Scholastic Orientation

Scholastic themes were referred to by many of the participants, both adults and children, when discussing the flood. As a cultural determinant of Indonesian childhood, education is

169 an important social structure of children’s lives (UNESCO, 2010). It consumes a large portion of their daily lives and school represents one of the main, stable locations where children participate socially. Remarks made by parents and children suggest however that education is more than just a social structure; it is also a cultural value that is given a high regard and priority by this community. Whether the children adopted this view based on their parent’s ideals or if they developed it individually is unclear, but in either case, it appears to be a very strong value of this sample.

For the child participants, the importance of studying is shown in their priority lists. Scholastic supplies, or even school itself, were listed by all of the groups as one of the ten most important things that children would want or need in a flood situation. School supplies ranked overall as the fourth most important item in the priorities lists. Other items pertaining to school were also included and ranked on the lists: school (13th), school books (14th), school uniform (26th) and school bag (31st) (see Figure 3-3). The children’s views on education were also revealed in their questionnaire responses. One question on the second questionnaire asked, “what are the expectations of children?”; that is, what is it that the interviewees think children are supposed to do? Of the nineteen child respondents, fifteen answered: “studying”, being smart, or otherwise referred to education. Interestingly, in

response to the subsequent question, “According to adults, what are children able to do?”, only three of the same fifteen participants answered studying; other responses referred to playing and helping their parents. While this may indicate children’s views of their parent’s (or adult’s) standpoint, it does not appear to be representative of what parents actually think. When a female child participant asked what kind of life is desired and what help is needed during or following a flood, her mother brought up the topic of education:

Proper life, simple, and can see the children studying and reach their successes, to be useful for the country and the nation … and parents.

(mother – intv by Kantel, female, 11) As the people who live in the river bank I wish the government to give help … proper to family and children so they can continue their study

(mother – intv by Kantel, female, 11)

Later when discussing the fact the family will be relocating to an area outside of the flood plain, she made reference is again to school:

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Yes, yes I will move on, and put you and your sibling to school, so you can be clever

(mother – intv by Kantel, female, 11)

The value and importance placed on education becomes very apparent in a disaster situation. The flood occurred during the school year just as exams were to begin, which resulted in the postponement of the exams by a week. The interruption of the “studying process” was a cause of concern for parents who believed their children should continue

studying despite the flood.

Dimas : … were they [the children] happy during the flood? Parent 1: The children … I am not sure … how they are … the

most important thing is they keep on studying …

(Parent 1, female, n.a.) (Dimas, male assistant 2)

This same mother referred to school in response to the very first question of her interview, asking how the flood was and what she felt:

I was scared. And the children could not go to school

(Parent 1, female, n.a.)

In the same way, the first comment made by the father of a male participant concerning the children’s reactions was about school:

The children were obviously troubled, school was disturbed

(Parent 6, male, n.a.)

Attempts were made by parents to maintain normal scholastic routines in spite of the flooding. The aforementioned father relocated his family during the flood event for various reasons, one of them being school:

Yes, finally to anticipate the children so they won’t miss their study, I relocated the children to their aunt’s place, 7km from here. So, for school, we left from there.

(Parent 6, male, n.a.)

Even families that did not relocate from the area tried to prevent disruption of school activity. One female participant said that her parents asked her to go to school the day after the flood, even though there was water still covering large parts of the community.

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… in the morning, I was asked to go to school but the school was flooded.

(Anggrek, female, 14)

Not to be hindered by the flood, another mother pointed out that even if the children could not attend school, this did not mean they could not study:

Just scared … they [children] weren't stressed … scared how [they] would the school go … but they could still study

(Parent 1, female, n.a.)

Some of the child participants attempted to follow this advice, but they encountered difficulties:

Melati : When we wanted to study, it was raining Jesika : there were leaks on the tent

Indah : so you couldn't study? Melati : No

(Melati, female, 11) (Jesika, female, 11) (Indah, female assistant)

The flood event highlighted the importance given to education by the affected community. One possible reason it is valued so highly may be that school offers children the chance to “reach their dreams” (Leon, male, age 12). For most of the children, obtaining a good education represents the only real way to escape poverty.

Babugura (2008) offers support for this conclusion. Her study of how drought impacts children in Botswana found that education was highly valued by children as it leads to a better future.

Attending school was important for all of them, as they recognized the importance of getting a good education as they dreamed of having a good job one day. Moreover, growing up in poor homes was a strong motivator for them to want to go to school. They want a better life in the future, for themselves and their future children, and they believe this will only happen if they go to school. (Babugura, 2008, p. 143)

Yet Babugura’s study reveals a contrast in the way education may be valued by parents. One third of her child participants (ten out of thirty) were taken out of school during the drought in order to help with household chores (e.g. fetching water) or take care of siblings so caregivers could go work (p. 142). While the children understood the importance of

172 helping their family, they were “unhappy about being taken out of school” (p. 143) and one girl felt that if her mother knew how much she liked school she would make different arrangements (p. 147). Babugura does not however include any comments from parents concerning education in her paper.

There are also a few notable differences between the two studies which may explain why school is not prioritised by (all) parents in Botswana during a drought. The most obvious difference is the duration of the disaster. The Indonesian flood event lasted a week while droughts may continue for months, severely straining already precarious financial situations of families. Poverty is clearly the driving force behind the removal children from school in Botswana. Daily survival supplants the longer-term benefits of education during the drought. In addition, the number of single female-headed households (15 in total; 8 of whom removed children from school) in the Botswana study, compared to the number in this study (4, two of which have other adult relatives residing with them), means that if the mother must leave home to find work due to the drought there is no one else to take care of household duties. The Botswana sample was also older (10-18 yrs); though based on my observations, a high school education is equally valued and prioritised by Indonesian parents.

In both cases, education is highly valued and prioritised by children as a means to escape poverty, and this value becomes quite evident in disasters. Parental responses to education during disaster events differ between these two studies. While the reasons for this difference are not clear, the duration of the event and the degree of poverty experienced may play a role.

5.1.5

Poverty

The socio-economic status of the child participants did contribute to their experiences. The research area is a low-income neighbourhood (by Indonesian standards). There is a range of economic status within the community, exemplified by ownership of a house, the quality of housing materials and furnishings, and many parents are employed as factory workers or day labourers.

the people at the riverbank, [are] mostly small people or hard workers … their incomes cannot be counted with big or small, to

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survive or get extra decent income, so they can live like most people …

(mother – intv by Kantel, female, 11)

The child participants are not left untouched by this poverty. One of the community leaders described how poverty affected the children within the community,

here, there are many poor children. Labourer. They're sent to school, they haven't had breakfast. Just given 2000, 3000 for food. They're left to work.

(Teacher 2, male, n.a.)

The implications of poverty are compounded when there is a flood event. From an economic standpoint, the greatest impacts of the flood were caused by the loss of possessions and the loss of income both of which are linked to poverty. Apart from the safety of family members, much of the stress and concern children expressed related to these losses.

The loss of possessions, further described in Section 5.2.2.3, meant that families were faced with the problem of replacing them, which can be very difficult for those struggling to provide for daily expenses such as food and clothing. The loss of expensive items such as televisions, radios and fridges, even irons, can mean that they will not be replaced for some time, if at all. One female participant’s fridge was destroyed and had not been replaced a year and half later. In her child-run interview of her mother, she asks about what things her mother would like to buy:

Kantel : What kind of things [do] you want to buy but you cannot buy it yet?

Kantel’s mother : Yes, like … chair, refrigerator which cannot be saved earlier and now I couldn’t afford it yet, and so on, like the things that are still messy. Machine.. iron.. things which were destroyed.. and so on, if we have enough fortune in the future we will buy them again, and now we can just ask for our kids to have good education.

(Kantel, female, 11) (mother – intv by Kantel, female, 11)

The refrigerator mentioned here appears in the child participant’s drawing (Figure 5-2) and was mentioned during the group interview. A bird cage was also lost and is included in the drawing.

174 Figure 5-2: Child participant drawing (Kantel, female, 11)

includes fridge and bird cage (gupon) destroyed by the flood

Expensive possessions, such as televisions and radios, appear in several of the child participant’s drawings (Figure 5-3 & Figure 5-4). These items were also mentioned frequently when discussing which belongings were saved from a flood. One group discussed that the main reason behind these choices was financial,

Jo : Why did you bring the TV?

Bella : Because when it is broken again, we would have to spend more money

Jo : Because it is expensive? Kristian : Waste of money

(Bella, female, 9) (Kristian, male, 9) (Jo, male assistant 1)

175 Figure 5-3: Child participant drawing (Rooney, male, 13)

TV and radio in the flood water

The financial burden of replacing lost possessions is heightened the already pressing problem created by a loss of income. During the flood event parents were unable to work for various reasons. The problem was put rather succinctly by one of the child participants:

When you are wet, you can’t earn money

(Bella, female, 9)

A loss of income for some meant that daily expenses such as purchasing food became difficult. One mother said in an interview conducted by her daughter:

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… I cannot work. I cannot eat. Because I don’t have money, I even sold my chicken to eat …

(mother – intv by Anggrek, female, 14)

Figure 5-4: Child participant drawing (Jordan, female, 11) TV inside the house and out of reach of the flood water

For children whose families have few monetary resources (and no insurance), the effects of a flood endures long after the water subsides. Lost or destroyed items were replaced slowly, if at all. The loss of income to a family crippled them at the time and forced them rely on government assistance and the generosity of others. No child reported that their parents were unable to return to work or had permanently lost employment because after the flood, so income did return following the flood, but losses incurred did not appear to be made up easily.

This socio-economic condition, along with the other socially and culturally specific practices, and attitudes described, contributed to shape the children’s experiences of the flood event. Together these elements formed the broad cultural and social context of the flood event that creates the backdrop from the geographic and circumstantial context.

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5.2

Sites and Circumstances

The geographic and circumstantial context of the flood refers to the specific sites where children experienced and interacted with the flood events and the impacts of these flood events during and after the event. The physical geography of the flood event interacted with the geography of daily life, altering the physical landscape of the community and forcing the children to either adapt or suspend regular activities. The perceived threat to life, the short yet intermittent nature of the flood and the significant loss of possessions defined the ‘traumatic exposure’ impacts experienced. The impacts of the post-disaster environment were however largely moderated by the wide-spread availability of social support, which influenced the living conditions and tempered the influence of parental distress. Each of these elements formed a piece of the contextual setting which influenced the child participants’ experiences and reactions.

The disaster literature discussed in Chapter 4, theories concerning a child’s experience of disaster in particular (Section 4.3.2), shape the way in which these findings were analysed. The group and individual interview data, questionnaires and the priority lists again played a large role in substantiating the findings. The children’s drawings stood out as being especially valuable when discussing the traumatic exposure experienced as they were able to capture sentiments in a way that the other data collection methods could not.