Demak River
Friday, January 11th, 2008
A community lived by the banks of Demak. The locals use the river’s water for cleaning their dog, for washing clothes and dishes, and for washing themselves. And also for brushing their teeth and for cooking food. And take this: It is also the place to go when nature calls! And you can see all these activities openly because Demak is just beside the highway, and for most parts, the water is brown. I saw an old woman trying to clear the river with impurities by warding off floatsams before scooping water and pouring into a kettle. For tea? Yeah, maybe! There were plastic cups, a coke bottle, shampoo sachets and old newspapers. I see dragonflies, and flies, and a snake crawling past thick grass and duckweeds near the shallow ends. And today we are supposed to clean this river, about thirty international volunteers and a company of the Indonesian Army among us.
I do not think words can give justice to the filthiness of this river. While the others carefully pulled weeds by the banks, I slipped and fell over, and only my head bobbed about. Surrounded by water lilies, flies buzzed around my head. I swallowed ten right away and one was stuck in my throat. I tried coughing it out, but it lingered at the tip of my tongue before I was able to spit it out. Then something crawled inside my shorts, and I sensed movements underneath my feet. I thrash about and tiptoed toward the shallows wary of any fanged creature lurking at the bottom. Moments later, another volunteer fell over, and another, and yet another, until half of us scoured weeds and trash in the shoulder high filthy waters. Shouts and splashes and laughter echoed. It turned out to be fun. Yeah, dirty fun, literally….
