I was happily surprised to see all the progress that had been made since my last visit in November! A few significant events have happened since then.
1. The local government has paid out the 2nd installment of promised money to earthquake victims. Not all families have gotten the full 15 Million Rupiahs ($1,500 U.S.) to rebuild their homes, but most have gotten at least a part of it. Ena’s family got the final $600 last week.
2. With money available, the family has bought bricks, mortar (sand), roof tiles, steel rebar, and has employed 4 construction workers for a fee of $3.50 per day + food and shelter. Yeah, that’s right,,, 35,000 Rupiah per day per worker. The dollar goes far here.
3. Mom has come home from Sumatra. Traumatized after the 27 May earthquake, as many people were, mom put as much distance as she could between herself & her childhood home of Yogya 7 months ago. She lived with her 2nd son in Palembang, coming back in early December after deeming it safe enough.
The new brick house:
The brick home you see in the video was built from scratch, starting 6 weeks ago. Impressive how quickly it went up! They’re just putting parts of the roof together, and hope to have the home complete enough to move into in another 2 months.
Like many homes here, running water and plumbing is a luxury few have. I’m not sure how the toilet will work. They may continue to use the one from the old house.
Electricity is drawn unofficially from public wires by joy-rigged lines. I think a recognized ‘grace period’ is still in effect, meaning the national electricity company PLN is not looking for payment for now.
In the end, total costs for this house will be approximately $1,500.
The workers:
These four hail from Central Java, near Magelang. Bare-footed and wiry, they have all left their homes behind for months at a stretch to find work. 35,000 Rupiah per day each is roughly the equivalent of a Big Mac meal at McDonalds in America. They labor from sun-up to sun-down putting homes together. Dwi bought the home materials, and provided the gas-powered & driveable table saw. Mom and Dwi’s wife cook food for the men, and they sleep in the tent provided by the Saudi government for earthquake victims. It’s a meager existence, but the $24.50/week salary makes it worth their time. That’s $98 a month.
Considering my dad is a safety engineer, and I was once a ground safety officer for my helicopter squadron, I couldn’t help but notice the absence of nearly any kind of recognizable safety equipment or measures for these guys. Chain saws in bare feet. That’s a good one. Pushing trees through table saws, fingers tantalizingly close to the blades, no goggles, no finger guard and no emergency stop button that I could see… power drills operated from 4 wimpy home extension cords strung together, and men balancing on rooftops with virtually non-existent scaffolding… The safety shortcuts reflect business as usual here. This was just one opportune venue to show a little.
If these guys get hurt on the job, there is almost no recourse for them, other than throw a bandaid on and take a scooter to the nearest health clinic or hospital.
Accidents happen enough in America with 5 times as much safety concern, so I’m positive the accident rate here is high. It’s not widely reported or talked about, which propels an artificial belief that accidents only happen to those careless, nameless “others”, but won’t possibly happen here. Hmmm
The 2nd bamboo house:
Since mom came home, some domestic frictions have arisen between mom & her daughter-in-law… hence the sudden need to build a 2nd temporary home. One roof wasn’t quite big enough for harmonious relations between two stay-at-home housewives & moms. It’s the 2nd house you see in the video, and was constructed in a week on the ground that my USINDO friends Dan, Marty, Wendy, Stacey and I cleared. (=
Even with all of the progress that has been made here, challenges still outweight comforts for the family. With that in mind, and today being the first day of the new year, I rounded everyone up on scooters & took them to the mall.
Shopping spree for Ena’s family (= We headed into Carrefour armed with a shopping cart and my offer for everyone to pick out something,,, any one thing that they really wanted. I had given Ena $100 in November to get a mattress for her family that was thicker than her flip flops, but she used the money at the time to buy building materials for the new house. Fair enough. Priorities are priorities. Now we can focus on filling that new house with something useful that each person wants. (=
1. The local government has paid out the 2nd installment of promised money to earthquake victims. Not all families have gotten the full 15 Million Rupiahs ($1,500 U.S.) to rebuild their homes, but most have gotten at least a part of it. Ena’s family got the final $600 last week.
2. With money available, the family has bought bricks, mortar (sand), roof tiles, steel rebar, and has employed 4 construction workers for a fee of $3.50 per day + food and shelter. Yeah, that’s right,,, 35,000 Rupiah per day per worker. The dollar goes far here.
3. Mom has come home from Sumatra. Traumatized after the 27 May earthquake, as many people were, mom put as much distance as she could between herself & her childhood home of Yogya 7 months ago. She lived with her 2nd son in Palembang, coming back in early December after deeming it safe enough.
The new brick house:
The brick home you see in the video was built from scratch, starting 6 weeks ago. Impressive how quickly it went up! They’re just putting parts of the roof together, and hope to have the home complete enough to move into in another 2 months.
Like many homes here, running water and plumbing is a luxury few have. I’m not sure how the toilet will work. They may continue to use the one from the old house.
Electricity is drawn unofficially from public wires by joy-rigged lines. I think a recognized ‘grace period’ is still in effect, meaning the national electricity company PLN is not looking for payment for now.
In the end, total costs for this house will be approximately $1,500.
The workers:
These four hail from Central Java, near Magelang. Bare-footed and wiry, they have all left their homes behind for months at a stretch to find work. 35,000 Rupiah per day each is roughly the equivalent of a Big Mac meal at McDonalds in America. They labor from sun-up to sun-down putting homes together. Dwi bought the home materials, and provided the gas-powered & driveable table saw. Mom and Dwi’s wife cook food for the men, and they sleep in the tent provided by the Saudi government for earthquake victims. It’s a meager existence, but the $24.50/week salary makes it worth their time. That’s $98 a month.
Considering my dad is a safety engineer, and I was once a ground safety officer for my helicopter squadron, I couldn’t help but notice the absence of nearly any kind of recognizable safety equipment or measures for these guys. Chain saws in bare feet. That’s a good one. Pushing trees through table saws, fingers tantalizingly close to the blades, no goggles, no finger guard and no emergency stop button that I could see… power drills operated from 4 wimpy home extension cords strung together, and men balancing on rooftops with virtually non-existent scaffolding… The safety shortcuts reflect business as usual here. This was just one opportune venue to show a little.
If these guys get hurt on the job, there is almost no recourse for them, other than throw a bandaid on and take a scooter to the nearest health clinic or hospital.
Accidents happen enough in America with 5 times as much safety concern, so I’m positive the accident rate here is high. It’s not widely reported or talked about, which propels an artificial belief that accidents only happen to those careless, nameless “others”, but won’t possibly happen here. Hmmm
The 2nd bamboo house:
Since mom came home, some domestic frictions have arisen between mom & her daughter-in-law… hence the sudden need to build a 2nd temporary home. One roof wasn’t quite big enough for harmonious relations between two stay-at-home housewives & moms. It’s the 2nd house you see in the video, and was constructed in a week on the ground that my USINDO friends Dan, Marty, Wendy, Stacey and I cleared. (=
Even with all of the progress that has been made here, challenges still outweight comforts for the family. With that in mind, and today being the first day of the new year, I rounded everyone up on scooters & took them to the mall.
Shopping spree for Ena’s family (= We headed into Carrefour armed with a shopping cart and my offer for everyone to pick out something,,, any one thing that they really wanted. I had given Ena $100 in November to get a mattress for her family that was thicker than her flip flops, but she used the money at the time to buy building materials for the new house. Fair enough. Priorities are priorities. Now we can focus on filling that new house with something useful that each person wants. (=
posted by jonathan adventures at 1:09 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home