Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current | View Entire Issue (April 6, 2020)
ASIA / PACIFIC Page 16 n THE ASIAN REPORTER April 6, 2020 Students provide sanitizers to daily workers to fight virus By Edna Tarigan The Associated Press AKARTA, Indonesia — They toil on the fringes, without any job security or set hours or decent wages. And the coronavirus has made their already difficult lives harder, and more hazardous. And so a group of university students in Yogyakarta, on the Indonesian island of Java, set out to help these “informal workers.” On social media, they put out the word: We need money to help these people whose work is seldom appreciated. In just one week, the donations rolled in. Then, said organizer Ari Wijayanto, they fanned out to distribute 400 bottles of hand sanitizers and 30 bottles of hand soaps to pedicab drivers. Construction workers. Food sellers. Motorcycle taxi drivers. Traders in the city’s wet market, where stalls offer perishable goods like live meat, fish, and produce. And as demand for sanitizers increased and prices rose, the students made plans to make it themselves. “They are the most vulnerable people here. Some of them do not have social insurance. So we want to support them,” Wijayanto said. For many, the rise of COVID-19 has led J to a decline in income. The growing threat has meant a decline in visitors to Kota Gede, one of Yogyakarta’s most popular tourism areas. “Today I saw almost no tourist came here,” said Yeni Pratiwi, a fried snacks seller. According to Pratiwi, since the COVID-19 outbreak, she has lost 40% of her daily income. “I cannot just stay at home. Staying at home means my family will have nothing to eat,” Pratiwi said. The two bottles of soap and a bottle of hand sanitizer she got from the students will enable her to maintain hygiene while working at the market for eight hours every day. “They are really helpful. My children usually provided anti-bacterial hand soap to me. But it is difficult to find now,” Pratiwi said, and very expensive. HELPING HANDS. A street food vendor shows hand sanitizers and soaps distributed by student activ- ists in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. A group of students from several universities in the central Java city has distrib- uted soaps and hand sanitizers to informal daily work- ers whose incomes are affected by the coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/Fahmi Rosyidi) The delivery of soaps and sanitizers was planned for a Tuesday but was delayed until two days later; the students needed to obtain their own masks and other equipment to protect themselves. When they did, they also handed out fliers on hygiene. The students have big plans. They hope to open a kitchen to distribute food to informal workers at three different places in Yogyakarta. They are looking to raise more money to serve their needs, including medical supplies and masks. The need is great, said one student, Raihan Ibrahim Anas: “Some of the pedicab drivers we met today said they cannot get any customers.” And until the government steps up, he said, the students will step in. Editor’s note: While nonstop global news about the effects of the coronavirus have become commonplace, so, too, are the stories about the kindness of strangers and individuals who have sacrificed for others. “One Good Thing” is an AP continuing series reflecting these acts of kindness. South Korea’s top 2 LPGA Tour players on longest break ever Continued from page 9 sation. The player would be able to take $70,000, which would count against whatever his bonus is at the end of the year. If he finishes higher, the $70,000 would be deducted. If he finishes lower and his bonus isn’t enough to cover the ad- vance, future prize money will be reduced by 50% until the advance is repaid. That’s for players among the top 150 in the FedEx Cup. This week in history In the 2006 Kraft Nabisco Champion- ship, Karrie Webb holed a pitching wedge from 116 yards for eagle on the 18th hole, and Lorena Ochoa forced a playoff with a 5-wood to 6 feet for eagle. Webb won with a 7-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole. Sixteen-year-old Michelle Wie had a 25-foot chip for eagle on the final hole to win. It went 10 feet by and she missed the birdie putt — and the playoff. The 2020 Census will shape your future. Every 10 years, the United States counts everyone living in the country on April 1, no matter where they are from, what language they speak, or why they are in the country. The count includes children and newborn babies, citizens and noncitizens, and temporary residents. What will the 2020 0 Census ask me? The number of people living or staying at your address on April 1 • Do you own or rent your home? •Telephone number • Name • Age • Date of birth • Sex • Relationship to the person ܪQQNSLTZYYMJKTWRѬ7FHJѬ-NXUFSNHTWNLNS Your Social Security number • Money or donations • Anything on behalf of a political party • Your bank or credit card account numbers • No citizenship question or immigration status What won’t the 2020 Census ask? Responding is important for your family and community. The information collected in the census will inform the distribution of more than $1.5 trillion in federal funds each year. These funds impact critical services, including education, health care, senior centers, and public transportation. Communities rely on census statistics to plan for a variety of needs, including new roads, schools, and emergency services. Businesses use census data to decide where to build KFHYTWNJXTKܪHJXFSIXYTWJX Responding is easy. ONLINE PHONE MAIL my2020census.gov 1 (844) 330-2020 English & Spanish only ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER AMERICAN VOTE For more information, visit: www.2020census.gov/ www.apiavote.org/ census2020 HOTLINE: (844) 202-0274 Divots Hank Haney’s lawsuit against the PGA Tour is still alive. A Florida judge denied the tour’s motion to dismiss. Haney lost his radio show on SiriusXM last year after he jokingly predicted “a Korean” would win the U.S. Women’s Open and said he couldn’t name six players on the LPGA Tour. The PGA Tour is providing free access to its premium, on-demand content on “PGA Tour Live” until the season resumes. That includes a documentary on Tiger Woods’ comeback in 2018 and final-round replays from past tournaments. Current subscribers will have their billing paused. Stat of the week April 4 was the 10-year anniversary of Anthony Kim winning the Houston Open, his last PGA Tour victory. Cathay Pacific cuts 90% of April flights due to virus HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways cut its flight schedule by 90% in April after passenger traffic in February fell by more than half from a year ago amid travel curbs to fight the coronavirus. Like many carriers, Cathay is suffering as travel halts in many areas. But Hong Kong’s airlines were already in pain thanks to prolonged political protests last year that led many tourists to steer clear of the city. The airline lost 2 billion Hong Kong dollars ($260 million) in February, ac- cording to a statement by chief customer and com- mercial officer Ronald Lam. The airline cancelled 90% of its flights to China after the mainland govern- ment told the public to avoid travel in an effort to contain the virus that emerged in the central city of Wuhan in December. February’s total pas- senger traffic fell 54.1% from a year earlier, the airline said. Given the expected fur- ther drop in travel demand, the airline planned to only operate a bare skeleton passenger flight schedule for April, which represents up to 90% capacity reduction,” Lam said. Lam said the cuts would extend into May if global travel curbs stay in place. Cathay said earlier it faces a “substantial loss” in the first half of this year. Its 2019 profit fell 27.9% from the previous year after tourist arrivals in Hong Kong plunged amid the protests that began in June over a proposed extra- dition law and expanded to include other grievances. The airline asked its 27,000 employees to take three weeks of unpaid leave between March 1 and June 30.