MEMOIR

The Batanghari River Story: The Unseen Place

Pile of trash

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Joining the World Clean Up Day event triggered my desire to explore the riverside once again.

It was a month after the event, and I decided to go there with my friend, Tejo, who had never visited Jambi before.

He said, “Take me to a place I’ve never seen before,” and I vividly remember my answer, “Why don’t I take you to an unseen place? I actually took you there yesterday, but not entirely.”

Yes, I call this place unseen because it hides, and overlooked.

We left the house in the early morning. Ten minutes later, we arrived at the parking space of one of the department stores. It was still empty, which was exactly what I wanted.

He seemed perplexed. “Really, you brought me here?”

“No, not yet!” We stepped out of the car and walked to the end of the parking space.

“Now, look down,” I directed.

I’ve been here before but never went down. And the problem was we couldn’t walk in there; the soil was so muddy, and we’d sink.

Then, from a distance, there was a man with a ketek, a long-tail boat, who waved his hand to us.

Ketek with rubbish all around:

Let’s call him Pak Joko (Mr Joko). He offered us to cruise with his ketek; if we were interested, there was a stair to descend. He pointed his hand to the iron stair that would give us access to go down.

Then we walked down the stairs to the dirt path, which was safe to step on. Before we took the cruise with Pak Joko, we told him we wanted to wander around first. Then we would meet at the agreed place.

And we were completely shocked by what we saw — piles, mounds, and scattered trash — plastic, plastic, plastic, literally everywhere. Under the structure.

No editing whatsoever; I captured with my camera in 2019 (I hope this has changed now).

This place is not a garbage dump, but it looks like one.

Sad, huh?

So, this is for today.

It hasn’t finished yet; it’s just the beginning; the next story will be coming.

Happy Saturday ☺️

Thank you for reading this story ❤