Living in Silir in Mojo urban village in Surakarta city, Central Java, means surviving through various challenges. Wheny Susianti, born and raised in the former red-light area, has felt it all since she was young. Once the largest red-light district in Surakarta City, Silir had very limited water and sanitation facilities. Silir had only one public hydrant and one public toilet with two stalls for the entire population of Mojo District. The lack of access made a lot of Silir citizens open defecated on yards and Bengawan Solo River side.
The low quality of water and sanitation caused Silir citizens to be ill and must be repeatedly treated in the community health center (Puskesmas) and hospitals. Wheny, who makes living from being a parking man in Notohardjo market, also experienced the inconvenience of taking care of her sick children and paying for their hospital care bills.
She was determined to stop their environmental health problems. In June 2018, while pregnant with her third child, Wheny went to the Semanggi District Office to ask how to get clean water access. The Head of Semanggi District advised Wheny to consult with Drajat, a health cadre of Semanggi who had the experience of managing water and sanitation program. From Drajat, Wheny found out that she would need to gather at least 50 families to submit the water access request.
Convincing plenty of her neighbors to request water access was no easy deal, particularly because Wheny was not equipped with enough knowledge and skills to do so. Fortunately, the USAID IUWASH PLUS program has implemented the activities to RW 03 where Wheny lived in 2018.
With supports from USAID IUWASH PLUS, Wheny and some of her neighbors established Community Based Organization (CBO) of Mojo Waras. USAID IUWASH PLUS taught them to implement participatory monitoring and evaluation activities, including to collect data, formulate problems, decide upon the program, and implement it afterwards. Wheny and other KSM members educate communities on the importance of safely managed water and sanitation access, as well as advocate other stakeholders to assist the provision of safely managed water and sanitation for the community members in her RW.
Thanks to the KSM Mojo Waras’ hard works, the community’s sanitation and water issues have been gradually resolved. Now the 106 families, who used to rely on public hydrant, have received piped water service through master meter system.
Wheny also gained another priceless benefit. “I used to feel like I was a nobody, someone whose voice would never be considered by decision makers. Now I can be in an equal dialog with government officials, corporate representatives, and other development stakeholders. Silir has become a much better place,” she said.
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