YANI
this site is an attempt to first help yani and then other hookers before they DIE! i first met yani in jakarta the day i arrived in the capital of indonesia the worlds largest muslim country, the day the afghan war started. i didnt realize this until one of my daughters pointed it out to me some time later. some of my family thought it was probably not a good time to be going there, but as it turned out i had the time of my life. it was not my first visit to the country. i started a hostel for yani in an attempt to keep her off the street. jalan jaksa to be exact! one of the wildest craziest places on the planet!!!! yani……..she started working after leaving her husband of 13 years, 13 years of severe abuse. at first she tried working a more conventional job in a factory, but in her words “i couldnt afford to work vincent” the pay was 200,000 rupiah per month. sounds like a lot. not! she explained to me that at the end of the month she had to pay for her lunches, everything works on credit in jakarta, and that plus her transportation was somewhat more than her 200,000 rupiah salary. needless to say that wasnt going to pay the bills for her and her three kids , so jalan jaksa came next. the hostel bumi rama tama- in english - the friendly planet hostel. it was amazingly easy to start the business. anyone who has ever tried starting a business from bare walls in the usa or europe will understand this. for anyone who has not, let me just say that the bureaucrats will drive you CRAZY. i think it cost me around $120 US in fees which included $60 in bribes! indonesia is always ranked near the top in lists of most corrupt nations, but it is unfair. in terms of money i believe the usa to be number one. it just isnt in your face as it is in other places. so here i am an american in the capital city of the largest muslim country in the world at the start of the afghan war!!!! we rented (my money of course) a three story house in the middle of what was really a village of small houses surrounded by huge buildings including some skyscrapers. our house was the tallest on the street. it had a rooftop veranda with a spectacular view of the city. on the day that we moved in the local children started exploring the house and this new blanda (their word for gringo all caucasians) they walked right in as if it was their uncles home and the parents had absolutley no problem with this!!!! ask yourself if this is likely to happen in new york or berlin. i dont think so. and thus began almost two years of the hostel bumi rama tama and my relationship with some of the greatest neighbors that i have ever had!!!!!!!!!!! i promised my muslim neighbors that i wasnt going to allow the tourists to bring hookers to our hostel. it wasnt going to be a place LIKE THAT! well as it turned out every time i went on a trip to see other parts of indonesia, when i came back it was full of yanis friends mostly hookers!! mostly not paying!! the girls always helped each other out when business wasnt so good and it was very bad in those early days of the war as almost all the tourists and many expats jumped ship including all NON ESSENTIAL EMBASSY PERSONNEL whatever that means. but after a few months and none of us remaining in the country being blown up or kidnapped , people started returning to jaksa!!! in fact for the people who stayed it was great as prices came down drastically as you can imagine…… well thats it for today, later on i will post very intersesting photos and videos including kids bringing parang ( machetes) to school along with other tools to clean up the school yards on fridays and other amazing videos of the ritual slaughter of water buffalo at christian funerals!!!! selamat pagi vincent
