Before the earthquake, Jeje Aljufri worked as a Chicken Livestock Partner for 2,500 chickens since 2016. He earned IDR750 per chicken. He, his wife, and their four sons lived in the chicken coop where he worked.
When there was an earthquake in 2018, the cage where he worked was completely destroyed, leaving him and his family without a place to live. They had to move from place to place under banana or guava trees for 7 months without income and only received assistance from the surrounding community.
Fortunately, there was a generous policeman who gave him a job to look after broilers. During the 2 months he worked, he raised IDR3,000,000 to buy a 20x15m plot of land to build a cottage to live in and grow crops. He did not give up collecting the coffers from his work in order to find capital to have a garden and his own income so as not to depend on others.
When he found out that his name was included as a beneficiary of ADRA’s assistance, he was very grateful and thought about using ADRA’s capital as a business capital for chicken farming. But he changed his mind because calculating the funds was not enough for the business. He then switched to working on paddy fields covering an area of ± 1 ha. He made a fish pond that he dug himself and planted eggplant and chili plants on the 50mx50m land he borrowed.
Jeje was very happy and grateful that ADRA provides training on agriculture, fisheries, and animal husbandry. His knowledge increased, especially regarding how to eradicate stem borer pests for rice, how to cultivate freshwater fish such as tilapia properly and correctly, chili cultivation, and raising chickens.
His wife was very patient starting life from scratch by helping him cultivate eggplant plants when Jeje worked in the fields. In a day he could earn IDR100,000 per harvest sold to the market or there were collectors who come to take eggplant.
“Thank God and thanks to the funds given, I can use the results from the eggplant harvest to buy my children’s school needs such as books, rice, other necessities, and our economy has improved.”
