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Nineteen: That's life, but not as we know it
Living in a city like Jakarta it is easy to forget that the people we see selling food on the side of the road, hawking cigarettes at bus terminals, or collecting plastic from the open drains actually have lives, histories and stories of their own
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Living in a city like Jakarta it is easy to forget that the people we see selling food on the side of the road, hawking cigarettes at bus terminals, or collecting plastic from the open drains actually have lives, histories and stories of their own.
Nineteen opens a window on to the lives of some of the people we see every day -- but don't notice. The book covers the lives of 19 street vendors, ranging from the ubiquitous warung and kaki lima vendors, a blind masseuse and a young sex worker, among others. Each person's story is told in text and photographs across four to six pages.
The stories range geographically across all areas of Jakarta, and socially across many of the different ethnic divides that are so central to Indonesians' lives. The map of Jakarta showing the locations of each of the people featured is a particularly nice touch.
Across all the stories, two things strike the reader over and over again. The first is the sheer, desperate struggle that is life for most people here. The second, conflicting thing is the equanimity with which they face these hardships. This is no sob story of people dealing with adversity; nor is it some patronizing tale of how they are "happy despite the odds". The reader sees again and again that distinctly Indonesian trait of: This is simply how life is.
The book opens with a pretty young jamu (herbal tonic) seller beaming into the camera. She tells how she came to sell jamu on the docks of Tanjung Priok, in Jakarta's north, after working as a sales promotion girl, and as a factory worker. She decided to sell jamu as it gives her the flexibility to choose her working hours, and allows her to live out her Javanese heritage.
There is the 16-year-old girl who sells drinks at a traffic intersection to support her family and still manages to support her family. She talks casually about how the government continually evicts them, with her father saying, "Still, it's very annoying when they destroy your house and you have to build it up again."
The book shows the degree to which race and ethnicity define relationships in Indonesian society. A Chinese woman talks of her betawi neighbors' feelings toward her, and of the additional hurdles in the government bureaucracy for ethnic Chinese. A betawi woman complains that other Indonesian think, "(we) can't work as anything other than parking attendants or landlords".
The batak owner of a warung (food stall) in Senen explains that groups of traders are divided along ethnic lines, not by the types of goods they sell. This, he explains, also applies to the pickpocket gangs working the buses, with Surabaya pickpockets operating one route, the bataks another.
If for no other reason, this book is a fascinating resource, explaining so much about Indonesia's informal work sector. What happens to the plastic bottles being collected? How does jamu work? Who buys the gasoline stacked up in glass bottles on the roadside? What about the stories that beggars belong to a larger gang?
The book contains a valuable section discussing some of the major issues facing the vendors. It is sobering reading, but it essential to obtaining a fuller understanding of the lives of the subjects.
The interviews were conducted in Indonesian by Irfan Kortschak, and have been translated into English, with the author managing the difficult task of retaining the full color and emotion of the original language. The language feels authentic; it feels like the language of the person being interviewed, not a sanitized, edited version.
Occasionally, the author will insert an explanatory aside to provide a more complete context, but this never intrudes. It is obvious that the author has a deep respect for the experiences of the subjects, without ever dissolving into pity or being patronizing.
The interview with Ida, the young sex worker, is a prime example of this. She explains, "I knew exactly what I was getting into ... My neighbor helped me get the job. She's helped lots of girls in the village get jobs like mine". The author then interviewed the founder of an NGO that works with sex workers, to give an indication of what the future will hold for Ida. Her response is as heart-wrenching as it is simple. "Many of the girls are paying off loans made to their parents by recruiting agents. Once girls start there is enormous pressure for them to remain there."
A very Indonesian sense of humor also comes through. A man working as a scavenger talks about the big floods of 2005, explaining how he felt sorry for people who lost everything in the flood. He then continues, saying "it was absolutely fantastic for business ... (but) you only get that lucky once every five years or so".
Finally, the photography by Josh Estey is simply stunning. Almost all of the subjects are looking directly into the lens, but the photos never feel posed. The scenic shots give a context to the subjects' lives, conveying a real sense of their environment.
To get the most out if, this book needs to be read at least three times. On the first reading, it is an interesting look at the lives of people we might otherwise never experience. The second reading, starting with the discussion at the back of the book, and remembering that these are actual real-life people, will make a far deeper impact. On the third reading, just look at the photos; and then go outside and look on the street.
Nineteen is on sale now. Text and interviews by Irfan Kortschak. Photography by Josh Estey. Production by MercyCorps Indonesia.
