Casniati, 42, holds up her Koperasi Kasih Indonesia (KKI) savings book in front of her grocery shop in the area of West Kalibaru, Cilincing, North Jakarta, Friday (9/6). The single mother of two is one KKI member who has benefited from the cooperative’s savings and loans scheme, although she had never made a regular habit to save money before. Thousands of other KKI members are learning how to set aside money, even if it is only Rp 1,000 a week.
“Save your money, and your needs will be fulfilled.” For thousands of women living in the north of Jakarta, this principle is highly meaningful. Though they might live in poverty, they can still set aside part of their regular income for savings. From a minimum of Rp 1,000 per person, the total value of their savings is surprising: It reaches billions of rupiah.
Setting aside money regularly is not an option for many people. With rising needs and wants, not to mention continually increasing prices, people are often discouraged from saving their money.Saving money can thus be the final option after all needs have been fulfilled. However, how much can be saved if the income is a mere average of Rp 20,000 a day?
On late Friday afternoon, about two hours before breaking the fast, Susanti (46), rushed into the room of a house which also serves as the office of the Koperasi Kasih Indonesia (KKI) cooperative.
The mother of nine lives left her house, located in the Rusunawa Marunda low-cost housing complex in North Jakarta, to travel about7 kilometers to the office of the KKI on Jl. Cilincing Baru in the RT 002 RW 002 neighborhood of Cilincing.
Wearing a brown hijab, Susanti was cheerful but looked tired. She sat on one of the benches, waiting in the queue until her name was called. In her hand, she held a small pocket book titled "Deposit and Savings Book”.
"I want to take out some savings," the woman said cheerfully. However, when asked about the amount to be withdrawn, she replied slowly, "Not much, sir, I just want to withdraw Rp 70,000. To buy takjil [breaking-of-the-fast snack] at home."
The total savings belonging to the wife of Riyadi, 47, is not large at all, only Rp 93,000 up to that afternoon. This amount comes from her weekly deposit of Rp 10,000.
The deposit is taken from Susanti\'s weekly earnings. Together with some of her Rusunawa Marunda neighbors, she makes homemade liquid soap. From the sales of the soap, which totals about Rp 100,000 a week, she sets aside Rp 10,000 for her personal savings.
Before, “savings” was a foreign word to her. For decades, the word existed only in her imagination because she never used to set aside a portion of her.
"Yes, it’s small, but if there is an urgent need, it is very helpful. For the children’s school fees or for daily meals.What’s clear is that we don’t need to be indebted to other people anymore. Anyway, it’s a personal savings, not the principal savings after the debt is settled,” she said.
Susanti has been a member of the KKI for the past year. She borrowed Rp 500,000 for her business capital and must repay it in six months. Every week, she pays Rp 35,000. From this amount, Rp 12,000 is allocated to her savings. This is her principal savings. After her debt is paid off, she will have savings of Rp 300,000. Borrowing once creates two savings.
Achieving a dream
This pattern of borrowing and saving has made Kasturia, 30, maintain her membership in the cooperative for the last five years. The mother of two has been queuing at the KKI office for a while. Her second child, 4-year-old Risa, sits next to her. Kasturi, who is now pregnant with her third child, has personal savings of Rp 3 million, which come from her weekly deposits.The amount she deposits varies, depending on the proceeds from selling green mussels, which she manages with her husband.
"We sell green mussels at Muara Baru. My work is to clean and boil them, while my husband does the farming and selling. Five years ago, we were just sellers. Now, alhamdulillah [praise be to Allah], we own a mussel farm, " she said. The Muara Baru area is bordered by Jakarta Bay.
At the beginning, Kasturi could only borrow Rp 500,000. After she was able to manage this amount, she last took a loan of Rp 4 million. Her savings increased little by little because she had both a principal and personal savings account.
The story was just as sweet for Casniati, 42. The West Kalibaru resident is a new member of the KKI. The single mother of two was originally just a food seller at a school canteen. Hearing of a cooperative offering loans with a fixed interest rate, she borrowed Rp 500,000 from the KKI.
She then opened a grocery shop in front of her house in the RT 009 RW 005 neighborhood of West Kalibaru. She sells daily needs and snacks from a kiosk measuring 3 meters by 3 meters. Her sales turnover, which was only Rp 150,000 per week at the beginning, has reached about Rp 1.5 million over the last five years. "I also often take loans for business capital to buy goods and other needs. But for certain, I don’t worry if there is a sudden need," said Casniati.
This “savings and loans" scheme is an integral part of the program initiated by the KKI in 2011. The cooperative, which has an active membership of 7,400 as of May 2017, combines the savings and loans scheme with training. When members borrow money, they also receive training and also a savings account. There are two types of savings, namely the "mandatory", or principle, savings and the optional, or personal, savings.
Thousands of cooperative members are spread across three northern districts of Jakarta, in Cilincing, Koja, and Tanjung Priok. All its members are women, most of who are housewives, own or have owned businesses, and almost certainly hail from low-income communities.
Although not all have had the same success story, the cooperative administrators claim that their bad credit is 0 percent. And the total savings of the cooperative’s women members has reached Rp 2.8 billion.
The KKI is the brainchild of Leonardus Kamilius, who said that member\'s savings were the second largest contributor to the cooperative’s total assets of Rp 7.5 billion. In addition to third-party funds, the cooperative’s daily activity is to manage savings and loans. This shows that women’s capacity to save cannot be underestimated.
"We instill dreams when they borrow money to make them feel \'forced\' to save. Apparently, they can now save on their own initiative. Can you imagine, these women or mothers can manage and help their families. They are achieving their dreams," Leon said. So save, and you can conquer life!
