Generate Income & Hope From Non-Recyclable Garbage

It has been over 10 years since we started this project where we partner with a trach picker community in the Cirendeu area on the outskirts of the capital city of Jakarta, Indonesia.

The challenge that we faced a decade ago has not changed. The community of about 75 to 100 families of trash pickers are still living in the garbage dumps and picking trash that they sell to survive with income just enough to get by a day at a time, and they continue to get exposed to diseases and hazardous waste.

XSProject continues to believe that the only way to solve the problem is to break the generational cycle of trash picking by providing education for the children and tackle the most critical family needs by providing food, clean water, medical treatment and housing to give stability to the families. With an education, a young person can get a god job and move his/her family away from the garbage dump.

When we started 11 years ago, we were focusing on K-12 education. Today, the children that were in Primary School have graduated from College and have found a place to work. At the moment, we have 7 students in college and there will be more Grade 12 who plan to advance their educations. The parents now see and understand the importance of education for the benefit of their children.

Getting a good education in a better school required parents to get official documentation. This encouraged the parents to organize themselves to prepare the paperwork they need, such as Marriage Certificates, Identification Cards, Birth Certificates, etc. XSProject makes sure that each family has complete and proper documentation.

In providing what the community needs, XSProject has also provided  water tanks, communal bathrooms, and a fire extinguisher to 10 groups of trash pickers. We also regularly help to build carts the trash pickers need to collect trash.

Health service is the second focus for us. Making sure that the children regularly receive vitamins and worm medicine, immunizations, and access to the doctor when they get sick.

The parents also receive medical check-ups and family planning programs for the moms.

As we are near the end of the year 2020, it is time for us to wrap up this project, close the chapter and open a new chapter with a new project for more years to come.

We have completed building the new community facility to help the children learn more skills and knowledge outside the formal school. The parents can continue receiving health services and we are also plan to expand our program to the community surrounding our new facility.

So, we will keep moving forward with more programs and improvements for the better lives not just the trash pickers but for the community around us.

We would like you to continue to stay connected with us through our other project on GlobalGiving – ‘Give an education to a trash picker’s child’ and to our new upcoming exciting project. You can also visit our website: xsproject-id.org or our Facebook – XSProject Indonesia and our Instagram: @xsproject_id.

Thank you so very much again for your generous support. We are very grateful to be part of GlobalGiving Community.

Last year we shared with you about the development of our new facility for the children and the community. It is now completed – the facility has 3 buildings housing a reading area and study area, 1 classroom, 2 multi-purpose rooms and 1 health check-up room. It has enough room for the children to play outside surrounded by fruit trees that the children can learn about various kind of fruit trees and eventually taste them when they are ready to be eaten.

During this pandemic the schools are closed, and students must study from home.  Our new facilities are a much more productive place for them to study compared to the tiny space in their homes with no good light.

We have a dedicated teacher to help them study and Nurlela, who just graduated college, has decided to take the responsibility of teaching Grade 6 and help them prepare for middle school next school year.

We have conducted Covid tests for the parents in the health check-up room, and have had other health socialization programs for the older children.

We are going to start inviting the community surrounding the new facility so that we can provide place to learn and to be more creative for more children.

Your donation to XSProject through GlobalGiving will have a direct impact on making this happen. We hope that you will continue to support our work and you are making the difference for them.

Thank you.

Following up our report on our Community and the Covid-19 pandemic couple months ago, and as we are not sure when is this going to be over, XSProject see the needs for the community and the staff to be periodically tested for Covid-19.  In Indonesia this is usually done first with an economical antibody test.  If the result is reactive, then it is followed up with a more accurate swab test to confirm the infection.

Following up our report on our Community and the Covid-19 pandemic couple months ago, we still don’t know when is this going to be over. So we continued with our plan to give the test to the moms.

As we have explained in our previous report, that in Indonesia this is usually done first with an antibody test. If the result is reactive, then it is followed up with a more accurate swab test.

The process of gathering the moms was not easy, as most of the moms were afraid of going through the test. But with a little bit effort we were able to gather more than 30 moms to have the test done.

When the doctor explained what Covi is, why the test is done, why it is important and what kind of results may be expected and steps to prevent, the moms got more curious and asked a lot of questions.

There was only 1 mom received non-reactive result. We followed up with swab test and asked her self-isolation.

We continue to provide anybody who would like to have the test, after learning from those who have don’t the test the benefit of the test.

Thank you very much again to all donors and GlobalGiving for giving us the opportunity to provide the Covid test for our Community.

Following up our report on our Community and the Covid-19 pandemic couple months ago, and as we are not sure when is this going to be over, XSProject see the needs for the community and the staff to be periodically tested for Covid-19.  In Indonesia this is usually done first with an economical antibody test.  If the result is reactive, then it is followed up with a more accurate swab test to confirm the infection.

As we know, the trash pickers are among the most vulnerable people. Their work was already dangerous and susceptible to the corona virus, but they must keep working by collecting trash to survive.

Our community has been very lucky that they have been receiving food donations during the first two months since the pandemic began, and also during the Fasting month and end of Ramadan holidays.

So this month we conducted an antibody test for the Community, starting with the fathers.

It was hard to convince them to take the test, because they are afraid of the results.  If the test results are reactive, they risk being isolated and rejected by their neighbors.

However, the doctor was able to present and explain what Covid is, how and why the test is done, why it is important and what kind of results may be expected, and steps to prevent Covid.  This helped convince the men to be tested.

Luckily the result for all 30 men was negative! Now we plan to test all of the moms in another few weeks. 

Thank you to all donors and GlobalGiving for giving us the opportunity to provide the Covid test for our Community.

Trash pickers are among the most vulnerable people. Their work was already dangerous and susceptible to the corona virus, but they must keep working by collecting trash to survive.

The government has instituted a lock-down of businesses, so there is less trash on the street, and from schools, shops and malls.  But there is now more trash in residential areas, because people are using on-line delivery. The problem is that the trash pickers and trash collectors cannot sell their trash because recycling companies closed

Luckily there is a solution to this difficult problem.  The community has received food donations from several organizations. These donations are urgently needed.  They included rice, eggs, canned meats, and instant noodles.

The community is grateful and thankful for what they have received in this difficult times.  Your generous donations will help us and help them, help the children and their families to get something to fight the virus.