The Beat of Life from Behind the Blue Tent, Support for Thousands of Ready-to-eat Foods in an Emergency
Translator :
Karlina Irsalyana
SURABAYA (July 20, 2021) – Six public kitchen cars are parked next to a
large tent forming the letter L painted blue. The letters 'KEMENSOS (--MINISTRY
OF SOCIAL AFFAIRS—Read)' are engraved. Dashing and striking in white over blue.
Inside this tent, the heart of life beats. From this
tent, various ready-to-eat menus and boiled eggs are cooked. This food aid is
awaited by the officers who because of their dedication, must focus on the
task. So it needs to be assisted so that the task of serving the community in
an emergency period continues to run optimally.
As a public kitchen, in this tent, there is various
supporting equipment. There are jumbo-sized frying pans, as well as a gas
stove. Here and there, dangling tubular tubing hoses connect LPG gas
cylinders and stoves.
The time showed at 04.25 pm local time, and the
volunteers from the social pillars shared their duties. The cooking team had
just finished their job and the distribution team started to send thousands of
boxed rice and eggs to various designated places. Various cooking utensils take
a break. The process of cooking the food just passed.
The public kitchen on Jalan Arif Rahman Hakim
number 131-133 beside the Surabaya Convention Hall building, can produce
between 5,000-6,000 boxes of ready-to-eat meals, and around 300 boiled eggs,
every day. This is not an easy matter.
These volunteers come from the Disaster Preparedness
Cadets (Tagana), Community Social Workers (PSM), District Social Welfare
Workers (TKSK), Family Hope Program (PKH) companions, and Youth Organizations and
the social pillars work in three shifts: morning, afternoon and evening.
Each shift is manned by about 15 people. “If it is
complete, it can send 15 people in each shift, so in a day there are 45 people
taking turns. But the number can fluctuate if one of the youth groups is sick
or self-isolated," said the representative of Karang Taruna of Surabaya
City, Handik.
After all, the faces of the public kitchen
volunteers were still happy. They are always alert and do not seem tired or
sluggish. Their enthusiasm was further pumped by the presence of the Minister
of Social Affairs Tri Rismaharini yesterday. Of course, also because of the
awareness that the difficult task is to help the community affected by the
Java-Bali Emergency Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) policy.
The sun continued to head for the contest. Meanwhile, one by one the distribution
team continued to deliver food according to the notes on the whiteboard to the
public. The food is addressed to health workers, PPKM insulating officers in
the field such as the TNI (Indonesian National Army)-Polri (Indonesian Police),
Satpol PP (Civil Service Police Unit), transportation services, graveyard
officers, as well as some of the underprivileged residents who are
self-isolating.
Handik also said that the Youth Organizations in
Surabaya are located in 31 sub-districts and 154 sub-districts. The youth
organizations involved in Surabaya public kitchens consist of youth
organizations in Surabaya, District Youth Organizations in Surabaya, and Youth
Organizations in Surabaya.
Of the 31 Karang Taruna Subdistricts in Surabaya
that could attend, there were around 12 Subdistricts, this was because there were
members of the Youth Organizations in several Subdistricts who were practicing self-isolated
and taking care of sick families.
Accompanied by a cup of black coffee, Handik
also explained the various Karang Taruna activities in Surabaya during the
Covid-19 pandemic in their respective environments. Activities include spraying
disinfectants, distributing masks as well as outreach and education on health
protocols to the public.
“During the Covid-19 pandemic, we along with
other social pillars worked together in the neighborhood and since July 5, we
have been helping in public kitchens. The obstacles faced are, for example,
transportation problems for sending aid to residents who are located quite far
from Surabaya," he said.
In Bandung, volunteers also work tirelessly. The
public kitchen at Wyata Guna Center Bandung has started to cook since 03.00
this morning providing boiled eggs and ready-to-eat food. Public Kitchen
Management is divided into groups consisting of a team for cooking rice, a team
for chopping vegetables and side dishes, a team for cooking vegetables and side
dishes, and a packaging team.
Under a joint team consisting of Disaster
Preparedness Cadets (Tagana) from both the City and the Regency in the Bandung
area, West Java Social Office employees, as well as Wyata Guna employees have
deftly produced food menus such as rice, beefsteak, chili fried potatoes,
accompanied by citrus fruits, this mineral water swiftly prepares box after box
of ready-to-eat rice.
The rice box which is now filled has begun to be
assembled in plastic bags by the packaging team. By using pick-up vehicles,
boxcars, and also medium-sized trucks, one by one the ready-to-eat food
packages were filled in a matter of minutes in the belly of the distribution
vehicle.
The Public Kitchen of Wyata Guna Center Bandung
can provide 3,641 packs of boiled eggs, and 2,500 boxed rice, which
is then directly distributed to several hospitals, Community Welfare
Institutions (LKS), residents in centralized self-isolation, and field officers
on duty.
Some parties who received this assistance
expressed their appreciation and gratitude for the assistance provided by MoSA
during this Emergency PPKM period.
"I am a representative of the Director of
Al-Ikhsan Hospital, Bandung, thank you very much to MoSA, which has helped a
lot in sending eggs and ready-to-eat food. We did not expect MoSA to pay so
much attention to the Health Workers in our Hospital," said Deputy
Director of Human Resources of Hospital Al-Ikhsan Hari Mursid.
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