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Floods in Jakarta ó Response by Subud Youth
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Posted by
ManuelOliver
Tuesday, February 05, 2002
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The last couple of weeks have seen intense rain and flood activity here in Jakarta. Some South Jakarta Subud Youth have responded by organizing and delivering aid and supplies to flood victims.
Jakarta, 6 February, 2002
Wisma Subud
The monsoon season has been especially harsh this year, flooding roads and homes all over Indonesia. Jakarta, however, has special problems due to overbuilding and overcrowding. The antiquated sewer system can not handle the heavy rains, a problem caused partly by a lack of open land able to soak up excess water. Sewer systems back up, canals get clogged, and neighborhoods get inundated with polluted water. Even worse are the landslides which collapse buildings, especially those not built to a legal standard. Invariably these buildings are occupied by the poorest residents of Jakarta. This yearís death count has passed twenty; with many more unable to sleep in their homes or cook in their kitchens due to floods which can reach three meters in some parts of the city.
Wisma Subud has survived the flooding without major incident, but areas directly in the vicinity of South Jakarta have suffered a worse fate. The Subud community has responded with donations of supplies and food to those families worse affected by these conditions. The Yayasan Subud (the local branches offshoot of Yayasan Muhammed Subuh) and the South Jakarta Subud committee have donated money. Private individuals as well have donated money, cooked food, and loaned vehicles to assist the charitable effort. However it is the many local Subud Youth who have been at the center of a wider effort to raise money and to help deliver supplies, as well as assessing where the greater needs are and how those needs can best be met.
It is easy to feel overwhelmed in Jakarta, too many people, not enough money, little government leadership, all reasons for the oppressive feeling that is often expressed here. However in this case, instead of complaining about the latest round of misfortune to befall Indonesiaís capital city, many of the young people rallied to help.
As news reports rolled in, painting the picture of a disaster in progress, phone calls flew around the city, querying friends and relatives about the conditions in neighborhoods known to be vulnerable to flooding. Some Subud members themselves have been washed out of their homes. Contact was made with local leaders as to the proper channels for giving assistance and ascertaining what the most pressing needs are at this time.
Teguh Santosa, SYA Indonesia coordinator, together with a volunteer team of enthusiastic help, posted a bulletin and drafted a procedures list together with a targeted list of those most in need of assistance. Many youths made site inspections and connections with disaster relief workers, others solicited funds. An aid program had emerged of out thin air. Most of these youths are currently looking for work, without much money to spare, but these are the ones who responded most actively to these floods.
Approximately 200 households are being aided by the efforts of these Youth. Deliveries thus far have included anti-septic soap, ready to eat meals, snacks, bottled water, medicine, and talcum powder. Blankets are the next item on the list, as well as continuing to consistently deliver food to those who continue to be homeless. The specific needs of Subud members displaced by the flooding continues to be researched (it is difficult to reach people who live in flooded areas, especially if they do not have cell phones) and some money has already been collected to help these unfortunate members our own Subud family. Meticulous records are being kept of donations, expenses, receipts from local officials proving that the supplies arrived as promised. Any one is able to approach one of several record keepers of this project to receive an up to date accounting. Final reports will of course be displayed here on the Wisma Subud compound when the immediate needs have become less pressing.
Two neighborhoods close to the Wisma Subud compound have been targeted for this direct assistance. There are many other areas of the Greater Jakarta area, and indeed of the whole of South East Asia that have bit hard by the rains. But transportation is currently at a crawl, and the young people here have focused on the tangible needs that they can see and address. Transportation in fact has been the biggest obstacle to this endeavor, almost none of the young people own a vehicle, and those who do have vehicles are reluctant to loan them out as the hard rains keep falling. So the young people dig into their pockets and hire taxis to purchase and deliver supplies.
The youth response has been charitable, responsible, transparent, and enthusiastic. This effort is not something that the actors themselves would publicize. But that I guess is my job, to proclaim this example of follow through and results. It is always nice for a bunch of Subud people to do something nice for the community; the repercussions are of course positive for our organization. However most of those involved had a more personal intention, to raise the perception of youth inside the Subud community and to demonstrate to each other that lack of funds should not be a barrier to action.
The rains continue to fall. The crisis has not ended, the donations continue.
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| Floods in Jakarta ó Response by Subud Youth | Log-in or register a new user account | 1 Comment |
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Re: Floods in Jakarta — Response by Subud Youth
(Score: 1)
by SImon (simonh73@yahoo.com)
on Feb 18, 2002 - 12:33 AM
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Wish I was there... and sorry that I can't help. How is it now; I thought that the worst of the floods were over...
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