Your Stories

New sketch of old Jakarta

Illustration by Nugraha

Nugraha Pratama is an illustrator that started his urban sketching ritual on weekends since 2009 as his way of making a journal of his life. And this is his story from one of his many trips to Kota Tua.
“I start making this sketch in 2013 on top of the De Eerstee Steen Gelegd or what we know now as Cipta Niaga, located exactly in front of the Cafe Batavia at Kota Tua. As an urban sketcher, this sketch was made for me to learn about every single detail of this building and put it on paper as our interpretation of several historical buildings in Jakarta. As you can see here, the rickety atmosphere with mossy and perforated roof of this building back then has made us having difficulties in identifying the original purpose of this building back then. Lucky me that I still can find its inauguration stone back then to know all these.
Therefore I am pretty excited when I heard about this project called Jakarta Old Town Revitalization (JOTR) that I certainly wish could help to restore the majestic aura of Kota Tua today and also provide an easy access for people to learn about Jakarta from back then.”

Illustration by Nugraha

Don’t be sad

Visual by ESJEPE inc.

Today, we are pleased to have Indah Esjepe-Sudhowo and Iwan Esjepe of ESJEPE Inc.
This husband and wife duo has been known for their copy & visual campaigns for a better Indonesia.
They share their optimism how to face the rainy season in Jakarta that will arrive anytime soon.

“Hey, don’t be sad, although Jakarta floods during almost every rainy season, and clean water crisis arises in the dry season, let us keep an optimistic attitude to overcome these challenges.
There’s always a way.
There are so many things that we can do to make Jakarta a better place to live; such as making biopores or rainwater harvesting system in our neighborhood.
You don’t know Biopore?
The creation of biopores makes a low-cost, easy solution to flooding problems that can be done by many Jakartans.
Biopore is a hole in the ground that is made by so many organism activities inside, such as worm, plant matter, termite and another fauna in the ground.
The holes formed will be filled with the air, and will be a place of water passing in the soil.
These biopores can absorb rainwater during the rainy season to prevent flood.
It can also increase soil fertility and improve water quality. How good is this?”

#HeiDontBeSad and #TheresAlwaysaWay are the varieties of #Optimistick campaign created by
Indah Esjepe-Sudhowo and Iwan Esjepe of ESJEPE inc. This time, they collaborated with a street
photographer, Chris Tuarissa.
Visual by ESJEPE inc.

My mom the floodfighter

Photo credit: private material Tika

“Hi, my name is Tika. Citizen of Jakarta. My daily life consist of running my cafe in Kemang called Kedai.
I am also passionately involved in activisms in women’s rights issues, as well as I sing and write songs with Tika & the Dissidents. Like everyone living in Jakarta, I am affected by flood, every year. The house that my family lived in since 1991 started getting floods since 2007. After years of battling flood water every time the rainy season comes; my mother finally came up with a floodgate design that keeps the water out of our family home in Kemang. I cannot explain you the details it ‘ s way too complicated.
My mom is so awesome. She is a real floodfighter.
But how long will it hold up? If the water level keeps going up, even this state of the art flood gate will loose eventually. We can’t keep flood out once its here, but we can prevent it together.”
Photo credit: private material Tika

Who wants to be famous?

Yes, monsoon season is starting soon.
Some hate it, others do nt care and there are people who take it as it comes and have fun.
Lets look at Muara Baru, the area is famous for its flooding, residents are used to getting their feet wet.
Though they have fun and try to make the best of it. Look at this man in his pink raincoat.
Will you help us to make him a movie star and share this video with your friends?