To most observers, Sunter Highway, an 18-mile stretch of toll road built over industrial North Jakarta, is a modern-day marvel. But for the community of urban migrants living underneath, it is more akin to a modern-day hell.

These toll road dwellers hunt through heaps of smoldering debris for salvage. Goats of outsiders graze next to them, competing for survival. Noxious fumes from burning plastic choke the air. From the crack overhead that separates east and west running highways, a canal of thick, stagnant waste runs the spine of the community. Dust whips down as 18-wheelers thundering above send shudders through the ramshackle dwellings that fill the crevices between support columns below. The world’s discarded finding a way.

Sisters Angela Darmiatun, DC and Yudith Triwahyuningsih, DC deliver health care and schooling to this forgotten community living under the stretch of highway known as Warakas.

Once a week, crowds gather under the toll road in anticipation of the Sisters’ arrival. With a group of volunteer physicians and nurses in tow, the Sisters manage a public health outreach program that provides free medical evaluations and health education to hundreds of residents. Throughout the week, the Sisters provide follow-up care and make home visits. They fill prescriptions and deliver medicine to the sick. They bring hot food for the elderly too poor and weak to fend for themselves. For many, these Sisters are all that sits between them and rock bottom. 

Seton Institute provided funding for medicine and nutritional supplements for the toll road dwellers.