When I entered TJaP in 2007, I was told that the new cubreporters would get a live-in experience. Well, we had a live-in in the slum area on the Ciliwung riverbanks on March 2007 (the date on the photos were wrong). We stayed in Sanggar Ciliwung, a workshop center, for three days and two nights.
It was a memorable experience because we really saw and experienced poverty at its core. We saw people washing clothes, taking a bath, or cleaning dead chicken (yep, they drowned the chicken and then plucked out the feathers. I was abstaining from eating chicken while I was there) right there on the river.
We tried to follow the residents's daily life. Most of them lead the simple life. On the first day, I accompanied a gasoline vendor. Day two saw me making fritters with street vendors who live under Kampung Melayu bridge. Every time a speeding car passes, the concrete bridge above our head was rattling. It was a bit scary. I promised that I will never be speeding whenever I pass that bridge.
Then Adt, Lln, Peeyutz and I helped the trashpickers sorting the garbage they collected. It was the most disgusting job I've ever done. Lln and I found a plastic cup filled with maggots. Yikes! You know what? After all the hardships, the four of us could not even reach one kilogram for each plastic garbage. The plastic bottles were worth Rp2800/kg, while the plastic cups were worth Rp6000/kg. What a hard life.
Day three was the the last day. We decided to give something for the community. We bought several sacks of rice for them with the hope that they could pass a few days with such little help we gave.
During my stay there, I got a chance to try the river transportation, a small bamboo raft. I find it quite interesting. They didn't use paddles, but they tied a rope across the river and then tugged on the rope to get to the other side of the riverbank.
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