Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Malang – Muati, 60, seems to enjoy preparing the tobacco, which she blends with other ingredients and puts inside a roll of cigarette paper.
After lighting it up, she drags in the smoke deeply, as she stares blankly in front of her house, with walls made of woven bamboo, measuring eight-by-four meters. It is located in Bekur hamlet, some 60 kilometers west of Malang city.
Although she has just recently observed the 40th day ritual following her husband's death, who succumbed to digestive and respiratory illnesses, Muati said she could not afford to relax if she wants to survive. She has to ignore the grief, and carry a crowbar again, to make ends meet.
The mother of one has to start climbing up the hill located behind her house. Equipped with the crowbar, she breaks limestone rocks atop the hill so that she can sell them to middlemen, from which the earnings are just enough to buy her staple food – rice, which is then mixed with gaplek (dried cassava), tiwul (ground gaplek) or corn.
The woman, who is in her 50s, has been in this situation for the past three years, when her husband, who was also a rock breaker, fell sick, and was only able to lie weakly at home.
Her strength is definitely not the equal of her late husband when he was healthy. He could fill a truck with rocks within a week, but that is not the case for Muati. "The quickest I can fill a truck is one month," she said.
She earns Rp 40,000 (US$4.00) per truckload from breaking the rocks. The money is used to buy 10 kilograms of rice to be mixed with gaplek, which must last for a month. However, if something goes wrong, Muati has to resort to onlygaplek with cabbage and instant noodles.
Muati is one of the poorest household heads of around 850 families, or 6,500 people, living in Bekur hamlet.
According to the Bekur hamlet chief, Misadi, around 40 percent of the villagers are unable to afford unmixed rice. "They only keep the rice or mix it with gaplek, corn or tiwul, and will only cook it when there is a ceremonial feast," said Misadi.
According to Misadi, when the 40 percent of residents in Bekur hamlet can only eat pure gaplek, the other 60 percent can be considered better off since they can still eat rice mixed with a 50:50 or 60:40 ratio of corn, gaplek or tiwul.
Due to the harsh geographical conditions of the area, which is situated on a limestone hill range and far from the regental capital, in addition to its soil condition, which is only suitable for growing corn, sugarcane and cassava, buying rice at prices ranging from Rp 4,200 to Rp 4,500 per kilogram is a luxury staple for local residents.
Juariyah, 30, Muati's neighbor in the hamlet located near the site of the planned Sengguruh reservoir, said that she could only buy a maximum of 20 kg of rice at Rp 4,200 per kg each month.
"The amount of rice, which will be mixed with corn, is just enough for me, my husband, my child and my nephew, who is staying with us. If we had the money, we'd surely opt for pure rice," said Juariyah.
Her husband, Subur, 33, who is also a rock breaker, is still strong, and is able to meet orders for truckloads of limestone each week, but most of the time he does it in 10 days. He can usually earn about Rp 200,000 per month.
They are fortunate, since their child and nephew are excused from paying school fees, enabling Juariyah to set aside some money from her husband's earnings.
Most of the villagers in Bekur and its neighboring village, Bandarangin, do not own land for growing crops.
According to Misadi, the total area of rice crops in both villages spans just one hectare. The rest of the villagers lease the land that will soon be dammed up to create a reservoir, on which they grow cassava, corn and sugarcane.
Land leases range from Rp 8,500 to Rp 25,000 per year. Residents can only grow crops in the dry season.
The moment they are harvested, corn will be directly dried, removed from its cob and later ground up, as will cassava – peeled, put out to dry and ground up to make gaplek flour, so it can be preserved and kept for two to three months.
In the rainy season, corn and cassava can be harvested twice a year, but during long dry seasons, the crops can only be harvested once a year due to the less fertile land in Pagak district.
The government has actually provided assistance in the form of the cash aid program of Rp 300,000 to each family once in three months, but recipients in both hamlets argue that it is still inadequate to meet their basic needs.
The residents have also been provided with the rice-for-the-poor assistance, but must wait their turn for five months to obtain 10 kg of the government-subsidized rice – which is supposed to be Rp 1,000 per kg.