{"id":24770,"date":"2019-10-08T06:17:38","date_gmt":"2019-10-08T04:17:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=24770"},"modified":"2021-12-01T13:49:33","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T12:49:33","slug":"inside-indonesias-oxygen-house-where-children-come-for-fresh-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/story\/24770\/inside-indonesias-oxygen-house-where-children-come-for-fresh-air\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Indonesia\u2019s \u201coxygen house\u201d where children come for fresh air"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Like most people living in Indonesia, Greenpeace photographer Jurnasyanto Sukarno is used to the toxic smoke of the annual haze season, in which forests and peatlands are cleared and drained to make way for new palm oil plantations. But when he went to document an \u201coxygen house\u201d at the heart of the country\u2019s current forest fires crisis, it became too much for him. This is his story: <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n

\"Forest
Fires at a plantation area, in Palangkaraya city, Central Kalimantan.
\u00a9 Jurnasyanto Sukarno \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

My watch says nine in the morning, and I\u2019m riding on the back of a motorcycle taxi heading to Doris Sylvanus General Hospital in the city of Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. The air is thick with smoke due to the many wildfires burning in the forest areas nearby. I know because I was out last night capturing the flames.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"Haze
Motorists pass by the statue of local hero Tjilik Riwut in Palangkaraya city, Central Kalimantan. The city is covered in thick haze due to the forest fires.
\u00a9 Jurnasyanto Sukarno \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

When I arrive at the hospital, I head to the \u201cOxygen House\u201d – a building that has been designated for those who are suffering from breathing difficulties as a result of the smoke and fires and are in desperate need of clean air. The morning is relatively quiet, but according to the nurse on duty, most patients won\u2019t arrive until after lunch or working hours. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"Forest
Patients wear masks as they wait for the internist doctor at Doris Sylvanus public hospital.
\u00a9 Jurnasyanto Sukarno \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

After waiting for about an hour, a husband and wife suddenly appear along with their daughter and baby boy. The mother looks very worried and anxious, cradling her precious baby boy in her arms. The nurse soon spots them and leads them straight to a special oxygen room for children and infants. The father is taken to a separate room for adults to receive oxygen.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"Forest
Rafa, a 50-days-old baby, is held by his mother who is need of oxygen treatment due to the thick, hazy air from the forest fires.
\u00a9 Jurnasyanto Sukarno \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

I\u2019m allowed to join the mother and her baby. Her young child is called Rafa, and he is only 50 days old. His mother tells me that their house was engulfed by thick, toxic smoke from nearby land fires overnight, and baby Rafa\u2019s tiny lungs had been unable to cope.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Clearly traumatised, disoriented, and unhappy the small infant has to endure a small pipe inserted into his nose so he can receive a vital supply of oxygen. But there is a problem. Despite all the nurse’s efforts, it seems something is wrong and he isn\u2019t taking in the oxygen. He needs to be rushed to the emergency room.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"Forest
Rafa, a 50-days-old baby, is held by his mother while he receives oxygen treatment at the ICU of Doris Sylvanus public hospital, in Palangkaraya city, Central Kalimantan.
\u00a9 Jurnasyanto Sukarno \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

In the emergency room, the situation is tense as Rafa begins to cry loudly and uncontrollably as a steam mask is placed over his nose and mouth to help clear the nasal cavity. It\u2019s a difficult scene to watch. After 15 minutes of steam treatment, Rafa\u2019s eyes start to close as he rests on his mother\u2019s lap – quiet and more relaxed, but with an oxygen tube protruding from his nose. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

When Rafa eventually falls asleep I step away from the family, and from beyond the medical curtain, I witness a wonderful moment as his five-year-old sister arrives and starts to kiss her little brother. This is when my own emotions take over. I begin to feel my eyes well up and think of my own daughters who are around the same age, safe and far away from here. I imagine how I would feel if it was me and my family sitting in this emergency room. What if it were my young children who were suffering from the flames and smoke?<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"Forest
Rafa, a 50-days-old baby, is held by his mother and kissed by his sister,
\u00a9 Jurnasyanto Sukarno \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

I have witnessed first-hand how desperate families and communities have been trying to deal with these fires and more shockingly, how they are left scrambling to find the masks and protection they need for themselves and their children. The current fires crisis is the worst since the catastrophic season of 2015, and the <\/span>Indonesian government has not yet revoked a single palm oil licence due to the situation or handed out serious civil or administrative sanctions to the palm oil companies<\/a> with the greatest burned areas.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"Forest
Kids spray water on fires burning on their plantation, in Palangkaraya city, Central Kalimantan.
\u00a9 Jurnasyanto Sukarno \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Young children like Rafa and his sister, have no way to protect themselves, and to make matters worse there is a scarcity of masks specifically for children and babies. They are among thousands of other young children who are growing up as victims of these fires and the smoke and pollution that is pumped into the air around their homes. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

All they can do is wait for it to get worse, for the skies to darken and fill with smoke, and every time it happens they have to repeat this desperate journey back to the hospital in search of clean air and more oxygen. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

Jurnasyanto Sukarno is the Photo Editor at Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Indonesia<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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An \u201coxygen house\u201d at the heart of Indonesia’s current forest fires crisis became too much for one Greenpeace photographer. This is his story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":24778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[84,101],"p4-page-type":[59],"class_list":["post-24770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nature","tag-forests","tag-fires","p4-page-type-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24770"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51191,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24770\/revisions\/51191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24770"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=24770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}