to get more organic waste to meet the machine's capacity," she adds. 

"We produce more than 50 kilograms of compost every 21 days, and distribute it for free to families in the neighborhood who grow plants at home." 

Nurhayati, 48, whose husband works a low-paying job as a security guard, is one of four residents participating in the composting project. For her, the project provides extra income to help raise three of her seven children. 

"We get Rp 400,000 a month for making compost," she says. 

Shinta Yulianingsih, Sanggar Ciliwung Merdeka field coordinator, says the biggest hurdle is getting every household to stick to the waste-sorting process. "We have to keep reminding people because it is a matter of changing habits," she says.