| It is a typical Sunday
afternoon in the neighborhood. Children are playing
ball, running around and riding their bicycles.
Even the adults are enjoying the day, strolling
along the riverbank and chatting with neighbors.
This pleasant scene along the banks of the Angke
River in Jakarta, Indonesia is a stark contrast
to the same site one year ago.
The Kali Angke flows through the northwest corner
Jakarta, Indonesia. Until recently, the Angke
River was a waterway polluted with garbage. Riverside
residents lived in ramshackle huts along the banks
with low ceilings and muddy floors. Because the
Angke River is located in the lowlands, floods
cause serious problems during the rainy season
every year. A severe flood in January 2002 brought
Tzu Chi volunteers to help residents of Kapuk
Murua. Volunteers got rid of excess water in homes,
helped clean up and sanitize homes, and even provided
free medical service to residents. But the volunteers
realized there was much more to be done.
A garbage-filled river would inevitably cause
disease, especially since the residents had no
clean water to drink or use. And with every home
built atop stilts along the river, the seasonal
floods magnified the problems.
Su-Mei Liu, CEO of Tzu Chi’s Indonesia branch,
said, "It would be the biggest blessing if
residents there can stay healthy and have enough
food to feed themselves." After the 2002
floods, Tzu Chi volunteers could not bear to see
these people living next to the river, so with
the help of the Indonesian government, Kapuk Murua
residents, Tzu Chi mobilized a large clean-up
effort to rid the entire river of garbage. They
also began building a Tzu Chi Great Love Village,
which would include new, cleaner and safer homes.
Architect Szu-Hang Hsu designed the Tzu Chi Great
Love Village. Construction began in July 2002.
A year later, with 1,100 units on five hectares
[12.4 acres] of land, the Great Love Village was
completed.
There are 55 five-story buildings, each with gray
walls and red roofs. Each floor has two units,
and each unit covers an area of 36 square meters
[388 square feet]. Each unit includes a living
room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and two bedrooms.
Each unit also has a window that facing out. The
ventilation is good, and the environment is nice
and clean.
Tsai-Yuan Kuo, deputy CEO of the Tzu Chi’s
Indonesia branch, was in charge of the construction.
He pointed out that the Great Love Village was
designed to be a complete community, not just
housing for the residents.
The village includes schools, a free clinic,
a community center, a nursing home, stores, and
factories. There are also dormitories for school
staff, medical professionals, and volunteers.
Because more than 90 percent of the residents
in the village are Muslim, there is also a prayer
room and a special room for handling the deceased
before funeral ceremonies.
In addition, Indonesians have a tradition of
setting up open-market style businesses, so there
is a dedicated area in the village for the venders.
Next to the market there is a motorcycle parking
lot, and in front of that, is the main road.
It is estimated that the village will have safe,
drinkable tap water in 2005. Right now, people
get drinking water from filtered underground water.
Wastewater flows to a sewage treatment plant;
the recycled water is used for watering flowers
in public areas and for cleaning up public areas.
Next to the sewage treatment plant is a garbage
disposal site. In their new homes, garbage is
collected every day at the disposal site and trucked
away. This will ensure a good quality of living.
Everything has improved
Turn on the faucet and there is clean running
water. Every household has its own bathroom.
Residents are getting ready to move into their
new homes. On July 4, 2003, Tzu Chi volunteers
prepared sets of keys and new furniture, such
as tables, beds and dressers, to ensure that the
new residents of the Great Love Village would
have a real house warming.
Junarya is a 40 year-old woman who moved into
the Tzu Chi Great Love Village with her husband
and five children. She remembers when they lived
along the banks of the Angke River. It was a difficult
life because there were no basic conveniences.
There was no clean water for taking baths, for
example, and you had to go outside to the outhouses
to use the bathroom. Now, here at the Great Love
Village, Junarya feels that life has changed for
the better because there is running water when
the faucet is turned on and every home has a bathroom
with a flush toilet.
Setting an example for my neighbors to see
Now that Tuti and her husband no longer live a
life affected by annual floods, they have vowed
to help motivate their neighbors to keep this
new community clean.
In Tuti’s living room, all the furniture
is in place and there are some small green plants.
The floor is swept clean; you have to take off
your shoes if you go visit. There’s food
cooking on the kitchen stove and smiling faces
on all of Tuti’s family members.
After the 2002 floods, when Tzu Chi volunteers
led the clean up effort to rid all garbage from
Angke River, Tuti and many other residents joined
in. Now that they have moved to the new village,
she and her husband Edy have taken charge, leading
their neighbors to continue to keep their new
community clean.
Tuti and Edy had two children of their own, but
both died. In the past 20 years, however, the
couple has adopted seven children. Because Edy
and Tuti are so kind, their foster children are
very well-behaved. Even though they aren't rich,
the couple still love these adopted children and
have give them an excellent education. One of
them has already received a Master's degree. Tuti
also teaches children in the village about Islam
in her spare time.
Tuti is devoted to her community because she wants
to give back and help others. In the past, her
children had to live in a tiny room. But in the
new community, they have better housing. They
also have many friends and neighbors here. Tuti
said, "I want to be a role model for my neighbors."
Source: article from
Tzu Chi Monthly No. 441 (Aug. 2003) by Shu-Chuan
Chiu
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