Crucifixes lead slum dwellers out of poverty

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 12/26/2008 9:08 AM  |  Headlines

JIYEM, a CPM member: (Hans David)

Christmas this year has been bittersweet for Ira, a housewife living in a slum area near the Clean, Humane and Dignified (BMW) park in North Jakarta.

The bitterness came from the demolition of her small church in the park during operations four months ago by the city administration to evict settlers for the area.

But now Ira has something to celebrate: This Christmas Day, she received five boxes of milk for her children, as did four other women from her church’s women’s fellowship, from the Cross Ministry Project (CPM).

“This is not a donation. They earned it by producing high-quality handmade products,” said CPM coordinator Soegianto.

The CPM is a Christian youth organization that trains the housewives in the BMW park area to make small crucifixes, 5 to 6 centimeters long, from colored beads. They are also taught how to market the products.

The group aims to empower the women to be self-sufficient in providing for their children. According to Soegianto, more than 800 children in North Jakarta are at risk of malnutrition.

“For now, the CPM will provide nutritious boxes of milk every two weeks for their hard work in the project,” he said.

Soegianto added the inspiration for the project came from Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus’ micro-finance scheme in Bangladesh to empower women in financial management, combined with a story in the Holy Bible in which Jesus told his disciples to “give what is in them” to a hungry crowd of 5,000 people.

“The micro-finance scheme showed women can contribute greatly to the family’s finances, and the story in the Bible inspired us to teach these women to be independent, despite not having a lot of money ourselves,” said Soegianto, who works as an IT consultant.

“We knew how to make ornaments, so that’s we taught the housewives. By giving them the necessary skills rather than donations or prayers, we are slowly developing their entrepreneurial mentality so they can keep going in the long run.”

Each ornament costs only Rp 2,000 (20 US cents) to make, and is sold for Rp 6,000. The CPM uses all of the profits made to buy milk for the children in the slum area.

From April until December this year, the project generated 6,000 crucifixes, enough to buy 300 boxes of milk. Soegianto said the CPM had helped the housewives sell 1,000 ornaments to GKY Sunter, and about 100 to the United States.

The project, which began in April 2008, was held up for a month because of the evictions and the departure of some of the housewives who had taken part in the training and production.

“We used to hold the training in Ira’s small old church. But after it was demolished we had a hard time finding a new place, until Ira said we could use her house,” Soegianto said.

He added the project was not exclusively for Christians, but welcomed all people. For instance, the CPM runs a similar project in Depok in which 90 percent of the housewives are Muslim.
Ira’s group also welcomed a new member recently — Jiyem, a Muslim.

“I consider this project a source of extra income for my family, not an attempt to convert me to another religion,” she said.

Soegianto said he hoped those currently enrolled in the program would develop themselves further than simply being able to make ornaments.

“Right now we still supply them with the materials and help sell the products,” he said.

Illegal squatters began occupying BMW Park in the early 1990s.

Most of the men in the area work as gardeners, factory workers and trash pickers. The city cleared the park in August to make way for a green area and a new stadium. But even after the evictions, many of the squatters insisted on living near the park. (hdt)

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