Life in Jakarta for an American living as I am is often more frustrating than you could possible imagine. Many things are not just different, but in many ways completely backwards from life as I normally know it….
Add to this, attempting to do this at the local salary level and not that of a normal American Ex Pat l, it makes for a very hard life at times…
After much frustration attempting to make it here in Jakarta, as of just recently I have been able to solve some very key problems…and am now beginning to see some hope!
In the process, not only am I solving the problems I have been having, but am finding ways to solve them while doing some good in the process…
Take, for an example, my cat little Jack Kecil, (Kecil is the Indonesian word for “Little”) now to start with, few people here can even understand why I’d want a cat in the first place, much less why I’d go to the bother and expense of buying commercial canned cat food to feed him. Having had a mother that was a veterinarian is a large part of the reason.
She was a cat lover, and as a child, would even place cats in my crib at nights…so a cat brings some very good emotional feelings to mind, not to mention the peace and comfort that a pet can bring in general. One thing my mother taught me was the responsibility that taking care of a pet brings with it. I can still hear here lecturing me that when we bring a pet into our home and lives, we make it dependant upon us for its care.
Once I started taking care of Jack Kecil, I was then honor bound to continue to do so, for this is the level of responsibility that she taught me. The problem was, how, at 9000 rupee for a can of can food was I ever going to be able to keep affording to feed him? This was becoming a major part of my budget, not to mention the time and headache of having to travel to the few places that even had cat food and lugging it home…all in all Jack Kecil was beginning to cost me a lot of money.
As of recently I have found a way to not only solve this problem, but to be able to do some good in the process. When I first moved into my neighborhood, I met an older woman that lived in one of the poorer parts of my neighborhood. She invites me to sit and have a coffee with her…later I find out that she had shared with me the last of her bottled water (here you do not drink the water from the tap). Here was someone that had nothing, yet shared it with me. This touched me, and every once in awhile, when I would see her, I’d make it a point to maybe share some nasi gorging (fried rice) with her and her child…anything. Now, she never once asked me for anything. (many in my neighborhood think nothing of asking…no demanding, that I buy them things. Cigarettes…food…whatever, but as I said she never has).
It then dawned on me, here was a way I could not only help myself…but allow her to have a little money to eat with. The solution became simple. The other day, with the help of a friend in the neighborhood that speaks English, I asked her if she would be interested in helping me take care of Jack Kecil. I explained to her that I wished to have fresh fish boiled and picked off the bone and fed to him twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, and explained to her that Jack Kecil was important to me and how much I needed this.
To make a long story short, instead of now paying 9000 rupee per can for cat food, which he was eating two cans a day (18,000 rupee total) which was costing me upwards to 500,000 rupee a month, I now spend 200,000 a month and each morning this little lady buys and cooks fresh fish for Jack Kecil, feeding him better in fact than commercial canned cat food would be, and at a price a fractions of what it was costing me before. She now also has a source of money, and food…and a little respect in the process. Plus some incentive! The smarter she is in buying the fish, the more she gets to keep in the end….
So far, she has proven to be pretty smart!
For me, a solution to a problem; for her…food for her child; for Jack Kecil, fresh fish! You have to love it when a solution to a problem also does some good.
The same now I have done for transportation…I have made an arraignment with a boy that lives in my Kost that has a scooter (a common method of getting around here) to take me to work and pick me up in the evenings…now, instead of depending upon taxis, busses, and other manner of transportation, which one day may cost me 7000 rupee, the next cost me 50,000 rupee, I can now plan and budget and *know* what it will cost me each month.
This makes living, and surviving here much easier.
Each day I learn more….
Each day an adventure!