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Profiles of Community Savings Grantées

February 25, 2008
By Erica Karapandi & Akbaroedin Arif

Profiles of Community Savings Grantées – Mrs. Harto

Nice to meet you, I am called Grandmother Harto. I am a 65 year old widow. I live in RT 03 Rw 02 Birit, Wedi, Klaten. In my RT are many still who cannot yet rebuild their houses. I have 5 children—3 daughters and 2 sons. My daughters--Jumilah lives in Nglegrengan, Gantiwarno, Suparmi in Brangkal. Wedi and one more named Lestari live in Karbolo, Bayat. My two sons—one, Sugeng lives in Sembung and the other, Kuat, lives close by me. On May 27th, 2006, the day of the Great Earthquake, my house and the house of my youngest child collapsed.

I had to sleep in a tent for a whole year. Our future was uncertain the neighborhood was very chaotic, and I was never sure if, while I was rebuilding, my house would keep from collapsing again. Up to today I am still living in a temporary house made of simple woven bamboo. It is really not a proper house, and I live with one of my grandchildren and four goats. But in a disaster like this one we are all concerned about the wishes of the Great Power. We mere humans cannot know what we must do beforehand. I had already started business and can afford to continue it if we ask for help from the side. Indeed, we are able to accept money with the help of RR. They help cover rebuilding costs up to 9.000.000 rupiah, but we will accept only 7.500.000 rupiah at the most. That way, the remainder can be split among other people that we know. We accept the grant only because we need the help. My children are also living in poor conditions so they can help the family. Including grandchildren, my family has 17 members. My children took turns sheltering me when my house was destroyed.

February 25, 2008
By Erica Karapandi & Akbaroedin Arif

Profiles of Community Savings Grantées – Mrs. Marsiyem
Name: Mrs. Marsiyem (37 years old)
Occupation: Bread seller
Association: RT 08 RW 04

After tasting life in Jakarta as a factory laborer, Mrs. Marsiyem (Association RT 08 Birit Village) returned to her childhood neighborhood looking to fulfill her basic needs in a simpler way. After experiencing many years in the capital city, Mrs. Marsiyem wanted to come home. She decided to become a food seller in Birit Village, and she chose to sell bread.

Mrs. Marsiyem has been in business for nearly ten months, although her food stand was already established. With a starting capital of 200.000 rupiah, this mother of two children was already familiar with breads and pastries from many regions of Indonesia. Still, at first she only kept two baskets full of merchandise to sell. Early in the day she buys baskets of unbaked breads from the market, and then spends her morning selling around to warungs (small restaurants) until she reaches the end of her route back at the market. Mrs. Marsiyem’s business is growing very quickly right now, as she is the only traveling bread seller. She can now sell up to 11 baskets full of merchandise a day.

Along with unbaked breads, the market also sells many varieties of Indonesian sweets like bakpia, bika ambon, and gandos. Mrs. Marsiyem can sometimes gross as much as 700.000 rupiah in a day, although she still also works in a repair shop every day to supplement her bread business income.

Mrs. Marsiyem’s family registered as community savings members in the program in RT 08. In addition to registering everyone in her family, Mrs. Marsiyem has also held the chairperson position in the community savings group. The members of Mrs. Marsiyem’s family registered with the group in order to provide a good example for other savings groups. The savings group in RT 08 provides a good model because since the beginning the group has been positive and very helpful in the community. They are able to provide loans of 200.000 rupiah which helps to add capital to businesses like Mrs. Marsiyem’s bread selling business. Mrs. Marsiyem was able to start her business with only 200.000 rupiah and build it up from 2 baskets of bread a day to 11 daily baskets. With a loan of 200.000 rupiah Mrs. Marsiyem can buy another 15 different varieties of bread and sweets to add to her business. The loan also helps to meet financial needs of Mrs. Marsiyem’s family.


Mrs. Marsiyem is enthusiastic about the growth of the community savings group in RT. She helped the group with bookkeeping before she was even a registered member. According to Mrs. Marsiyem, the savings must be carefully managed because if the treasurer is careless it will have a great negative impact on the morale of the group. They must especially take care to avoid treasurers who give special loans to themselves. Mrs. Marsiyem hopes that community savings group RT 08 will continue to grow and endure for a long time.

February 24, 2008
By Erica Karapandi & Akbaroedin Arif

Profiles of Community Savings Grantées – Mrs. Sudarmi
Name: Mrs. Sudarmi (37 years old)
Occupation: Traveling bakso (meatball) seller
Association: RT 04 RW 03

Selling bakso ojek (baked meatballs) may not provide a very large income, yet Mrs. Sudarmi chooses to sell bakso ojek in order to help her husband provide for her family’s basic necessities. They are both citizens of RT 04 and have also become part of the committee in the local community savings group, though they joined after they had already begun selling bakso ojek. Because they want to have more children, they anticipate that their family costs will continue to increase. It is important that they have the community savings to provide extra capital when necessary.

This mother of three children is so shy that she must be asked questions through her husband, yet she will do any kind of work for the sake of her family’s well being. “Although I am no longer a single woman, I am embarrassed to take my husband’s money when my cooking can make money for us too,” she says. It is this conviction and not financial need that inspired Mrs. Sudarmi to begine to sell bakso ojek. Schools close to Mrs. Sudarmi’s home are good for business. “Not many women would want to do this work, as it is difficult to do alone. But it is also an interesting business.” Mrs. Sudarmi’s husband used to work alone, but now she helps him to sell more. Now every morning Mrs. Sudarmi goes to sell bakso ojek by the elementary school near her house while her husband sells at other elementary schools in the area. And when they have leftover meatballs after selling at the schools, Mrs. Sudarmi’s husband will sell more bakso ojek around the neighborhood with his bike. The base materials for bakso ojek are only wheat flour and starch, but when mixed with spices Mrs. Sudarmi cooks the meatballs with a trademark flavor that is more delicious than other bakso sellers.

Every evening Mrs. Sudarmi begins to prepare spices and materials for the next day’s meatballs. In one day she makes 4 or 4.5 kilograms of these meatballs. This fills two large pans of bakso ojek to sell the following day. If one pan sells out, it can yield Rp 15.000. The daily average for Mrs. Sudarmi to get from the bakso ojek business is about Rp 30.000 if she sells out both pans. “Yes I am called a business woman, and while my livings costs are not covered by my business alone, enough of our costs are met that my business is important to us,” she says. Mrs. Sudarmi is also an active member of the community savings group RT 04. She has in fact already taken out a small loan of 100.000 rupiah herself, and wants to follow this loan with another larger loan. But because many people were taking out loans when Mrs. Sudarmi applied, she split the amount and took a smaller loan. The additional capital, though a smaller amount, is enough to already help her bakso ojek business. The first installment of her loan, 100.000 rupiah, has already gone to buying materials to make enough bakso ojek for three days. When selling out all of her bakso ojek this husband-wife team can, with luck, bring in as much as 30.000 rupiah a day. Their loan is already enough to help to give extra money to this family, who once before took a loan and had to pay 10.000 rupiah to buy credit. With community savings groups, members are freed from the stranglehold of interest collectors, which is very important for low-income families like that of Mrs. Sudarmi.


Mrs. Sudarmi and her husband (Her husband is in the photo.) have many hopes which represent the large hopes of the entire community savings committee. They hope that the program will become a permanent asset in neighborhood RT. The program has many benefits that help citizens who need extra capital for their small businesses. The program is not for business people who can make difficult repayments, but for many members of the community whom Mrs. Sudarmi hopes will become more interested in the program.

December 10, 2007
By Erica Karapandi & Akbaroedin Arif

Profiles of Community Savings Grantées – Mrs. Suparni
Name : Mrs. Suparni (30 years old)
Occupation : Kindergarten teacher and sundries store owner
Association: RT 01 RW 01 BIRIT Village

Mrs. Suparni dreams of one day owning a daycare, but since she is already 40 years old she thinks that God may have a different plan for her. Though her prayers for a daycare have not been answered, she is able to play with young children every day as a kindergarten teacher. In addition to staying busy with children, Mrs Suparni has run a small sundries shop since 2005. In the mornings she still teaches at the kindergarten because her husband, Mr. Suparmin, helps with the store during the day. Although it is said that small stores are disorganized due to the Indonesian practice of operating shops from inside the family home, Mrs. Suparni is almost finished renovating a part of her house to devote solely to the shop. Her shop provides small items for daily needs.

At the beginning, Mrs. Suparni and Mr. Suparmin had no experience in sales. At first they were only selling limited amounts of goods. For example, they would sell 5 or 6 packs of cigarettes and maybe 10 packages of dried noodle; they desperately to attract more customers. They managed to develop a struggling business into a successful one using good sales strategies. Most of the goods that they stock in the store are small and cheap, only costing customers about 2.000 to 3.000 rupiah. By keeping prices low, they are able to sell out of their merchandise quickly and replace items efficiently. Because the goods are frequently replaced, Mrs. Suparni and Mr. Suparmin ensure the quality and freshness of their merchandise.

Every two days the couple buys goods wholesale from a grocer at the local market, spending about 1.200.000 rupiah for new merchandise. Mr. Suparmin estimates that their store can collect up to 500.000 to 600.000 a day, and sometimes even more around holidays. Mrs. Suparni says that around Lebaran Day (the official end of Ramadhan fasting for the Moslem holy month), since many large shops and markets close for the holiday, small sundries shops can make as much as 1.600.000 rupiah in a day.


Mrs. Suparni has been a community savings member since the beginning and has already taken out a loan for 200.000 to add capital to her business. With this loan she can buy a large amount of dried noodles and cooking oil wholesale. Buying goods wholesale allows her to make a larger profit from her shop, which does not usually generate much profit due to her low selling prices. She estimates that from a 200.000 rupiah loan, she may make 75.000 rupiah in profit. Even this small profit is enough to subsidize the daily needs of her family. According to Mrs. Suparni, the community savings group is very helpful to its members because they are able to use the extra capital to improve their businesses. If they improve their businesses, then they can increase their profits and decrease their financial burdens and worries. Mrs. Suparni thinks that the committee for the community savings group must remain disciplined about loan repayment in order for the program to run well and last a long time. She believes that the wealthier members will help the entire group by adding capital to the community savings. Mrs. Suparni also hopes that the increasing amount of savings will generate enthusiasm for repayment and help the group recruit more members.

Update December 10, 2007
By Erica Karapandi & Akbaroedin Arif

Profiles of Community Savings Grantées – Mrs. Darto
Name : Mrs. Darto (75 years old)
Occupation : Kerupuk (chip) seller
Association: RT 01 RW 01 BIRIT VILLAGE

Mrs. Darto may be 75 years old, but that does not lessen her spirit! Mrs. Darto lives alone so she likes to work to occupy her time. She has used the same old bicycle for more than ten years to sell her kerupuk (chips made of flour and flavored with fish or shrimp, served alongside or on top of many Indonesian dishes).

She buys kerupuk from a big seller in for 40.000,00 rupiah. Every day she brings two sacks of kerupuk on her bike to sell, but her sales fluctuate. “When you sell, you do not always profit. Sometimes you lose something too. The average seller can never be certain if they will make enough money to buy their daily food, by grace of Allah.”. A grandmother of five, Mrs. Darto believes that selling kerupuk keeps her revitalized. Because every buyer wants a different amount of kerupuk, she sells them in many forms-- by the dozen or pre-wrapped in plastic pouches. Her kerupuk prices start from 500 rupiah for a small plastic bag. She can make up to 20.000 rupiah a day, but this is not guaranteed and she will often make much less.

Mrs. Darto, whose late husband died two years ago, is not only involved with community savings group RT 01 for BIRIT village, she is also one of the most active members. Mrs. Darto’s three sons are happy that she became involved with community savings because it is easy to get a profitable loan with the group. Loans as big as 200.000 rupiah can be used to buy kerupuk. With the aforementioned money, she can buy three sacks of kerupuk However, she must spend her money carefully because if she buys too much kerupuk at once the chips might go stale before she sells out. Mrs. Darto can sell three sacks of fresh kerupuk in about one week. This might make 80.000 to 100.000 rupiah in the week—quite a large amount. This amount helps Mrs. Darto meet her economic needs, which, since she lives alone, do not total much. Although her youngest son still often visits, Mrs. Darto does not let her life depend on her children because they all already have families of their own. She says that she wants to make her own living now, as her children will someday have the difficulty of supporting her. Her kerupuk business fulfills her needs for now, but Mrs. Darto points out that her fate is the will of a greater power.“My answer is that I will work until I am no longer strong enough to buy my own basic necessities. Then maybe I will stop,” she smiles.

Update November 15, 2007
By Erica Karapandi & Akbaroedin Arif

Profiles of Community Savings Grantées – Mr. Sukemi
Name : Mrs. Sukemi (44 years old)
Occupation : Selling gravestones, engravings, and stone materials
Association: RT 02 RW 01 BIRIT Village

Mr. Sukemi’s family business is selling kijing (gravestones), engravings, and raw stone material. The three segments of his business are interdependent. Mr. Sukemi’s wife, Mrs. Novi, helps him with his business, especially with bookkeeping as she has experience in accounting. Mrs. Novi is also an officer in the community savings group RT 02. The gravestone business that Mrs. Novi and Mr. Sukemi run was actually founded by Mr. Sukemi’s father. Mr. Sukemi manages the family business here alone after his father opened another branch in a different location. Since taking over management he has held out through many great challenges to protect the business. The kijing business is not attractive to most people, and since need for the stones fluctuates Mr. Sukemi’s profits are never stable from month to month.


It takes careful observation of the market, cleverness, and a good business sense to remain successful in this business, so Mr. Sukemi is always challenged by his work. Mr. Sukemi, the father of two children, enjoys his work more and more the longer he runs his kijing business. However, selling kijing alone does not generate enough capital to meet his family’s daily needs. He may only sell one or two kjing in a month, and sometimes he may not sell any at all. But he is always able to sell many kijing during ruah musim (the month before fasting in the Javanese calendar), as many people need kijing before the holy month. Although Mr. Sukemi may not sell many kijing on a daily basis, he always keeps his workers busy making new pieces. He is always able to stock his display windows with an arrangement of kijing. He must admit that Mrs. Novi often comes up with the most creative ideas for the kijing, and Mr. Sukemi makes his engravings as interesting as possible based upon her sketches.

Most kijing sell for between 300.000 and 700.000 rupiah, but depending on the base material and amount of work put into the piece the price can reach even 1.000.000 rupiah. A basic kijing made from a usual stone costs only 300.000 rupiah. Because of competition in the market, Mr. Sukemi uses sound business strategies to remain successful and competitive. He offers his kijing at lower prices than other suppliers and also strives to give the best service. In addition to his kijing business, Mr. Sukemi does engravings and sells raw stone materials. His material business complements his kijing shop and also provides a relatively consistent income. Most businesses in Birit village experience some instability, but because Mr. Sukemi runs several complementary operations he protects himself from failure. The raw material business is always successful, and he is even able to sell broken kijing as raw stone. He sells a lot of concrete, especially after the 2006’s earthquake. Many people came to him to buy building materials for destroyed homes and especially to repair wells for drinking water.

According to Mrs. Novi, the family’s business has held strong through the earthquake disaster because they keep good relations with many customers, and community savings helped her by offering profitable loans. Mrs. Novi once held the top chairperson position in her community savings group. However, because the group’s treasurer resigned, Mrs. Novi took over the bookkeeping instead. The chairperson position went to the neighborhood head (community leader).

Mr. Sukemi and Mrs. Novi are both registered members of the community savings group RT 02 in Birit village. Mr. Sukemi joined after his wife and was quickly able to borrow money because of her influence. The family’s first loan, for 200.000 rupiah, was borrowed in the name of Mrs. Novi, as she was already an established member of the group. Mr. Sukemi was able to take out a second loan for 200.000 rupiah later in his name. Both Mrs. Novi and Mr. Sukemi added the capital from their loans to the family business. With 400.000 rupiah in total, Mr. Sukemi can buy three large stones as raw material for three kijing. After work on the kijing, they can sell for 300.000 rupiah each, so all three pieces will generate total income of 900.000 rupiah. From a loan of 400.000 rupiah Mr. Sukemi can make a profit of 500.000 rupiah. Although this seems like a large amount of profit, it is certainly not a daily occurance to make so much money. The idea of this profit motivates Mr. Sukemi to further develop and advance his business, as such income is not a guarantee.

The community savings program, according to Mrs. Novi, is positive, very helpful, and much needed by its members. Her hope is that the supervision of the program continues as now to keep the members organized. If the members are not closely supervised, she thinks that they may begin to forget the importance of repayment and look at the available money as gifts rather than loans.

Update November 13, 2007
By Erica Karapandi & Akbaroedin Arif

Profiles of Community Savings Grantées – Mrs. Suparti
Name : Mrs. Suparti (30 years old)
Occupation : goat sate seller
Association : RT 02 RW 01 BIRIT Village


The fragrant and appetizing aroma of specially prepared goat meat always surrounds a warung (small restaurant) located barely a hundred meters across the street from the Birit Village office. Wife and husband Mrs. Suparti and Mr. Pardi are both members of RT 02 and owners of this goat meat warung, which already has many loyal customers. Although uncooked meat is not on display in front of their warung, the delicious aroma of cooking meat attracts anyone fond of goat.

Sate kambing (goat meat grilled on skewers) is the mainstay at this warung, but Mrs. Suparti also prepares tongseng kambing (goat cooked with cabbage), gulai kambing (goat curry), tengkleng (boiled goat bones), and even nasi goreng kambing (fried rice with goat meat). Also for sale are a variety of drinks, kerrupuk (fish flavored chips), keripik (assorted crispy chips), and other small snacks. The warung has been in business for nearly three years and its income is the main livelihood for Mrs. Suparti’s family. When the 2006’s earthquake hit Birit and destroyed Mrs. Suparti’s home and warung, she was determined to keep the disaster from dampening her spirit. She closed her warung for several months to repair, and little by little she began to rebuild, looking for loans to offset the expenses. Thanks to her perseverance and patience for rebuilding and continuous work, her hopes were realized and the business is finally back to normal.

Every day Mr. Pardi slaughters one or two goats, and though a young goat costs up to RP 250.000 they must always have fresh meat for their business. The family’s warung is never empty, and customers often come until as late as midnight. Although there are many other food sellers in the area, including other goat meat warung, the special taste and freshness of Mrs. Suparti’s cooking keeps her food in high demand. For only RP 6.000, a customer can buy a hearty portion of sate kambing or other goat dishes. In a single day the warung can make profits of 300 to 350 thousand rupiah. This is enough to cover daily expenses for Mrs. Suparti’s family. Mrs. Suparti, who is now pregnant, believes that the community savings group RT 02 can guarantee her additional needed capital for her business. New opportunities have allowed Mrs. Suparti to take a second loan. The loans are for RP 100.000, which is not quite enough to buy a goat, but Mrs. Suparti puts at least half of the loan toward buying a goat and uses the other half for other business necessities. Her hopes for the community savings program are that it will continue to run smoothly and will attract many business owners not only at the beginning but also throughout the program to allow the savings to grow. Mrs. Suparti hopes that this program will continue to be successful as it is a great help for the community, and especially for small business owners like herself.