Salute to Indonesia

By Francine Arsenault

The program described below has completed the first steps of community-based rehabilitation (CBR). These steps are: 1) detection; 2) prevention; and 3) medical intervention.

The Council of Canadians with Disabilities, which has been a partner of the International Centre for the Advancement of Community Based Rehabilitation at Queen’s University since the centre’s inception in 1991, along with Disabled People’s International, now become involved in part four of CBR: integration into the community. They also look at the cultural transfer ability of the process, and perform an ongoing evaluation of how to assist people with disabilities better to reach their full potential.)

Kapitu, a village in the District of Tombasia, in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, has a population of fewer than 1,600 and is the poorest place for miles around. It is situated on a large bay with a black volcanic ash beach that provides a launching pad for 25 one- or two-man fishing canoes with outriggers for balance. The soil is extremely infertile here, so while flowers and a few plants struggle for existence, vegetable crops do not grow at all. The sea provides, or the people go hungry.

Into this village regularly rides a Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) worker on his motorcycle, with sunglasses, helmet and all, whom we will call Rolly. His job is to seek out and assist people with disabilities in this village and the next one, Bitung.

Because the people know Rolly and his family and trust him, Rolly has had the opportunity to meet:
- Max, who is a strong young man with an intellectual disability;
- Yoel, our fisherman, who walks on the top of his foot because of a clubfoot that was never repaired;
- Yoel’s neighbour, Johan, who used to run a farm in the hills but fell out of a coconut tree and damaged his hip and leg, so that he now has to sit down to work;
- Esther, whose dimpled cheeks and sparkling eyes do not disguise her cerebral palsy; and
- Melani and her father, who so wants his daughter to be treated well that he cannot risk her going to school and being hurt because she drools and cannot focus her eyes.
- Then there is Marice, with five little girls and still seeking that traditional son, yet daily struggling to walk on feet so badly burned in an accident that her toes curl up -- in a rural area where everyone must walk or stay at home.

The Indonesian CBR Training and Development Centre (YPAC), with Rolly’s help, has given support to this village for the fourth part of community-based rehabilitation -- the social and economic integration of persons with disabilities into the community. In this case, it involved a revolving loan scheme. Many positive developments have taken place as a result:

Max took a course from a friend of YPAC’s to learn how to make a cement roofing tile that is simple to construct, cost effective, and easy to sell or barter. He can make 100 tiles a day, put them through the drying process, and have them ready to bring to the surrounding towns in an old truck he drives.

The day I was there, Max had bartered a load of tiles for a load of bricks, because someone in the village was going to build an addition. Max now had the bricks to sell to him. Max will be able to help support his mom and dad. Others are now coming to Max to learn a variety of things from him that they had not realized he could do well.

Yoel, after years of paddling and pulling on nets, has built his upper torso and knotted his arms with muscles. His hands are strong and capable of guiding his boat at night, with two lanterns in front to illuminate his way but mostly to attract the fish. His boat cost 174,000 rupia and it took six years to clear the ownership.

Yoel tosses his net and prays for plenty, and then hauls it back in at dawn, storing the catch under his seat in the bottom of the canoe. This boat is sleek and long and painted vivid blue, yellow and orange, and rarely comes home full. His wife and two children eke out a living selling the fruits of his labours.

Esther buys fish cheaply and in quantity from the fishermen at dawn, and sells them to earn her keep. She used to waste those she could not sell, but now she has learned how to dry those that are left. Housewives buy them for use in various recipes.

Johan loved to work the land. Now his son runs the farm, and he’s adjusting to the life of a fisherman who lives in a village. Johan showed me his handmade fishing lures with which he entices the fish so that he and his family can survive.

Melani’s father hopes for a more accepting, tolerant world, where Melani’s disability won’t forever be viewed as punishment for her mother’s having fallen down in the sixth month of her pregnancy. Melani’s father gets courage from meeting with this group and listening to their suggestions. His presence in their gathering may make others begin to participate more with people with disabilities.

Marice has turned the front porch of her home into a little shop where she sells the much-needed vegetables she buys from the hill villagers. Her home is the candy store and the bakery, as well. Marice’s husband works hard, but with five children, some elder relatives and Marice herself to feed, the store may just provide the extra they need to get by.

All these men and women, with the exception of one, received seed money from the CBR’s revolving loan scheme. All of them will pay back as agreed and as circumstances allow it. All have become role models, illustrating that disability is not an excuse for failure; that, with determination and the proper supports, people with disabilities can become examples for all to follow.

We Canadians with disabilities salute your efforts, learn from your experiences and applaud your entrepreneurial skills.

(Francine Arsenault is the chairperson of the International Centre for the Advancement of Community Based Rehabilitation (ICACBR). She is also the past-chair of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities (CCD) and a member of the CCD International Committee. For more information on Community-Based Rehabilitation, contact ICACBR at (613) 545-6881.)