Kampung Pisang is a marshy region located in the Kelurahan Maccini Sombala. Had my friend, Cora, not accompanied me, I would have been lost in finding my way there. We must pass through a narrow winding alley to go there. The width of the cemented road is only the size of one bakso (meatball)-selling motorbike. If you are riding a motorcycle and—just your luck!— another bike is going in from the other direction, then one has to pull over to make way for the other.

The village has been inhabited since ten years ago. According to Daeng Sampara, it has been inhabited as early as 2000, when the soil was dredged from the creation of a lake for a rowing training ground from the GMTDC.

Sampara and his family moved from Jeneponto to Kampung Pisang in 2004, just a few months after buying the paved land of 10 x 15 meters wide in this area. “I paid the down payment of 5 millions rupiah, the rest paid on installment. I was only armed with proof of purchase, “said the man born in Binamu, Jeneponto, 1963.

Sampara practices wood carpentry. This craft of his has allowed him to build a house. He showed some parts of the house that come from different parts, or even different places.

“I’m the only person who used an iron fence here. That’s also what has disqualified me from receiving any support,” said Sampara, laughing. The support that he meant was the government support such as BLT (direct cash support).

Sampara said that the iron fence was acquired from the renovation of a mosque in the neighbouring region The curly-haired man said, he had bought it with his salary as a handyman cut for working in that house of worship.

Living in a swampy area like Kampung Pisang requires citizens to use the tap water for drinking and eating. As for washing, residents continue to use the water from the wells that they make. Well water in wetlands, according to Sampara, commonly is  fit for washing only.

Residents get their water from a house a house 100 meters north of Kampung Pisang. This water is not free. Residents must pay, depending on how often they take the water. On average, for a house like Sampara’s, he pays Rp 50,000 per month.

There are five wells in Kampung Pisang, including Daeng Sampara’s. Compared to the rest, only  the water in Sampara’s well is more clear, although still lightly browned. “But it was at least more passable than others—theirs look like coffee with milk,” he said.

Daeng Sampara took me around the village to see the wells in question. He wanted to prove what he’d just said. He showed the wells in beige. The residents used their clothes and rocks to filter them.

According to this father of five, he used different methods in making his well. When he made this well that located in the rear of the house, he dug the hole wider. And after the well has been lined, he filled it not with the dugout soil, but with sand and gravel. “I do not use ijuk, because it leaves some odour in the water,” said Sampara.

So where did he learn this knowledge from? Sampara admitted, it is the legacy of his ancestors. In Jeneponto, known as a dry county, people who had lived in the past has their own special methods. For example, when looking for the right point of digging a well, they will use a simple way. Armed only with coconut shells and salt, they put some salt at some points and close each of them with a coconut shell. The next day, they inspect these shells and salt. “The point where the salt has dissolved, that’s where the nearest water point is located. So that would be the place to be unearthed, “said Daeng Sampara.

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