When a basic need becomes a luxury

Ibu Tutut (30), Sana'ah (70) and Sekar (6) standing beside their new latrine, in the narrow alley entrance to their house. Photo: Fitria Rinawati/Mercy Corps

The thing I remember most about my recent visit to Pekojan, a poor neighborhood in West Jakarta, was talking to 30-year-old Ibu Tutut, one of the people Mercy Corps is helping here through a USAID-funded program. “We have been wanting so long for a healthy latrine — through four generations of living here — and now we have it," she said. "It is really a precious luxury for us!”

I haven't been able to keep her words from repeating through my mind since then. Her 70-year-old grandmother, whose name is Sa’anah, and her six-year-old daughter Sekar also joined our conversation. “It’s difficult to find a latrine in our neighborhood. There is no land to build it," Ibu Tutut explained. "We are so proud to have it. We're especially proud because it’s not just a latrine that sends waste straight to the river, but it’s a healthy latrine with a septic tank.”

It is an astounding, but true fact that it's still very hard to find latrines with septic tanks in a metropolis city like Jakarta. Sanitation facilities are a major problem in urban slum areas like Pekojan.

I looked around at the condition of Ibu Tutut’s family house — with the new latrine building in front of it — as Sa’anah and Sekar described how uncomfortable they were before, without a healthy latrine. It was only an open space with a wooden cover, and was the same area where they bathed themselves. They had to wear their clothes while taking a bath, and the area around their house was polluted with a bad smell.

Their living space — only about 15 square meters, or 161 square feet — is part of a two-story wooden house that has six families living in it. It’s located in a very narrow alley and dense with houses. The roofs of the houses here hinder the sunshine, creating a dark and not very well-aerated environment. I sighed deeply when I I saw Ibu Tutut’s aunt bring her baby boy out from the small, dark main room of the house. The baby is healthy, and I found myself amazed but glad that this family is so tough and optimistic within this rough world.

“We are optimistic for a healthy life, and we will continue to change our behavior to be healthier through help from Mercy Corps," Ibu Tutut told me. "I am one of the community working group’s members in Pekojan. We are committed for change, we will sustain the campaign and its interventions.

"You've seen that I've already started with my little family,” she said, giving her daughter Sekar a big hug.