By: Adolf Marlon Tohatta, YP3SP Community Facilitator, Okaba District, February 17, 2025
Dependence on debt to meet food needs
My story begins in the community in Alatep Village, Okaba District, Merauke Regency. I am a child born from the womb of a native Malind woman from Alatep Village. I work as a YP3SP community facilitator.
The distance between Okaba District and Merauke City is very far with very difficult transportation. To reach Okaba, air transportation is available, but with an uncertain schedule. If we want to use a vehicle—usually called a land route—we have to travel for approximately four hours using a four-wheeled vehicle. That is still continued with an hour’s journey using a motorized boat commonly called a belang. It is a type of sea transportation that is very expensive and if it goes by land, it must cross two rivers and the ocean if the weather is good.
During the listening survey, I observed that Alatep Village is a village consisting of houses with yards that are only overgrown with wild grass and several coconut trees. This village has a high dependence on debt to meet food needs, especially rice.
The decision to build a joint garden group – Gardening Group
The first workshop was attended by 45 people, consisting of fathers, mothers, and several young people. Since then, 10 of them decided to open a garden as a group. They named this group Paia, derived from the Malind language, a motivational sentence that means “let’s work, let’s create, let’s garden”.
The Paia garden measures 100×100 meters. This group grows vegetables and various local plants. To name a few: taro, banana, mbuti banana (traditional banana), and sweet potato, which is the staple food of the Papuan Malind people. They made this effort mainly to meet their own food needs.
The Journey of the Paia Group
From the results of their gardening, the Paia Group consumes it themselves. Some of it they sell or share with their families in the village. In its development, this has succeeded in influencing and motivating other residents to start gardening in their respective yards. Through gardening together, the Paia Group revives the values of togetherness that were provided by their parents in the past. Living and working together to restore food sovereignty, and gradually reducing dependence on debt and aid.
Of course, the story is not always sweet. During its journey, this group has also experienced misunderstandings due to lack of communication and dialogue among fellow group members. Members coming and going are common. However, the Paia Group has never really disbanded. In addition to the shared garden, each member continues to open a garden in their yard to meet their daily food needs.
Daniel Kinamde and Charles Yolmen are two members of the Paia Group who have survived and truly understand the dynamics of this group. Daniel Kinamde once said, “I cannot work alone to open a garden this big. What our elders as the Malind tribe have passed down is to live together or live in groups. I also want to see changes in my family and also changes in my village.” Charles Yolmen, on the other hand, said, “Change starts with me.”
The struggle of this group can be seen clearly. If previously there were no gardens in the yards of residents’ houses, now almost all houses have gardens.
Experience as a YP3SP community facilitator in Okaba District.
Living in the midst of a village community with different educational backgrounds and thoughts is not easy. Sometimes I am cursed, slandered, and slandered by saying that I came to deceive them, or came to take personal advantage of them. The members of the Paia Group also experienced the same thing.
Sometimes I have to swallow the bitter reality. However, I go through it all with patience and fortitude. This is for the sake of seeing changes in the lives of the Okaba community, especially the Alatep village, where I come from. I am sure and believe that success does not come in a flash. It takes quite a long time.
If I reflect on the process of working with the village community, I realize that even though I am part of them, my role is actually only to facilitate the change process. Regarding when the change will occur, I will let the village community determine it themselves.
ID