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‘C’mon, lift their spirits’: Neighbors wave away COVID-19 stigma in Jakarta
Some communities in Jakarta have found ways to allay COVID-19 stigma and help neighbors in need.
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A birds-eye view shows empty roads in West Jakarta's Tomang district on Friday. The Jakarta administration has imposed a two-week period of large-scale social restrictions (PSBB). (Antara/Nova Wahyudi)
H
armony in a number of communities in Indonesia is at risk as perceived COVID-19 carriers are stigmatized, even by their next-door neighbors, despite posing no actual threat.
Some residents of Jakarta, the epicenter of COVID-19 outbreak in the country, however, have found a way to allay fears and help their neighbors.
In Central Jakarta, residents of community unit (RW) 04 in Gunung Sahari Utara subdistrict have reached out to three siblings in the neighborhood during the absence of their parents amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
RW 4 head Kustiadi said the father, initially diagnosed with dengue fever, had been admitted to Husada Hospital in Central Jakarta four weeks ago. A few days later, the man died.
It is unclear whether he died of COVID-19, but a relative of the deceased told Kustiadi that the body had been buried according to the pandemic safety protocol.
The deceased was alone on his deathbed, as his wife had been admitted to the city's makeshift hospital Wisma Athlete Village in Central Jakarta as a patient under surveillance (PDP) only a few days before his death.
Their children, aged 15, 13 and 10 respectively, were left alone for self-quarantine at home.
Kustiadi recalls that the neighbors were shocked to see the mother picked up by medical workers wearing head-to-toe protective gear.
“Many residents seemed to avoid passing the house after that,” he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
RW management immediately tried to calm down residents and distributed information about coronavirus in a campaign involving neighborhood unit (RT) heads and the Karang Taruna youth community, the Dasawisma housewives community, jumantik (mosquito larvae controllers) and the health service posts (Posyandu).
"We explained to residents that being infected with the coronavirus is not a disgrace but a sheer misfortune. Everyone should provide mental support instead of insulting them,” Kustiadi said.
Read also: COVID-19: Companies, communities band together to provide food for medical workers
The campaign eventually bore fruit.
“The siblings are under the RW's responsibility to fulfill their needs for food and vitamins. Fortunately, neighbors are now willing to help with their resources,” he said.
The RW management checks on the children every day via phone call.
“At night, we would ask what they wanted to eat the next day. Usually, we gave them chicken porridge for breakfast. The neighbors would spare some portions for lunch and dinner,” Kustiadi said.
When the mother was discharged from the hospital on Saturday after having been declared medically fit, the neighbors accompanied her to her house.
Read also: Family moves to forest to avoid stigma after being examined for COVID-19
A video obtained by the Post shows residents standing in front of their houses and applauding the mother as she passed through the neighborhood. A person was heard saying "Applause, please. Come on, let's lift her spirit".
A similar campaign to put out stigma over COVID-19 occurred in community unit RW 4 in Bidara Cina subdistrict of Jatinegara, East Jakarta.
RW 4 secretary Dwiyanto recalled a recent moment when neighbors finally changed their attitude toward one resident, an office boy working at the Wisma Athletes Village hospital.
“I initially received a report that the man was sleeping in [an Islamic prayer room] because his neighbors had asked him [to leave his house]. When he bought cigarettes from a kiosk, the seller asked him to drop the money directly into a jar. [Such rejection] lasted about a week,” Dwiyanto told the Post.
The tension receded when the subdistrict management deployed additional personnel and volunteers, including the Family Welfare Movement (PKK) cadres, to increase awareness on COVID-19 handling in the area.
"Little by little we convey the message to them to accept the situation," Dwiyanto said. "The man has now returned home."
Read also: Fashion shops, civil groups work hand-in-hand to cope with virus impact in Yogyakarta
The Jakarta administration's large-scale social distancing measures have also impacted most people living in Bidara Cina -- a residential area of low-middle income families. This led a local initiative to hold a lumbung pangan (food barn) program for the past month, aimed at distributing staple food weekly for those impacted in Bidara Cina.
“If residents could no longer afford LPG [liquefied petroleum gas] and cooking oil, we will build an open kitchen,” Dwiyanto said, adding that the staple food was donated by well-off families as well as religious communities and political parties in Jakarta.
Stigma against COVID-19 patients, health workers and their families has been reported worldwide after the highly infectious disease rapidly spread outside China. World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in early March that stigma was even more dangerous than the virus itself.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has addressed the issue and praised residents nationwide who have joined hands to assist those struggling with the disease.
“Gotong royong [mutual cooperation], [public] participation and [everyone] helping each other can be built from the grassroots. I am very pleased to see […] harmony between neighbors. This has to continue […] instead of alienating them,” he said last week.
