LIFE IS GOOD AGAIN: Motorcycle taxi ojek driver Karma with his wife and three-year-old daughter. For the past four years Karma has been able to work again, thanks to his artificial leg. (JP/Agnes Winarti)

"Sorry, I think my leg is coming loose," said Karma, a motorcycle taxi ojek driver, one evening during a downpour.

"I am sorry, what did you say?" said his passenger on the back of the motorcycle.

Apologizing, Karma asked her to switch to another ojek driver.

"My artificial leg was getting wet and heavy. I could not continue driving. We always laugh when recalling that incident," Karma told The Jakarta Post recently with his wife. They live together near Darul Mustaqiem, opposite Manggarai train station in South Jakarta.

Forty-something Karma and wife Erni never imagined they could laugh at such an experience, or even dream he would ride his ojek again.

Six years ago Karma was hit by a motorcycle while heading home from his ojek shift at Manggarai train station.

Instead of going straight to hospital, he followed relatives' advice and sought treatment from a traditional healer specializing in broken bones in Cimande, West Java.

The six-month treatment turned out to be a disaster. The healer could not fix his broken right leg, and it developed rot. Karma was rushed to the nearest Red Cross Hospital in Bogor, but his right leg had to be amputated below the knee.

After the surgery, he did not work for two years and relied on his wife for support. She worked as a mobile salesperson traveling to housing complexes to sell cooking utensils.

"I was frustrated," said the father of four. "I had no other skills which I could use to earn some money. Opening a business was not an option, since I required large start-up capital."

In 2004 Karma met a man who required a polio brace to assist him in walking, despite having both his legs intact. The man worked at a specialist store for prosthetic devices.

The man suggested Karma try a device from the store to see if it assisted him in day-to-day living.

After submitting his identity card, profile photograph and evidence of his low socio-economic status, Karma, like hundreds before him, was given a free prosthetic leg from the store. The device was provided to Karma if he agreed to participate in the Peduli Kasih program, a charity organized by TV station Indosiar.

Through the program, Karma learnt to walk again and even managed to overcome his doubts and attempt to ride a motorcycle.

"I can ride a motorcycle again and even take a passenger on the back. So, I decided to return to my ojek post."

Erni, despite her concerns, let him become an ojek driver again.

"At first I was worried, but then I realized it was the only way he could feed the family. So I could not say no," she said.

He earns Rp 600,000 a month from his ojek work, while his wife works periodically as a masseuse.

"This artificial leg has been incredibly useful. Not only can I ride the ojek again, but more importantly I am the breadwinner in my family once more," Karma said.

The hardest aspect of being an ojek driver with a prosthetic leg, Karma said, was combating the rainy season.

"It is difficult to ride a motorcycle when it is raining, and it is impossible to prevent my leg from becoming wet. Once it is soaked, it becomes loose and heavy. If it rains, I have to head home."

Karma said despite this difficultly, he would continue his work as an ojek driver. He said no other work suited him, and he would not be able to obtain a different license because of his physical condition.

"Nobody notices my defect, except my regular customers, who are fine with it."

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