Generate Income & Hope From Non-Recyclable Garbage

The school year ended in May for the students at United World College South East Asia (UWCSEA) in Singapore. So early in June, six young men who just finished the 11^th grade, made a trip to XSProject in Jakarta. What started out being a project to deliver school supplies and discarded banners for make new products, turned out to be something quite extraordinary.

Jakarta Street Kids is a UWCSEA service club that raises money for non-profits in Jakarta that support the educational needs of the poor. XSProject and Jakarta Street Kids have partnered for several years. They also sponsor 17 students in the XSEducation program.

On the first day of their visit, General Manager, Retno Hapsari took them to the Cirendeu open garbage dump where XSProject works. While walking through the community, they stopped at the house of Oman and his family. Oman is a trash picker. He collects trash from streets and garbage bins in  large plastic bags that he carries or drags behind him because he does not have money to buy a traditional trash cart. Oman’s wife, Asnah was also at the house and they watched as she sorted the piles of plastic trash.

The young visitors were moved by Oman’s story. They learned that, with a trash cart, he could collect 3 to 4 times more trash he currently collects, thus earning more money from greater sales.  They discussed Oman’s predicament among themselves and decided right then that Oman needed a trash cart.

They pooled their money, gave it to Oman and sent him to purchase enough materials to build a brand-new cart.

The next day they went back to the community and worked with Oman and Heri, a trash picker who knows how to build trash carts. By the end of the day it was finished and ready for use.

“I would never have dreamed that I could have my own trash cart. And I never thought that I could have one in one day”, said a grateful Oman.

In a follow up email to XSProject, one of the UWCSEA students wrote: ”We feel proud that we are supporting an organization like [XSProject] that is doing vital work to improve the lives of the trash pickers and their families. We were able to finish building the cart with Oman and we are very happy we managed to help a man achieve one of his wishes. Thank you for making our visit memorable.”

The day the UWCSEA students spent at Cirendeu, will long be remembered by Oman, his family, and the entire trash picker community. The six young men learned that even a small service project can be life changing for others. We know they will never forget their experience.

The use of computer now days has become part of everyday life and in everything we do, from the office to the school works. Unfortunately not everybody can afford to have his/her own computer.

 XSProject feels that the community now needs to have a set of computer available so that the students, the moms, the teacher can use it anytime they need to, close to home and for free, then eventually, maybe the fathers can start learning how to use the computer.

 When we put a new computer and printer in the community library, the community has many reasons to be happy and relieved.

 Septi of Grade 6 said – ‘When I have homework assignment that require a research from goggle, I have to use my mom’s hand phone. The screen is small so it’s hard to see and it takes a long time to get the information I need. Now I can have a bigger screen and I can do my homework faster. Bachrudin of Middle School said - ‘‘The school asked ask me to learn on how to use computer to prepare for the exam, because we will use a computer to do the national exam, and now my friends and I can take turn practice for free and we can do this as many times as we can. Ardiansyah who just graduated also said that now he can search and process the college applications close to home and as long as they need on a free internet.

Ms. Vicky, our pre grade 1 teacher and Bedah – our community administrator, both are also grateful of having a computer in the community as they always need to use computer for preparing class programs and materials, and for Bedah to prepare reports on the community to XSProject office.

The parents are most welcome to the idea of XSProject provide the computer because it saves their time of taking their children to the ‘internet café’ – where they have to pay to use the computer, the internet access and to print their children home works. That was the only option for them to support their children education.

To the GlobalGiving donors, who have supported our community, we thank you and want you to know that your contributions have made this possible. We hope we can count on your support in trying to give better opportunities, not just for the children but also for their parents.

Last November, our friends at GlobalGiving let us know that XSProject had been selected by the Project-of-the-Month Club to receive their December donation. If you don’t know about the Project-of-the-Month Club, it is a group of GlobalGiving donors who pool their donations and each month they select a project to donate to. You can learn more about this on GlobalGiving’s website.

This project report is about the profound impact that pooled donations like this can have on a GlobalGiving partner. We are immensely thankful for this large donation. In Indonesia, and especially at the trash picker communities where XSProject does our work, even $10.00 goes a very long way. But a big donation is a life changing event and can even be a lifesaving event.

The smoke from the fires at the Cirendeu garbage dump is toxic. Each inhale breath tastes like smoke. It burns the lungs and eyes. You can’t see the methane produced by the rotting trash but you know you’re breathing it as well. Sudden health expenses can be catastrophic for XSProject, and we never know when the health of a trash picker or a child can turn into an emergency trip to the hospital.

That is why for a long time, XSProject has wanted to build a simple clinic at the dump. Northing big or fancy but with the goal of preventing and/or monitoring some of the conditions so common in trash picker communities. We will have a nurse on site twice a week to monitor blood pressure and blood glucose, check heart rates, take temperatures, dispense aspirin, bandage skinned knees and know when an illness is serious enough that a trip to the doctor is required. We envision "our nurse" giving workshops to the women and young girls on diet, exercise, puberty, family planning, mother and infant health and general guidelines for wellness.

Thanks to the donors of the GlobalGiving Project-of-the-Month Club, planning has begun on the clinic. This donation will support the clinic for three years. XSProject will be able to fund the clinic on its own after that. Thank you GlobalGiving donors. Please watch for another project report about the grand opening of the XSProject Cirendeu Clinic!

photos by Verena Radulovic

All of us at XSProject Indonesia would like to thank the GlobalGiving community for your support of our programs in 2017. Generous and thoughtful donors have contributed to our social programs for the health and well being of trash pickers and their families and to our Give an Education to a Trash Picker’s Child program.

Giving hope to disadvantaged individuals has many pathways and can even take a different route each day. People with food insecurities often do not make good decisions about what they eat. So, we fund nutritional meals and educate the families about making healthier food choices. We also offer medical treatment for diabetes and it’s many symptoms. Breathing the smoke and methane from rotting garbage at the dump causes asthma and other respiratory illnesses, heart and lung disease. This year, we have seen more cases of tuberculosis and lymphoma.

The most positive changes in the community are the result of educating the children. From K through 12 and now to the college level, the young people have the desire to have a better life than their parents. Yet, the family unit is so strong that the reason why the students work so hard in school and are hungry for knowledge is to be able to provide a worthy home and better living conditions for their parents.

When you make a donation to XSProject through GlobalGiving, you have a direct impact on making this happen. XSProject is the support or “hand up” for these families to get them to a place where they can do for themselves. Poverty does not mean loss of dignity or laziness. It means lack of opportunity. We hope you will continue to support our work in the trash picker community with these many families. You are making the difference for them.

So, as this year ends, we offer our gracious thanks and sincere appreciation to all of you. If we could, we would give you each a big hug!

XSProject could not work at the trash picker community in Jakarta without a lot of help. This holiday season, as we celebrate family, life, and good will, we would like to tell you about The Angels of Cirendeu. Our “Angels” are trash picker women, mothers, wives, sisters, and cousins to the more than 500 men, women and children who live at the Cirendeu open garbage dump.

Wati has been helping XSProject the longest. She has always helped distribute the money XSProject pays to assure the students have a seat in their classroom each semester. She registers the children, pays the school fees, and makes sure the children go to school each day.

Wati is the daughter of Pak (Mr.) and Ibu (Mrs) Salim. Pak Salim, the head of the first trash picker community, approached XSProject ten years ago to ask for help to educate the children at the garbage dump. Since her father's passing, Wati is XSProject's liasion. If families need XSProject to help them, or if there is a problem in the community, Wati is their first point of contact.

Wati’s sister is Supena (Pena). There are so many children under XSProject’s XSEducation program now and they go to 7 different schools in the area. It is more work than Wati can do alone. So, along with Pena and two other Angels, Bedah and Aminah, Wati has help keeping track of which children go to what schools, what grades they are in as well as making payments to the schools.  Bedah helps Wati prepare the list of expenses for the school needs so XSProject has the funds available when they are needed.  

Some schools have fewer children attending from the community. In those cases, Wati or one of the other Angels will give the money to the parents to take to the school. Wati or Bedah then collect the receipts for the payments. This gives the parents the opportunity to see the school their children attend, to meet the teachers and reinforces the importance of supporting their children’s education by making sure homework is completed and they have clean uniforms each day.

Behah and Aminah are sisters. Bedah is the only one in the community who is a college graduate. She is the Librarian at the XSCommunity Center. She keeps the books organized, makes sure the students follow the library rules, are serious about their studies, do their homework and assists our tutors three afternoons a week.

All four Angels prepare nutritious meals for the children. They help XSProject organize programs in the community such as health check-ups, vaccinations and building homes or trash carts. If there are problems and/or concerns about an individual child, schools, health, family issues, that XSProject needs to address, all four ladies are always there to help XSProject find solutions.  

If you ask General Manager Retno Hapsari how the Angels of Cirendeu help her, she will say, “Do they help me do my job better?  Now I have extra hands to make things run more smoothly at the community. “

 The Angels of Cirendeu watch over the Cirendeu trash picker community with care and love for each other and their neighbors. XSProject and the Cirendeu trash pickers are rich in so many ways because of these lovely Angels.

Happy Holidays to all our GlobalGiving donors and supporters. Thank you for donating to XSProject in 2017.