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Evictees empower fellow kampung dwellers, build community space
Bukit Duri evictees from South Jakarta and Kampung Sumur residents in Klender, Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, team up to build a community space.
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A pop-up house in Kampung Sumur, Klender, Duren Sawit, East Jakarta. Local residents and Bukit Duri evictees built the house alongside a community space called Sanggar Daya Kemanusiaan as somewhere to help improve city kampung residents' welfare. (JP/A. Muh. Ibnu Aqil)
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t has been years since residents of Bukit Duri in South Jakarta, lost their homes and became evictees. Under the Ciliwung Merdeka community, they continue to fight for their housing rights while encouraging other evictees grouped under the Kampung Sumur community in Klender, Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, to gain new skills and possibly additional income from cooperatives.
Ciliwung Merdeka and Kampung Sumur residents have set up Sanggar Daya Kemanusiaan (Humanitarian Space), which not only serves as a community space, but also a woodcraft business entity called CV. Ikhtiar Jiwa as well as Warga Bersama Berdaya Cooperatives.
Ciliwung Merdeka community head Sandyawan Sumardi said Ciliwung Merdeka used to have similar businesses prior to its eviction.
“For 15 years we had this kind of space. We still miss how it feels to fight together,” Sandyawan said on Sunday.
He said the main purpose of the space was to help empower locals, by teaching them woodwork or by including the locals in the cooperative.
“People always think that social aid should be materials or money, but such things always fail [to empower residents],” he said.
The space boasts a communal area, a pop-up stilted house, and other amenities to help residents hold various activities.
