Out & About: What does the future hold for Jakarta’s street kids?

Alif (not his real name), a nine-year-old boy, ate his lontong sayur (rice cake in coconut milk soup) quickly.

He smiled at me while sitting under a pedestrian bridge in Matraman, East Jakarta. I was waiting for my daughter. He sat not too far from me and kept smiling while enjoying his late breakfast. It was 10:30 a.m. and raining heavily.

To many of us who are better off, rain is an impediment when going to work or shopping. But for street children such as Alif rain has become a saving grace. He ate his lontong sayur while his left hand held some cash tightly. A wet umbrella was under his arm and the boy was totally wet and his school uniform was filthy.

“How much did you pay for that meal?” I asked.

“Two thousand,” he said, with his mouth full.

“No egg?”

“Nope!” he said, smiling.

Two more street children disembarked from a public bus. They were street singers: filthier, skinnier and less polite. They stood in front of me. The older one was holding his guitar and kept wiping his face from the rain.

“I’m hungry. I want to eat lontong sayur. Can I?” asked the younger one.

The older one turned to him. “Shut up! I am hungry, too. But we’ve got very little money. Not enough to pay for two!”

“So let me eat then. You can eat later on.”

“No way! Sing first, then we eat!”

“I can’t! I’m really starving!”

Another public bus passed and the older boy boarded. The younger brother could not board quickly
and was left behind. His older brother went on to sing on the bus without him.

The boy came back and looked down. He stared at the lontong sayur vendor with eyes that asked “Could I have that for free?”

“I’ll pay for him,” I said to the vendor.

The vendor looked back, smiled and asked, “with egg?”

“With egg. And please return the money of that boy and give him the egg, too,” I said, pointing at Alif. He gave me a happy smile.

Alif then told me that his mom told him to rent umbrellas to pedestrians caught in the rain. He has five siblings. He is the oldest and has failed school several times, which explains why he is still in the second grade at Kebon Manggis elementary school. He studies hard and recently got good grades. In fact English and Math have become his favorite subjects. But he doesn’t know what he wants to be when he grows up.

I can relate to why he is undecided about his future. His mother is self-employed, doing laundry for others and looking after his siblings. His father is a second-hand goods vendor under a pedestrian bridge in Kampung Melayu. For Alif, becoming a doctor is out of reach.

Then I looked at the next child, who ate his meal quickly, sometimes mumbling profanities. He has so little education and bearing. Harsh city life has taken its toll.

I concluded that there were two kinds of street children: children on the street and children of the street. Children on the street still have a family, a home and minimal education but they don’t spend most of their times on the street. Children of the street, however, are children who left their families behind and live on the street.

Alif is one of children on the street. He is bright even though he has failed at school. His father taught him how to read and he has a second chance. He can aspire for a better life.

Many have concluded that street children are the result of poverty, abandonment and broken homes. According to the Central Statistics Agency, there were just over 4,000 street children in Jakarta in 2010. Will the government take action and prevent the outbreak of a lost generation?

President Susilo Bambang Yu-dhoyono recently set up the National Innovation Committee and National Economy committee.

He believes these two committees can provide stimulus for further economic growth and help improve education. The question is will innovation be possible with so many kids roaming the street? These children should not be taken for granted.

They have the right to better education so that they can become the future innovators of our nation.

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