Yesterday we did some field work in the southern edges of Jambi. The event combined education and information for local women about family planning, by PKBI staff, and also socialization about the activities of the local chapter for the Indonesian Women's Coalition (whose congress I attended in Jakarta last December). There were about ten women from the village in attendance and they were very receptive to the information, actively asking questions about different forms of birth control available and offering personal narratives, some of which were concerning for the lack of basic reproductive health understanding they exhibited.
The village itself I found very interesting because it appeared the sole economy was brick making. Every single house had stacks and stacks of red bricks sitting out to dry and we later walked down and saw the work in process.
The degree to which limited technology can inhibit development was painfully evident as the machine that squeezed out bricks malfunctioned every five minutes and they had to throw out a few ruined bricks and spend another five minutes fixing the machine each time. And the whole village is dependent on the production of these bricks which they sell for only $60 each batch of 1,000.
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