This quote is the underlying philosophy behind “Belajar Hidup Kaya Dari Si Miskin” (“Learning to Live a Rich Life From the Poor”), a new book by local author Mataharitimoer. The book is a collection of 30 true-life stories from Indonesia’s less fortunate, including tales from a street busker, street food vendors, an office boy and a handicapped beggar.
Mataharitimoer, whose name translates as Eastern Sun, writes in the book’s introduction how the less fortunate serve as his “teacher in life” — a belief which comes across strongly in the book.
Mataharitimoer writes most of the stories in the first person, giving the chapters a personalized feel and summarizing each character’s tale clearly and succinctly in the few short pages every chapter contains.
What this technique gives the book in effectiveness, however, it looses in individuality. Mataharitimoer uses nearly the same voice to tell the stories of the different characters.
For instance, the testimonies that come out of the flute busker’s mouth sound far too similar to those of the shoe polisher.
His story about Nur Hidayat, a cake seller from Bogor, is representative of the lives of many less-than-fortunate Indonesians — the ones who barely survive, working a menial job simply because they lack the education to do anything else.
Nur’s story is as heartrending as any. Each day he starts with 200 cakes to sell, and each sale gives him a profit of a measly Rp 100. His maximum total profit for any day is thus Rp 20,000 ($2.12), but only if he manages to all 200 cakes — something that he acknowledges happens rarely, if ever.
Mustaya, a personal driver and the father of 5-year-old, also has story that shows how many Indonesians get by from day-to-day on a miraculous shoestring.
In his story, Mustaya says: “If I do the math, my salary is not enough to provide for my family’s needs. But thank God, in reality we somehow manage to survive.”
The stories of Nur, Mustaya and the other 28, retain the same sort of uplifting, triumph-over-adversity feel. There is no denying that it is inspirational to see people who live in such squalid conditions, but are still able to survive and even improve their lives, albeit slowly.
