“I believe that all mothers have a desire to protect, nurture, provide, and care for their children. Regardless of the situation, they are doing the best they can to love and nurture their children,” said Endang.
Endang Purwanti is a 25-year-old mother with four children: three boys and a girl. She is always excited to enjoy her day. Apart from taking care of her four children in her daily busy life, she currently runs her home business and sells rice boxes for various activities, produce various kinds of cakes, including birthday cakes and cookies. Unfortunately, a few disasters happened and made her business lose. However, she was not discouraged and looked for alternatives to recover. To expand her business, Endang is very active in promoting her business through Facebook and WhatsApp.
Before the earthquake occurred, Endang only sold some snacks in the high school canteen in her village and earned an average income of IDR250,000 per day. The earthquake happened, and she stopped selling. Two months later, she was reselling snacks in the school canteen again; unfortunately, this effort did not last long due to the Covid-19 pandemic that impacted education. Usually, teaching and learning activities are carried out directly but during the Covid-19 online. Practically, the family’s source of income was lost.
The situation did not make Endang discouraged. She tried to find a way to keep earning for her family apart from relying on her husband’s income from farm labor. She switched to a new business, made potato doughnuts, and promoted them through Facebook. She was not satisfied at the moment finding out that her doughnuts were expensive to sell because the raw materials were quite expensive. She changed the doughnuts’ recipe into regular doughnuts without potatoes and added a new business; provided lunch boxes for training activities or meetings held by NGOs currently working in her village, including ADRA. And it was a turning point in her business; the results were very satisfying, the customer liked her new doughnuts, and on average, she made a profit of up to IDR200,000 – 400,000 per day.
In September 2020, unexpectedly, a large flash flood occurred in Rogo village, which caused Endang to lose her house and production assets such as ovens, mixers, stoves, gas tanks, and other cooking utensils. Floods and sand, mud, and other debris engulfed many houses in this village, including hers. Her house is unfit to live in, and all her assets were damaged due to flooding; only the oven could still be used after repairs. The oven was not carried away by the flood because it was large and stuck on the roof.
Endang and her husband sold their cow and some part of the land to buy materials to build a new house. Then, they built a new house and rebuilt her business using the remaining funds.
Through the RILEAF program, Endang was one of the families who received cash assistance of IDR5,000,000. She enthusiastically said, “I was thrilled with this assistance where I had the opportunity to develop my business which was lost due to several disasters: earthquakes, the Covid-19 pandemic, and flash floods. I did not expect to get this much money.” She used the funds to support the business she had just rebuilt by buying materials in large quantities, such as sugar, butter, flour, dark chocolate, stoves, big gas tanks, and mixers. She explained, “from the training organized by ADRA, I learned and applied it in my business such as simple bookkeeping and online business promotion. I felt that by having simple bookkeeping, I could separate my business and personal finances, which I had never done before; that way, I knew the turnover of my business capital. From the business income, I did not only fulfill my family’s needs, but also bought a cow IDR5,700,000 million, a mobile phone to support the promotion of my business and repaired my house that was damaged by the flash flood.”
However, a few months later, on August 29, 2021, the flash floods hit the Rogo village and damaged the house that was planned to be used as a business place and her corn farming land. She said, “Our cornfield submerged in flood and the corn which will be harvested in a month. We were shocked, where again the flash flood damaged the houses and livelihoods of families.”
Again, ADRA came to assist us to revive our life. My family registered to receive ADRA’s cash assistance. “My husband and I used these funds to develop our food business and reach a broader market; neighboring villages and Palu. We paid off our debt to buy land for my workshop and other business assets to display and keep birthday cakes and other materials,” she explained. At her workshop, Endang desires to bring joy to as many people as possible. “My workshop is a place where other women, mothers, and I can connect and share skills, experience, and make memories. Sometimes we as mothers need to be pampered, and we need time and space to connect with ourselves, tap into our joy, and discover our desires for a happy life,” she says.
She continues, “this workshop is everything to me; my pride in proving to myself that I am able to have my own business without having to neglect my duties and responsibilities as a wife and mother. Besides generating income for my family, I also provide opportunities for young women in my neighborhood to learn and work in this workshop.” Through her work as an entrepreneur, Endang has been supporting and working with women.
Her family has also learned from the flash flood, always to be ready to face disasters. When it rains heavily or smells the strong smell of mud, she prepares her family to evacuate if a flash flood happens. She packs a standby bag and fills it with her children’s needs, such as clothes, blankets, and medicines. And, they know where to go; it evacuates areas.
“Thank you, ADRA! Always come to help us by providing training to increase our skills and knowledge and cash assistance to help us bounce back. Even though ADRA is no longer with us, I will keep the spirit of ADRA and continue to learn because I want my business to be more advanced, compete with other online businesses, and support my family. I want to see my children grow up well where all their needs can meet and someday, they become independent and successful children with their capacity,” said Endang with a smile of pleasure never left her face.
Author: ADRA Indonesia
Photo: © 2022 ADRA Indonesia
Visit the ADRA Indonesia website to learn more: https://adraindonesia.org/en/
