In her spacious yard in South Sulawesi, 85-year-old Badaria is busy tending to a number of plants that serve as ingredients for making wet talcum powder. 

She first planted her garden so that she would always have the medicinal plants available, and so that she could monitor their growth personally. The plants have names like “white flower leaves” (daung bunga pute) and “black perforated leaves” (daung bolong).

Badaria started making wet talcum powder—which is traditionally used as a homemade sunscreen in Indonesia—after her aunt Mina Cade died in 1999. 

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F Daus AR lives in the Pangkajene Kepulauan Regency of South Sulawesi. He works with the Pangkep Democratic Community Committee (KKDP) and manages the independent publication Rumah Saraung.