Tuesday, 21Nov06
Highlights: helping Alice, Nina, Bari family in Bantul, new DVD player, James Bond with Rochmadi family
During my time here, various friends I’ve met along the way have kept in touch with me. One such friend is mbak Alice, a Catholic Yogya student who wanted to practice English at All Plus language school. Battling the ugly reality of poverty, she & her mom are among the 125,000 unemployed in Yogya after the earthquake.
A few weeks ago she got an “opportunity” to work as a waitress in Bali, and jumped at it. With less than $2 to her name, she took an offer for free transport to Denpasar, with the condition that she works the payment off over a few months. Apparently no-body told her what kind of ‘café’ she’d be working at, and she didn’t think to ask. It was a job. She says her first night she was put to work in a dim, smoky bar wearing a mini-skirt & told to flirt with the guys coming in and serve them beer. This wasn’t the job she had in mind. She says she was uncomfortable & scared,,, and made up a story about her mom being sick, begging & borrowing more money to get back to Yogya two days later. The money came with strings attached.
Sinetron is like Spanish soap operas,,, very dramatic. Alice spared no emotion in the telling of her story. The whole thing sounded like a late-night drama.
The unpleasant experience in Bali, I wasn’t worried too much about; a learning opportunity. She was safe. She got back home. The strings attached & the people she got the money from are what bothered me.
Indonesia, like many places struggling with poverty, has issues with human trafficking. Exploiting people desperate for jobs & money gets young girls like Alice in trouble; especially when it’s so easy to lure them far away from home on borrowed money. She was in an awkward position of debt before she knew what hit her, and had no idea what kind of people she borrowed the money from. They were coming for the money in a few days, and she still had less than $2 to her name with no job. Mom had nothing.
$50 was what this was about.
I don’t enjoy feeling like a wallet with legs, bailing out friends when they get into jams. Most of my little pay-it-forward efforts are offers… to deserving people who aren’t looking for, or expecting it. That’s one of the qualities that make my little offers here & there so rewarding. It’s just random acts of kindness for people in need of a little kindness sometimes.
I went ahead & helped Alice. If these people from Bali were real traffickers, she wouldn’t have made it back to Yogya safe. All the same- owing money you don’t have (still without a job) is an ugly position to be in. I consider her another pay-it-forward. (=
And while I was thinking about helping people in need, and waiting for Nina to finish classes this morning, I paid a visit to the Bari family in Bantul.
They are the very 1st family we helped (all my USINDO friends) when we arrived in Yogya in early June. I like stopping by from time to time and checking on their progress, so they know I haven’t forgotten them. (=
Ibu Bari took me by her old home. (the concrete floor of what used to be…) They cornered off a space 1/3 the size of their original home & dug a ditch around it to lay a new foundation for the walls to a smaller home. Still a work in progress… but at least it’s moving! Their oldest daughter just had a baby 1 ½ months ago (= newest member of the family.
Highlights: helping Alice, Nina, Bari family in Bantul, new DVD player, James Bond with Rochmadi family
During my time here, various friends I’ve met along the way have kept in touch with me. One such friend is mbak Alice, a Catholic Yogya student who wanted to practice English at All Plus language school. Battling the ugly reality of poverty, she & her mom are among the 125,000 unemployed in Yogya after the earthquake.
A few weeks ago she got an “opportunity” to work as a waitress in Bali, and jumped at it. With less than $2 to her name, she took an offer for free transport to Denpasar, with the condition that she works the payment off over a few months. Apparently no-body told her what kind of ‘café’ she’d be working at, and she didn’t think to ask. It was a job. She says her first night she was put to work in a dim, smoky bar wearing a mini-skirt & told to flirt with the guys coming in and serve them beer. This wasn’t the job she had in mind. She says she was uncomfortable & scared,,, and made up a story about her mom being sick, begging & borrowing more money to get back to Yogya two days later. The money came with strings attached.
Sinetron is like Spanish soap operas,,, very dramatic. Alice spared no emotion in the telling of her story. The whole thing sounded like a late-night drama.
The unpleasant experience in Bali, I wasn’t worried too much about; a learning opportunity. She was safe. She got back home. The strings attached & the people she got the money from are what bothered me.
Indonesia, like many places struggling with poverty, has issues with human trafficking. Exploiting people desperate for jobs & money gets young girls like Alice in trouble; especially when it’s so easy to lure them far away from home on borrowed money. She was in an awkward position of debt before she knew what hit her, and had no idea what kind of people she borrowed the money from. They were coming for the money in a few days, and she still had less than $2 to her name with no job. Mom had nothing.
$50 was what this was about.
I don’t enjoy feeling like a wallet with legs, bailing out friends when they get into jams. Most of my little pay-it-forward efforts are offers… to deserving people who aren’t looking for, or expecting it. That’s one of the qualities that make my little offers here & there so rewarding. It’s just random acts of kindness for people in need of a little kindness sometimes.
I went ahead & helped Alice. If these people from Bali were real traffickers, she wouldn’t have made it back to Yogya safe. All the same- owing money you don’t have (still without a job) is an ugly position to be in. I consider her another pay-it-forward. (=
And while I was thinking about helping people in need, and waiting for Nina to finish classes this morning, I paid a visit to the Bari family in Bantul.
They are the very 1st family we helped (all my USINDO friends) when we arrived in Yogya in early June. I like stopping by from time to time and checking on their progress, so they know I haven’t forgotten them. (=
Ibu Bari took me by her old home. (the concrete floor of what used to be…) They cornered off a space 1/3 the size of their original home & dug a ditch around it to lay a new foundation for the walls to a smaller home. Still a work in progress… but at least it’s moving! Their oldest daughter just had a baby 1 ½ months ago (= newest member of the family.
posted by jonathan adventures at 11:43 AM
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