No More People Find Difficulty to Eat

KOMPAS/IQBAL BASYARI

For the food aid program of the Surabaya city administration in East Java, Murni delivers food to elderly and disabled people as well as orphans in Gubeng district on Thursday (22/3). The food must be in the hands of the recipients by 10 a.m.

Even eating is difficult, never mind doing other things. Such words are often heard when we talk with poor people. But this does not apply to Surabaya, East Java. Every morning sees food being delivered to homes.

The wrinkled hands of Mastinah, 65, clasp an empty food container on Thursday (23/3)at her home in Gubeng Klingsingan, Gubeng district, Surabaya. Along with her husband Darsono, 75, she was waiting for the food donation from the Surabaya Social Affairs Agency.

At around 9 a.m., food delivery woman Murni, 37, arrived at their house tucked between narrow alleys. Murni handed the container filled with food, which she delivers by bicycle, directly to Mastinah and Darsono. In exchange, Mastinah returned the empty food container, which she had received the day before.

Mastinah and Darsono are a part of the group of senior citizens who receive the daily food assistance from the Social Affairs Agency. Every morning, Murni delivers the food, which consists of rice, vegetables, fruits and mineral water in a plastic box.

“We eat the food split into two meals, in the morning and afternoon. We rely on the food assistance,” said Mastinah, who has been receiving food for a year.

It has been five years since Darsono and Mastinah have been unable to work due to their advanced age. In their times of difficulty, they still have to feed their grandson, Albar Ardiansyah, 17, who lives with them in a 2-by-3-meter house. “In the previous four years, when we had no income or food assistance, we relied on our daughter and neighbors,” Darsono said.

The couple did not have a source of income. However, a year ago, the three of them began receiving assistance from the Surabaya Social Affairs Agency. Mastinah and Darsono fell into the senior citizens category, while Albar is fatherless, and all were eligible for the food aid on which they depend.

Darsono said the food aid helped his family greatly. The money he received from his daughter, Albar’s mother, was only enough to pay the electricity bill. The house, Darsono inherited from his parents.

Another senior citizen who receives the food aid is Maunten, 88, who said it was a great help. The woman, who lives alone in Siwalankerto, Wonocolo district, makes a living selling snacks at her 2-by-3-meter house. She earns Rp 10,000 per day.

Maunten has been a participant of this program for six years. Before she started receiving the food aid from the Surabaya administration, she never ate regularly. On some days, Maunten, who suffers from a respiratory problem, ate only once a day. Other times, she ate only rice. “Sometimes, when I had no money, I ate old [leftover] rice. For me, the important thing was to fill my stomach,” she said.

Like Mastinah and Darsono, Maunten also gets two meals a day, in the morning and afternoon. At night, she usually gets food form her son, Kadir, who works as a security guard for a boarding house at a monthly salary of Rp 500,000.

KOMPAS/IQBAL BASYARI

Mastinah, 65, and Darsono, 75, an elderly couple in Gubeng, Surabaya, East Java, receives food from the food donation program run by the Surabaya city administration on Thursday (23/3). The administration provides free food since 2012.

At the latest

Gubeng Social Office taskforce member Anggun Nur Aisyah, 25, said the food aid must be delivered to the beneficiary before 10 a.m. The food is delivered by bicycle or on foot. Nevertheless, the food must be delivered on time, and there is tight supervision to ensure that it is.

Surabaya Social Affairs Agency secretary Atiyun Najjah Indhira said that there werere 29,249 food aid recipients this year: 17,537 senior citizens; 5,712 disabled people and 6,000 orphans and children from single-parent homes.

The value of the food aid had also improved. When the program started in 2012, each food packet per beneficiary was Rp 4,000 per day. Today, it is Rp 11,000. The food packets had also changed from paper wrappers to plastic boxes for hygiene.

“The food for each category is different, adjusted to their need and age. There are 10 varieties of dishes so that people will not get bored,” said Anggun. Each day, the menu is adjusted according to an individual’s nutritional needs as recommended by a nutritionist, and incorporates rice, condiments, vegetables, fruits and mineral water.

Social Affairs Agency head Supomo said the program was only for poor people registered with the integrated database of the Accelerated Poverty Alleviation Team. One of the criteria for senior citizens, for example, was a minimum age of 60, living alone and that their children were unable to provide support. The criteria for children were orphans, neglected children, or those who came from poor, single-parent households; for the disabled was that their family did not provide support. Poor children are eligible for the aid until they reach 18.

“The field staff can propose other individuals to receive the food aid if they think the individuals are eligible for the assistance,” said Supomo.

KOMPAS/IQBAL BASYARI

The dish for elderly people under the food donation program of the Surabaya city administration is rather simple.

Basic needs

Regarding the food aid program, Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini said the administration provided free food to ensure that all residents could eat. Food is one of the basic needs.

Elderly residents faced high risks in health, whether physical, mental or social. Generally, elderly people experienced a decline in capacity, such as in their physical abilities or mobility, emotional stability, social interaction and general health.

Consequently, not all elderly people could meet their basic needs properly and they depended on support from family or other people. In some cases, people turned to begging. To ensure that no elderly people, disabled people or orphans and neglected children from poor families were without food, the city administration keeps an eye on the people that live in narrow alleyways. The program targets the people who fall into these categories so that are no residents of the city go hungry while the city continued to develop.