Indonesians in Focus: Chrisna Widyawati

By Wombat | August 4th, 2006 | No Comments

When 16-year-old Chrisna Widyawati realized that her house had been destroyed in the recent Yogyakarta earthquake, she could not help crying.

However, she quickly recovered after finding that her parents and older sister were safe.

After helping her parents to salvage their remaining belongings, and setting up temporary tents, she got on her motorcycle with a friend and went to the worst-hit area in Bantul regency, a two-hour ride from her ruined house in Sleman.

“I couldn’t stand just sitting in my camp when I knew more child victims were suffering in Bantul,” she told The Jakarta Post after receiving a 2006 Indonesian Young Leaders Award at the office of the State Minister for Women’s Empowerment.

Chrisna, who participates in karang taruna (a local youth group), Merapi Children Forum and other extracurricular activities, received the award for her contribution to taking care of child victims in her neighborhood in Turi subdistrict, Sleman, and disaster-ridden Bantul.

The 5.9-magnitude earthquake destroyed thousands of homes in Yogyakarta and parts of Central Java on May 27, killing more than 5,700 and leaving at least 340,000 homeless.

Many child survivors suffered trauma in the earthquake. Some were even abandoned by their parents who were also traumatized.

“I still remember holding a trembling five-year-old girl who had been left by her mother when the earthquake occurred,” she said.

“When a disaster comes, people hardly think about other people, even those they love; they think only of themselves,” she said.

Chrisna, a 10th-grader at the time of the earthquake, gathered her friends and organized them to provide clothing, food and tents, as well as counseling for children at survivor camps.

Her father’s position as a Yogyakarta city police officer made it easier to search for contacts for food and shelter before outside aid reached the area.

A week after the quake she also persuaded her classmates at her school in Yogyakarta to skip school for two days and help Bantul survivors.

Her “misbehavior” was prompted by the school administration’s strict adherence to normal classroom hours even after the earthquake, leaving no time to help victims, some of whom were students’ friends and relatives.
Chrisna and her friends felt restless while studying in class, as their hearts and minds went out to the child survivors who still needed their help.

“We made our teachers extremely angry. Fortunately, the school did not punish us. Instead, they changed the school hours, so we had only half-day schooling after that,” she said. Students could, with a clear conscience, use the spare time to help the children at the camps.

Her volunteer work with child earthquake victims was a courageous postscript to her advocacy for children’s rights in her community. She started advocacy activities two years ago after attending the National Children’s Congress in Yogyakarta, sponsored by the National Commission for Child Protection.

Immediately afterward she realized that she was already concerned about child rights. It was just that her activities were more individual than group-oriented.

The determined girl soon started the Merapi Children’s Forum in Turi, focusing on protecting and preventing children living near Mount Merapi volcano from engaging in harmful activities, such as playing too close to ravines, smoking or using drugs.

Located only about 20 kilometers away from the summit of Merapi, Turi has some steep ravines that are dangerous for children. Many went missing after playing there.

“Parents here do not pay too much attention to their children. They let them play anywhere they want, although sometimes this endangers the children’s lives,” she said.

She and her friends teach children to fly kites, play hide and seek, and other games in safe places, to keep them from playing near the dangerous ravines.

The forum also educates the children on how to react whenever Merapi erupts.

The children are well aware that if thick, hot gaseous clouds, known locally as wedhus gembel (”shaggy sheep”), begin moving swiftly toward their village, they must go to the subdistrict office and board a truck to take them to a safer place.

However, the forum has never focused too closely on the danger of volcanoes because there is generally ample warning before a large eruption. In the wake of the recent quake, many children were left abandoned by their parents at unhygienic camps. The Health Ministry has reported that some 700 people, including minors, are suffering from respiratory infections and diarrhea in the camps.

Seeing the poor hygiene at the camps, and children left for days without bathing, Chrisna and her friends installed water tanks with the help of the administration, to hose down the children in impromptu shower sessions.

“My friends and I came up with the idea because it would take a long time to bathe dozens of small children there. So we sprayed them with water because it was faster and easier for us — as well as more fun for them,” she said.

She and two of her friends could clean up to 20 children in a single session. Enjoying the spray, children who had hated bathing previously, now eagerly wait their turn.

Chrisna, the youngest in her family, said her love of children was because she does not have any younger brothers or sisters.

“My mother always said that she had had enough of taking care of me and my sister who always gave her headaches,” she said, laughing.

With her love of children, she dreams of becoming a child psychologist. She said that many children become depressed as a result of the authoritarian approach to teaching.

Chrisna said the main problem faced by most children in Indonesia was the lack of participation in setting the rules that were applied to them. She cited as an example that school regulations forbid children to wear shoes of any color other than black more than two days a week, which was illogical.

“I don’t understand the logic for that regulation and my school never told me why. Lack of participation in drawing up regulations can make children rebellious sometimes,” she said.

Adisti Sukma Sawitri