NURHAYATI, A TYPICAL CLIENT
Nurhayati lives in a one-room wooden house with her three children aged from 6 to 15 and her husband. The walls are made of woven bamboo, the floor is partly cemented, there is no running water, and cooking takes place in a small wood stove outside the house. To relieve themselves, they go to the neighbouring fields or the river. They also bathe and wash their clothes in the same river. This is not a slum area but a permanent rural dwelling.
Nurhayati’s village is located about two hours from Jakarta, and one hour from the district capital Tangerang. Yet she has never visited either city, nor has she ever ventured to the sub-district capital and nearest market town Kampung Melayu where the only bank is located. Nurhayati had to leave primary school after grade three. Now aged 34 and illiterate, Nurhayati supports herself and her family by preparing food at home and selling it in the village. She wakes up at 5 in the morning, prepares breakfast and readies the children for school. She then cooks the fried rice for sale and sets out with it on a large tray on her head. She sells this door-to-door. She returns home at around 11 am, sweeps the house and washes the family’s clothes. In late afternoon, she prepares the evening meal for her family. For all her efforts, Nurhayati earns Rupiah 10,000 or around US$ 1 dollar a day.
Her husband is a landless labourer, a seasonal occupation. When there is no work in the rice fields, he drives a pedicab which he does not own, earning around Rupiah 15,000 per day, after paying rent to the pedicab owner. The total family income comes to Rupiah 650,000 per month ($65) or Rupiah 130,000 per capita per month for this family of five, well below the official poverty line of Rupiah 200,000 per capita per month, adjusted for inflation (US 66 cents per capita per day, unadjusted for purchasing power parity).
Nurhayati and her husband could earn more income, but the family’s working capital amounts to just Rupiah 200,000 or US$ 20 in all. After joining MBK and borrowing Rupiah 500,000 or $50, Nurhayati was able to invest Rp 250,000 in day-to-day goods which she sells on a table in front of her house in the afternoon. Her husband used the remaining half of the working capital to put a down-payment on a second-hand pedicab. The family income soon rose to Rp 1 million per month, enabling the family to cross the poverty line. This is after paying the weekly working capital and interest instalments as well as the instalments on the pedicab. With continued access to working capital at its doorstep, Nurhayati’s family will remain above the poverty line.
