Life in Indonesia: Taking a big spoonful of guilt...

I am most definitely someone who is prone to thinking about the future and things I would like to achieve. The general gist of my thoughts are: What countries will I go to in the future? Where will I live? What job do I want to do? Will I buy a house? So it goes.. 

Quite a few years ago, I had a realisation that these type of thoughts were the privilege of a tiny majority of the world; namely, people with disposable income. Living in Indonesian only rams home this point.

It's easy for me; I guess for all of us, to get wrapped up in our own problems without considering how very lucky we are. We can also neglect the bigger issues of the world.

Indonesia has an incredible wrap-list of problems which I will write about in a different post. These issues aren't at the top of the priority list for many Indonesians and this becomes easier to understand when you consider one of the most fundamental needs for human beings: food.

Napoleon is famously supposed to have said: "An army marches on its stomach." I feel the same holds true for a populace. Indonesia is a developing country. How can someone put energy into saving the environment and stopping corruption when they are worried about putting food in their stomach?

Recently one of Jakarta's major daily newspapers had the headline: "117 Juta Orang Indonesia, Sangat Miskin" (117 Million Indonesians Very Poor).. It takes about five seconds walking a typical street in Jakarta to confirm how commonplace poverty is.

The very poor of Indonesia come in many different forms. There are those who sit on street corners with their hands out including children carrying babies, old people with no teeth and amputees.
There are those who sell drinks and other goods at small stalls and people who collect rubbish for a pittance. What they all have in common is they make between 10,000 and 30,000 Indonesian Rupiah a day (between $1.20 and $3.50 USD).

On my campus at the University of Indonesia there is a group of about 10 boys aged between 8-15 who sell newspapers. All of them have left school already and they sell the newspapers for about 25 cents each. They want to make money and be independent but without an education, they will probably be destined to a life of menial labour. It is common for them to work six days a week, 12 hours a day.

The problems of who to give to, how much to give, and how to make a difference can at times be overwhelming. Directly across the street from my apartment is a narrow alleyway that leads to my University. There is a boy aged around 12 who always wears a black T-shirt and camo-coloured shorts.

The first time I saw him he was crying his eyes out, wailing.  It was a distressing sight. I asked him what was wrong.. "Aku lapparr" (I'm hungry) he said. I asked him where his parents were: "Nggak ada" (I don't have any) he murmured. I told him that if he had any family members I would call them for him. He just kept crying so I just gave him a bit of money and was on my way. Since then I've seen him a bunch of times and sometimes give him a bit of food or small change. He is just one of millions.

I found out that there is a bit of an organised crime element to the beggars, much like what you see in Slum Dog Millionaire. I watched as a very impoverished looking beggar who I'm used to seeing as he was handing over a small wad of notes (probably just a few dollars) to a guy who I can assume was the boss of the area.
As for stealing for a living: people who rob here and are caught are usually seriously beaten or killed by the people (seemingly anyone) who catch them, so it's not a safe option for people who are starving.

Some of the poorest people I've ever met are warm, humble and friendly. They have a very tough life though.

It's incredibly cliched' to be young and idealistic but I at least hope in my life I can do something that makes a meaningful difference to some people.  Giving some poor Indonesians a bit of money isn't going to lift them out of poverty but I'm sure some of them will use the money to buy food and that, at least, makes me feel a little better.

Questions and comments welcome