Chapter II Changes
By Beatrix Consuelo Dorothy Utomo Kaya
The sun has not yet shown itself. Like having an alarm on her body, Mayasari always wakes up around five in the morning. She sat on the edge of the bed and was about to move towards the dresser which was in the left corner near the bedroom window. Mayasari's movement, who got up from her bed, and woke her husband, Galih. Galih stretched his body while still on the bed and the sound of bones while stretching his body broke the morning silence. "Humm... 5 minutes again,"
said Galih who was still semi-conscious, with his eyes not yet fully open. He answered even though no one tried to wake him up.
"Okay, sleep a little longer. I'll make breakfast first and wake Elina," answered Mayasari, who was answered with a hum from her husband who had fallen asleep again.
Creaaak!
The sound of the door hinge still made its sound even though Mayasari had tried to open the door slowly.
She changed her mind, at most this kid still sleeps like her father. Mayasari walked towards Elina's room. She saw her daughter, Elina, still asleep under a blanket that warmed her body from the cold Salatiga morning weather. Mayasari walked over to Elina's bed and shook her body slowly trying to wake her child up.
The little hum and she answered her mom, "Okay, Mom." But Elina just corrected her sleeping position and covered her head using the blanket.
"Get ready to go to school, it's already half past seven. If you're late, I don't want to make you a permit," Mayasari replied as she walked out and lied about the time so Elina would quickly get up and get ready for school.
Mayasari was busy preparing breakfast for her family. Mayasari started to heat up the vegetable dishes left over from last night and fry tempeh and tofu to complement her family's simple breakfast. The not-too-sharp beany aroma turns into a savory aroma when the Mayasari frys the tempeh and tofu. The aroma that makes an empty stomach roar spreads throughout the kitchen which is close to the dining table. Also, Mayasari fried eggs for Elina's lunch.
After she was done cooking, she threw away the plastic wrap of tempeh and eggshells in the trash can under the sink.
When Mayasari had set the breakfast on the dining table, she called her husband and her daughter, "Mas, honey, and Nduk, my daughter, come here. Let's have a breakfast."
***
At 7 am, Mayasari walked out of her house to the meeting hall to check on the health of the elderly in her neighborhood. This activity was carried out by Mayasari and her team once a month. Starting from blood sugar and blood pressure, they diligently monitor the elderly.
After checking all the elderly, Bu Siti, a food vendor near Mayasari’s house, came and approached her with a letter.
"Bu Mayasari, are you free for a talk?" called Bu Siti.
“Yes, I am, Bu Siti. Our monthly health check has been completed,” answered Mayasari.
Bu Siti continued, "Bu, here is an invitation letter for a waste bank."
"Eh, why did you give it to me, Bu Siti?" Mayasari asked with an astonished expression.
"This was given to me, but I am still selling my cooking in my stall. I think you are a diligent person and a fast learner. So, Bu Mayasari, could you lend me a hand?" Bu Siti persuaded.
"There are still other women, Bu Siti?"
"I believe in panjenengan, you, Bu."
"But... Okay."
"All right, then. I want to go back to my stall, I'm afraid some buyers will come," said Bu Siti.
"Okay, Bu Siti. Atos-atos, be careful on your way home."
Mayasari is not an important person. She was also not a prominent person. However, her neighbors trusted her to represent their neighborhood in meetings. One of them is Bu Siti. Her name was already familiar in the environmental service. She even handled several things, such as health check-ups for the elderly.
Mayasari, who started to turn 41 years old, did not feel like she was being used. She volunteered to take part in community activities because she was moved and wanted to help others.
***
Mayasari entered the meeting room a bright room filled with dozens of chairs to attend training from the Service Office of Environment and Forestry as a representative of her neighborhood.
According to the invitation she got, the event should have started in five minutes or at 1 pm.
However, fifteen minutes had passed and the event had not yet started. Mayasari, who was sitting in two rows from the front, looked around and only a dozen representatives had arrived, including herself. Mayasari started to annoyed, she crossed her arms across her chest. The corners of her mouth pointed downwards.
Training for a waste bank along with dozens of other representatives started after Mayasari waited for about thirty-five more minutes.
The meeting discussed many things that were difficult for Mayasari to understand. New things, such as the benefits of waste, the effects of waste piling up in the environment as well as a long-term plan when the President has targets and hopes for an Indonesia waste-free in 2025 or Indonesia bebas sampah. He issued a statement inviting the Indonesian people to take part in environmental activities.
The experts explained, “The use of waste like organic waste that can be used as liquid fertilizer, with all the proportions of preservation and challenges. In addition, there was training on making a disinfectant made from fresh fruit with brown sugar and then fermented for three months.” They also show the results of the Eco-enzyme, or disinfectant that comes from the fruit. Even though there are mushrooms on it, the fermented water has a fresh fragrance.
Throughout the event, Mayasari was just amazed and nodded listening to the explanations of the experts. While writing things that she thinks are important and she needs for the future.
Three hours passed, and tiredness overtook Mayasari because her mind was filled with the myriad of knowledge and practices she had just acquired. As an envoy, she was given the task of setting up a waste bank unit in her hamlet.
She looked at the watch on her left wrist, it was already 4 in the afternoon. Mayasari did not want to stay there for long and wanted to go home soon to rest. When the other representative went home with their colleagues or were picked up, Mayasari came home walking alone
because her husband couldn't pick her up—he was still working until five in the afternoon.
Fortunately, her house is not far from the Service Office of Environment.
When she got home, she admitted that she had never sorted out waste before.
"Ealah, I forgot that the garbage must be separated," Mayasari said to herself. She tried to start from her house first before she talked to her neighbors about a waste bank.
Even though she is a fast learner, adapting did take time.
Mayasari took a sack and hooked it on a nail at the end of the kitchen. The plastic waste that she had separated, she put into the sack. Mayasari started chanting trying to remember, "Put plastic waste into sacks, throw plastic waste into sacks."
After Mayasari finished with the plastic waste business, she went to the table and took the vegetable peel waste. She collected it in her palm and threw it into the trash can under the sink.
***
A week after the meeting, at half past eight, while sweeping the front yard of her house, Mayasari saw her neighbor, Bu Titik carrying 2 plastic bags containing plastic waste and vegetables from her house.
Bu Titik carried her trash towards the ravine next to Mayasari's house. Bu Titik, who lives three houses away from Mayasari's house, threw her trash into the ravine, which no longer had water. When Bu Titik was about to return to her house, Mayasari, who cares about the environment, approached Bu Titik and reprimanded her.
"Loh, Bu Titik, why is the trash thrown into the abyss anyway? We should sort out our trash first, Bu Titik," Mayasari shouted when she saw Bu Titik throwing her trash, with an annoyed tone.
"Eh, why should I sort the trash out, Bu Mayasari? After all, that is still trash," replied Bu Titik who was 9 years older than her.
"Yes, to be recycled and sold to the collectors later," Mayasari began to explain. "Wouldn't it be wiser not to litter, Bu? Don't just throw it into the abyss. How long will our environment be clean if we keep littering and don't sort our trash?"
"My goodness, Bu. Mayasari. This is also the first time I have thrown trash there. Usually, a garbage man from the disposal site who usually picks my trash up from my house," she snapped.
"Yeah, at least don't throw garbage carelessly, Bu. If we continue to rely on garbage collectors and they throw them into mixed-up garbage dumps, in what year will our city be clean of garbage?"
Bu Titik thought that it was too early to receive a lecture. She began to show an bitter expression on her face. Her eyebrows knit together with wrinkles on her forehead, plus her gaze was like someone who was about to get angry. Bu Titik answered Mayasari's question in a tone that was getting higher and higher, "Well, that has become their livelihood, isn't it? That is better, right? They also have jobs and income."
"Indeed, the garbage in the temporary and final disposal sites has become the work of scavengers and waste officers, that's their job or their life. But what happened will the garbage continue to pile up and increase every day? But when will it stop? It would be wiser if we eased their work by sorting our waste from our house, Bu Titik," explained Mayasari.
"Never mind, I do not want to argue anymore, Bu. I want to go home first. I still have a lot of work to do," said Bu Titik then left Mayasari back to her house.
Mayasari just gave a smile and continued to sweep the yard which was filled with leaves and twigs that were scattered due to the rain and wind last night.
Bu Titik, who had said goodbye to go home, turned out to be not going straight home. She went shopping for vegetables at an itinerant vegetable seller who uses a motorbike. Several other people were shopping for vegetables, including someone she knew.
While choosing the vegetables she would buy, Bu. Titik approached the woman and told her about what happened with her and Mayasari this morning. "Bu, you know want to know something? This morning Bu Mayasari was angry and screaming at me for throwing trash," said Bu Titik.
"Bu Mayasari, whose house is near the ravine? What's going on, Bu Titik?" she asked.
"I also don't know. After all, I used to throw trash there, even burn garbage near the abyss.
Suddenly I was just scolded," continued Bu Titik.
"Maybe Bu Mayasari is just being sensitive, Bu Titik. Never mind, don't take it to heart,"
the woman replied soothingly.
***
A few days after Mayasari’s argument with Bu Titik, the PKK RW or associations dominated by women at the next-to-lowest level which consisted of several RTs or neighborhoods in Mayasari's area held a meeting to discuss the establishment of a waste bank in their area. The meeting which was held at 4 pm and took place at the house of the head of RW was attended by 30 women.
"So, ibu-ibu, ladies. Two weeks ago, I attended a waste bank training from the Service Officer of Environment," Mayasari continued to explain about the waste bank. "Because we are housewives who take care of the house, and prepare food, we are one of the garbage contributors. If we don't start to take care of our waste, who will take care of the waste? And how long will our city be clean of waste? So, through this garbage bank, we will learn to sort the waste out and care about our environment," concluded Mayasari, who had finished explaining what she got from the training.
The PKK RW management also invites its members to join the waste bank. Starting next week or according to the time agreement, the first meeting can be held in Mayasari’s house.
She was anxious as to whether the words she used to describe were appropriate. Did my words offend people? Did they understand my words? Was my language confusing? Mayasari reaffirmed this by remembering the explanation in the previous training. She nodded as if confirming what she said earlier was by the waste bank training. However, another voice gave a different response.
"Ealah, Bu, this just adds more work to us," she said slightly annoyed. "I feel like we as mothers at home don't have a day off, and now we're even told to sort out the garbage."
"It's not like that, Bu Titik. It's also for the common good, I don't think it's a burden because there isn't as much trash in our house as in a disposal site," Mayasari replied.
"Sorry, but I'm taking care of 3 children, and you only take care of 1 child, Bu Mayasari.
Yes, it's different, Bu. It's more concise, it will better if I burn the garbage or I just pay five thousand rupiahs to the garbage man who likes to pick up trash from our house than I sort of it," Bu Titik responded.
"Yes, Bu Mayasari. I agree with Bu. Titik. I work from morning to evening, I don't have time to sort out the garbage anymore," said another woman in response to Bu Titik's statement.
"Me too, Bu. If I sort the trash, who will take my trash?" asked another woman wearing a blue headscarf.
"So, the waste bank will work like this, ibu-ibu. The garbage that you have sorted and cleaned later can be deposited into the waste bank weekly. Because the waste bank will be held at my house, I can wait until evening if you want to deposit your, trash at night or after work,"
answered Mayasari.
"If no one picks it up, I'd better pay the garbage man who can pick up my trash from my house. I just put it near the fence and they just take it," replied the woman with the blue headscarf.
Now it was Bu Titik's turn to criticize Mayasari with another statement, "Well, if we deliver the garbage and deposit the trash once a week, my house will stink. There will be a lot of rats running around because the garbage is piling up."
Bu Siti is the head of the RT’s wife and she gave her statement. "Indeed, we are all busy, Bu Titik. But no need to compare like that. Everyone has their own business, and sorting out our trash doesn't take a long time and doesn't take much energy. It is better if we should try first than talk that is not related to reality, right?" Bu Siti tried to mediate this endless debate.
Therefore, in this evening's gathering, there is an agreement for anyone to join and there is no compulsion. Mayasari just smiled and repeated Bu Siti’s invitation to join the waste bank,
"Look, those who want to participate in the waste bank activities can join. Thank you."
The meeting that afternoon was not what Mayasari thought. She thought everything would go smoothly without any resistance. What's wrong with sorting your trash? It's just separating the trash and it's not that difficult, Mayasari thought on her way back home. She seemed worried, what if she failed to get the locals around her house to join the waste bank?
***
Two weeks passed, and the activities at the waste bank did not go according to Mayasari's expectations. The first meeting of the waste bank was held on the third Sunday of February.
Not all RW members came to the meeting, only two women took the time to take part in the waste bank activity that afternoon. One of them is Bu Siti.
Mayasari's face was sad and confused. Everything she had prepared seemed in vain. The seats are enough for 20 people as well as snacks and drinks, Mayasari is like preparing for war but the real war has already happened. Everything looks in vain, Mayasari just lets out a heavy breath.
Mayasari, who had been standing near the door, was approached by Bu Siti.
"Life doesn't completely go the way we want, Mayasari. It feels like riding a ride that goes up and down."
"It's called a roller coaster, Bu," added Mayasari.
"Yeah, that's it. Roller coaster," said Mrs. Siti, who was struggling to pronounce 'roller coaster'. Then she continued, "Life it's not always smooth. Sometimes we are at the top, sometimes at the bottom, and not infrequently we will be turned upside down by reality. So, let us start the meeting even if it is just the three of us, at least someone comes this afternoon."
Bu Siti is right and I can't look defeated. No matter how many people attend, this must still be done, Mayasari thought trying to encourage herself. Mayasari nodded her head and entered the room and started the meeting that afternoon.
After Mayasari returned and started the meeting which was attended by 7 people, from outside Mayasari's house there was the sound of stamping feet which was a crowd of people screaming.
"Trash is still trash!" shouted a woman carrying a broomstick which she pounded on the ground to increase the noise.
"No garbage bank in our neighborhood!" shouted another resident.
"Reject the waste bank!" shouted Bu Titik which was followed by other calls from the residents.
Apparently, this was an idea from Bu Titik who persuaded residents to join the demonstration with her. Keep in mind that the waste bank is not very useful and only adds to the job. While the work of a mother is tiring, thought Bu Titik.
Hearing people screaming, Mayasari ran outside and was surprised that a lot of people were in her front yard.
Panicked and frightened, Mayasari asked the crowd, "What's wrong, ladies and gentlemen?"
"We reject this garbage bank activity!" said one from the middle of the crowd. "Just adding jobs instead!"
"That's right!" shouted everyone in unison.
"But ladies and gentlemen, if you don’t want to join the waste bank, I don't mind," Mayasari answered.
"Ealah, that's just your trick! At that time, you forced me to sort the garbage!" said Bu Titik.
"Do you want to make our environment dirty with a waste bank? Just like a scavenger with the label 'waste bank,'" continued Bu Titik.
"Gosh, Bu Titik. You have such a mean mouth!" shouted Bu Siti, who had been trailing behind Mayasari from the start.
Mayasari tried to calm down, she remembered the conversation she had with Bu Siti earlier.
Life is like a roller coaster, with lots of changes, and not everything is according to our expectations, Mayasari recalls the conversation in her mind. Taking a deep breath, Mayasari started to explain what a waste bank does.
"Actually, it's not that difficult to sort out the trash at home, ladies and gentlemen. When we are cooking, we can also separate the trash directly into the bins. Both dry and wet waste.
This also applies to all our daily activities, not only when just cooking."
Mayasari also confirmed that trash is still trash, but it is better if we start caring about our own environment. Since the beginning, Mayasari was just trying to educate the people around his house, there was no compulsion to care about the environment.
After that, one by one the residents began to understand and went home.
However, it is different from Bu Titik. She came home annoyed because she did not believe that the residents could understand what Mayasari was explaining.
***
One day, Bu Titik was obliged to go to Mayasari's house and borrowed a large frying pan.
She planned to hold a syukuran, thanksgiving, for her toddler at home.
As she tailed Mayasari who invites her in to get a frying pan, Bu Titik realizes that Mayasari's kitchen is clean. Not as she imagined, Bu Titik imagined that Mayasari's house was full of dry and wet waste which could cause an unpleasant odor.
After she got the things she needed, Bu Titik said goodbye to go home.
Then the next day, she tried to start separating the garbage. It wasn't as difficult as I thought.
I did not have to take out the trash every day anymore, thought Mrs. Titik.
***
The women began to come and the number increased with each meeting. In the fourth meeting, almost all of the women from Mayasari’s neighborhood came, including Bu Titik.
Around 3 pm, Mayasari opened the activity by welcoming and thanking the women who had attended.
"Thank you to ibu-ibu who has been willing to come to our fourth meeting. This afternoon we will also learn to make a craft from waste," said Mayasari, starting the meeting.
Mayasari started this fourth meeting like the first, so she was happy to re-explain the information about the waste bank. "So the waste bank is an activity to collect sorted waste as a way to reduce waste disposal. There are many things we can do, ibu-ibu," Mayasari began to explain about the waste bank and the activities that will be carried out in the waste bank.
Mayasari also did not forget to explain what kind of waste the waste bank management received.
The garbage should be clean and will be collected and sold to collectors every month or every week.
After delivering her explanation, Mayasari divided the ibu-ibu into 2 groups to practice making handicrafts from used goods. The first group made handicrafts in the form of hat brooches made of bottle caps and patchwork. The second group made flower decorations from ironed plastic for headbands.
Activities carried out at the waste bank are new, so Mayasari is assisted by a few women that she has formed to teach locals how to make handicrafts, and how to sort waste and deposit it.
The waste bank, which is located in Mayasari's front yard, only accepts organic and non- organic waste. Non-organic waste such as used bottles, plastics, newspapers, or cement paper can be collected at the waste bank. While organic waste will be used as liquid fertilizer that is useful for plants.
Like Bu Siti Mayasari’s neighbor participated in the waste bank chaired by Mayasari because of the large amount of organic waste produced from her food stall. At first, she paid the garbage collector to pick up the trash. But every day, Bu Siti has to spend some money on her huge amount of trash. However, after she joined Mayasari's waste bank, Mayasari asked her to throw her egg shells waste into the composter every day to make liquid compost.
Every afternoon, after she had closed her food stall. Bu Siti walked with a large plastic bag filled with egg shells to Mayasari's house.
Mayasari received the plastic containing the shell to be weighed first. She weighed the trash by hooking it on a scale that hung in front of her house. The gauge on the scale didn't come down to show its weight. She picked up the trash and re-weighed it using a scale that showed in ounces. When the trash is placed on the scale, the needle points to 1 kilogram. After that, she went in and looked for her notebook. Mayasari came out with the book and filled in the name, date, type of item weighed, and its weight in kilograms.
"Today is Wednesday, Bu Siti, and one kilogram of eggshell," mumbled Mayasari while filling out the waste weighing list.
"Okay, ma'am. I'll go home first, nggeh, yeah," asked Bu Siti for leave.
"Oh, thank you, Bu Siti," Mayasari replied. "Bu Siti, wait a minute! Let's take a photo of this waste-weighing activity, I almost forgot about it. I'll call Elina first to take a picture of us."
Activities like this need to be perpetuated to report to the Service Officer of Environment every month. Mayasari enjoys being involved in the waste bank because she can mingle with her neighbors and meet new people.
***
Although everything is not as easy as turning the palm of my hand. Hopefully, this will be a new beginning for the community. everything can be started from simple things, Mayasari prayed in a silent voice.
*****
