T

he sun was scorching on a recent Saturday morning when Siti Salwa tied a rope in her school'€™s front yard, trying to make a stretcher with three other students in her group.

Siti and 20 other students of SMP 26 state junior high school in Jatinegara, East Jakarta, were divided into several groups to make the stretchers while the school'€™s Junior Red Cross (PMR) trainer walking around to inspect the students'€™ work and correct mistakes.

'€œI always want to learn how to make a stretcher, but it'€™s not as easy as it seems,'€ the eighth grader said.

While most of the students in her class were spending the weekend away from school, Siti believes that learning first-aid skills could be handy as the peak of rainy season is approaching.

Having lived in nearby Kampung Pulo for her entire live, she said she knew that first-aid skills could be crucial in saving lives.

'€œAlmost every year my family and I must move to an emergency shelter when the rainy season starts,'€ she said. '€œI have seen people helping us with their medical skills or even just cooking us food there. I want to help as well someday.'€

Kampung Pulo is a neighborhood nearby the Ciliwung River. The area experiences regular flooding during rainy season, forcing residents to move to emergency shelters. All residents there build their houses vertically and move their important belongings upstairs when rainy season comes.

'€œWhen the mosque announces over its loudspeakers that the flood is coming, we must move our belongings to the second floor, even if it happens in the middle of the night,'€ Siti said.

In August last year, some residents in Kampung Pulo were evicted by the city administration to make way for widening the river. About 500 families out of the 1,000 that were evicted moved to low-cost apartments (rusunawa) in Jatinegara Barat.

Acep, PMR trainer at SMP 26, said the school'€™s students had adjusted to the annual flood as most of them were residents of Kampung Pulo and the rusunawa.

He said 59 students had registered as PMR members and participated in the training every Saturday between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m.

The weekly training, he said, not only provided the students with the ability to give first aid, but also raise their sense of solidarity. He said he believed that such character building would help a lot in their lives after graduating.

'€œSome of the PMR members even helped flood victims with cooking in the shelters a few years ago. I am proud of them,'€ Asep told the Post.

The school'€™s principal Sapto Riyadi said that as most of the students lived in a flood-prone area, the school'€™s PMR program had been known as one of the best in the city. '€œI believe that was because the students here have better survival skills and want to help others as well,'€ he said.

Sapto said students coming to school out of uniform was not an unusual thing during floods as their uniforms get washed away. '€œI have told them that the most important thing is their safety,'€ he said.