Take a Peek at the Trail of PKH Companions in the Steep Terrain of Batulanteh

SUMBAWA (8 July 2020) – Assisting and educating Beneficiary Families (KPM) is the main task of the Family Hope Program Facilitator (PKH). To be able to provide education, assistants must reach KPM houses. Not infrequently, the distance traveled requires the companion to spend the night at a resident's house.

"Every time I go to the field, I have to stay overnight at a local resident's house," said a PKH Facilitator in Batulanteh District, Sumbawa Regency, Muhammad Isnaini, in his statement via WhatsApp conversation.

Isnaini, as he is often called, accompanied 219 KPM spread over two villages in Batulanteh District, namely Baturotok Village and Klungkung Village. The distance from his residence, in the city of Sumbawa, to the house of his assisted KPM, in Baturotok Village, Batulanteh District, is about 95 KM.

In addition to the long distance, said Isnaini, the damaged and steep path is increasingly slowing the speed of the vehicle to be able to immediately arrive at the village where KPM lives.

"To get to Batulanteh, I have to pass through damaged roads, hills up and down, even occasionally rivers," he explained explaining the terrain he often traveled.

According to him, the most difficult thing to get to the assisted location is when he has to go through the river. He then told the story that he had experienced when he had to deal with the flood that confronted him in the middle of the journey when the connecting bridge had not been built.

“I had to wait for the rain to stop and stay in the middle of the forest at that time. Luckily, there are people's huts who farm around the hill, (which can be used) as shelter for the night. The journey will only continue the next day after conditions are safe, it doesn't rain," he added, telling the story of his ups and downs taking the unusual terrain to KPM village.

However, he admitted that he and his four colleagues were always alert in the mentoring process, starting from the initial validation of prospective participants to the assistance process for disbursing aid.

Seeing Challenges as Opportunities

‘Never go home before the task is complete!’ That is a piece of motivational sentence that is firmly held by them, the PKH Facilitators. This motivation accompanies the duties of social workers scattered throughout the archipelago, including the target of PKH in the corner of the village in Batulanteh District, Sumbawa Regency, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Province.

The man who was born in Tepal in 1991 stated that working with damaged and steep road conditions added to his own challenges. However, he admits, since officially becoming a social assistant in 2015, he has accepted the fact with grace.

“If it is carried out with sincerity and patience, I am sure, no matter how difficult the challenges are, there must be a way out. Likewise with the process of traveling to the assisted location, the travel time can reach 4-5 hours in dry conditions, even half a day if it rains, is how I can manage strategies, time, and all equipment so that no field needs are left behind or forgotten. " he explained.

In addition, he said, another challenge faced was the difficulty of electricity supply at one of the KPM locations he assisted in Sampang Kuang Rea Hamlet, Baturotok Village. New signals entered in 2018, also limited to cellular. Another condition, he added, is that in several hamlets, government assistance has just received electricity in the form of hydropower, which can only light up and illuminate residents' houses for 12 hours/day.

“This condition became my next obstacle, when validating the Electronic PKH (e-PKH) online. However, I still view it positively, I still carry out the task with offline alternative techniques," continued the man who is currently holding the position as Secretary of the Sumbawa Muhammadiyah Youth Regional Leadership.

Furthermore, the 2014 alumni of the Faculty of Law, University of Mataram, said that although the road conditions and electricity supply have not changed much, Batulanteh is an area that has potential to be developed economically.

The area, according to him, is surrounded by forests and dominated by cool hills, so coffee is the main commodity there. He thinks that this potential can be used to ignite the enthusiasm of the beneficiaries to get up and be motivated to be better than the current condition.

“Every activity of the Family Capacity Building Meeting (P2K2), I always motivate local residents with a framework of modules and measurable materials. This answers the strong desire of the residents there to want to change, both socially and economically,” concluded Isnaini.