Although she was working under the sun that Friday noon, Claire Nicole, a child with special needs, did not seem to be bothered by the heat. Instead, she was seen happily painting over the body of a white Transjakarta bus parked in front of City Hall in Central Jakarta.

Claire was drawing a mother cheerfully playing with her baby in a park, located in front of a two-story house.

The 17-year-old girl was not alone that day as she was accompanied by her mother Sylvia, 50, who carefully watched her daughter doing the thing she has loved since she was a small child.

“Despite her inability to properly speak her thoughts and feelings to others, Claire is a very talented kid,” Sylvia said with a trembling voice as her eyes started to water. “She is detail-oriented and has a good eye for colors,” she added.

Claire, along with nine other special needs peers from Art Brut Foundation, were participating in a painting event held by city-owned bus operator PT Transjakarta to commemorate Kartini Day — the birthday of Raden Ajeng Kartini, one of Indonesia’s heroines — which falls on April 21.

The Javanese aristocrat from Jepara in Central Java survived feudalism and struggled for women’s emancipation. Kartini has become a symbol of female emancipation in the country and was declared a national heroine by then-president Sukarno in 1964.

The event carries the theme “My mother is a strong woman”, and is dedicated to mothers of children with special needs. In the event, special needs children were given the chance to express themselves by painting a Transjakarta bus with designs related to mother and child relationships.

While Claire expressed herself through colorful painting, Shan Rafael Saputra only used black markers to paint a woman nursing her baby. The picture is filled with complicated patterns, and Shan just nailed it.

His mother who sat nearby, Kristina Nany, said she had enrolled her son in various courses, from music to painting, since he was little to let him explore his hobby and talent.

But apparently her 16-year-old son prefers painting to music, and he has really loved to paint intricate patterns since he was six years old.

“One day his art teacher saw him painting a patterned picture. The teacher then decided to train him with more challenging patterns thereafter,” Kristina said.

The 46-year-old woman really appreciated Transjakarta for giving her son the opportunity to contribute to society through his artistic expression.

Transjakarta president director Budi Kaliwono said separately that the event was held to show appreciation for strong and inspirational mothers who were able to raise children with special needs and develop their skills and talents to be used for society.

The painted bus, Budi further said, would start operating next Tuesday to serve passengers along Transjakarta’s Corridor I, which connects Blok M in South Jakarta with Kota in West Jakarta.

“We will operate the bus along Corridor I so that it can attract people’s attention,” Budi told journalists.

He added that before the event on Friday, Transjakarta had previously involved a number of special needs children in a project to paint a mural on Kampung Melayu’s bus stop in East Jakarta, to celebrate the company’s fourth birthday on March 27.

“We will consider organizing more events like this, as many more special needs children are interested in painting murals [on our bus stops and buses],” said Budi.

Jakarta Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno, who visited the event after performing Friday prayer, fully supported Transjakarta’s initiative. “I hope the talented children can be an inspiration to all.”

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