Usually, the school complex owned by the Muliama Integrated Education Foundation is quiet after school hours, but a new attraction has made the school’s students return in the afternoon: a library.
Elius Tom Elopore, a teacher at the school also has a new activity, serving his students who want to read books. Seeing their enthusiasm, Elius knew that the students would finish reading their collection in the near future.
“We need more, this is not enough. We need more books,” he told VOA.
Not only for the school where he teaches, he wants to spread the spirit of reading to many other schools in the region.
“I really need books, aid for anywhere in Papua, especially Highland Papua. From here, we will share it with others in remote areas who need them,” said Elius.
Muliama is a small district in Jayawijaya Regency, Highland Papua Province. It is about 20 kilometres away from Wamena City. Elius said, there is a road connecting the two regions. From Wamena, motorized vehicles can reach Muliama. However, there are still many who travel that distance on foot.
He serves as honorary teacher at the church-owned school, and teaches elementary, middle, and high schools. After so many years, it was only this time that the school specifically had its own building, which they called a library.
“Children have started to be able to read, to be able to write. That’s not just because of the school but through this library. They can read, they can get good knowledge. This is an ongoing development. It’s been good,” he explained.
Due to various limitations, the library is open only three days a week. Students can read during school breaks. If it is still not enough, in the afternoon they can return to the school compound to satisfy their interest in reading.
Because of that high interest in reading, Elius repeatedly said, they need more books.
“So that children can visit again, so we need more books. In addition, there are several other schools that can also receive books,” Elius said.
Hano Wene Foundation
The books in Elius’ library certainly did not come by themselves, but were collected by the Hano Wene Foundation, which was initiated by a number of young Papuans. The foundation, which was established in 2017 in Jayapura, even collects books from outside Papua, before sending them to various remote areas.
Activists in this institution believe that Papuan children, who are now diligent in reading because of the presence of library materials, live on an island with extraordinary natural wealth. Unfortunately, they have not been able to independently manage that potential, one of which is due to human resource constraints.
Neas Wanimbo, founder of the Hano Wene Foundation, believes education is the solution.
“Because I believe, only education can change the way of thinking and change lifestyles, so the key is education,” he said.
Hano Wene, in the original vocabulary around Wamena, means good news. This foundation was started by Neas and a number of his friends, because they wanted to spread the good news to the interior of Papua. The delivery of books and the establishment of libraries are among the main programs, but the institution is active in the education sector in general.
“We have human resources that still lag far behind, and programs like this are needed today in Papua. Currently in Papua there’s a lot of development, a lot of projects, a lot of investment. But all of that is managed and done by outsiders, and Papuans themselves are excluded because they don’t have the skills,” he said when asked why he felt the need to establish Hano Wene and take part in the education sector.
Books play an important role in the education sector, which in turn is able to improve human resources in Papua. Therefore, Hano Wene believes that increasing literacy in the interior of Papua is very important.
The types of books sent vary, ranging from school textbooks, children’s books, fairy tale books, story books, to stationery. The distribution is quite even, starting from Lanny Jaya, Yahukimo, Wamena, Mamberamo, Kaimana, Raja Ampat, to Manokwari. The recipients are not only public schools, but also Islamic boarding schools, Bible schools, and communities. The books come from individuals, communities, organizations, and companies.
“If donors want to help in the health sector, we also distribute it to schools where children are malnourished. It can also be cleaning tools. We make programs, according to the needs of schools or villages there,” said Neas.
Challenging Terrain
Sending aid in Papua is certainly full of challenges. One of the biggest ones is geographical conditions.
“Sometimes, the place we want to help is very far away. So we have to take these books on foot,” said Neas, adding that mastery of local tribal languages and cultural approaches is also very important.
Rommy Dumbery, an activist in Hano Wene shared his story of how difficult it was to reach the interior of Papua to carry out their mission.
“From Jayapura, we use ferries. From Jayapura we take 1.5 days and one night (36 hours). In the morning, we arrive at the port. It just so happens that the place we went to is in the estuary, and that part is far from the district capital Mamberamo Raya,” Rommy said.
“When we get there, we use a kole-kole boat with a jonson motor, the geographical area there is also very difficult. We pass a small creek, just arrived at the right destination. A three-hour small boat ride,” he added.
Kole-kole boat is a small boat made from tree trunks, usually ketapang trees, and only carries about 4 people. The jonson motor, called Rommy, is a small propeller drive at the rear, for pushing. Most kole-kole boats use oars.
Another obstacle, Rommy said, is that the tributaries can only be passed during high tide. When it recedes, the boat cannot pass because the remaining tree trunks on the river bed become obstacles. For this reason, a trip to the interior’s duration can never be exactly ascertained.
Rommy himself spent his childhood in the hinterland. He still remembers very well, how difficult transportation was in the past, because ships sometimes only sailed once a month. For this reason, he appreciated the great sacrifice of the teachers who wanted to teach in Mamberamo.
“The teachers who teach there are amazing. They can sacrifice time, energy, family living in the city for them to live there. Teaching by rowboat and also with modest facilities,” said Rommy recalling the teachers in his childhood in Mamberamo.
Regional expansion allows for improvement of conditions, but does not mean that all problems are solved.
“The enthusiasm of the children there to receive lessons is very good. It’s just that we are lagging in terms of networks, facilities, books and others,” he said.
Support from All Parties Needed
For University of Papua academic, Dr. Agus Irianto Sumule, this good initiative to send books to the interior of Papua requires a supportive environment for maximum results.
“The basic requirement for reading interest in Papua to develop is to ensure that the school runs well. The requirement for schools to run well, is the presence of teachers,” Agus told VOA.
Agus emphasized that interest in reading is the result of the proper functioning of schools or educational institutions. On the other hand, statistics from the results of UNICEF research some time ago in Papua noted that the number of absenteeism or absent teachers in this province is quite high, above 30 percent. The principal’s absenteeism rate is higher than that.
“In other words, the schools cannot run well because some teachers do not work well,” Agus said.
The reason is that when teachers are absent at school, no one leads them to learn. Given the existing conditions, it is difficult to imagine a reading initiative, without the direction of teachers in Papuan schools. Therefore, Agus believes, the main requirement to increase interest in reading, is the functioning of schools.
For this reason, the support of teachers and schools for this kind of Hano Wene initiative is very important.
Agus also encouraged close cooperation with church institutions in Papua, so that the program to increase interest in reading was more successful. In remote places anywhere in Papua, Agus said, there are certain to be churches with pastors and their families living there. The pastor and his family can certainly read, and therefore can play an important role in encouraging interest in reading in the interior.
Geographical constraints can also be overcome through this kind of cooperation with churches.
Other support, which is expected to be greater, should come from local governments. Agus considered that the government must involve young people, such as those active in Hano Wene, to pursue targets in the education sector.
Whether we want it or not, he said, local governments must admit that the education they aspire to is still far from their expectations.
“If one of the objectives of education is literacy, both literate, numerical and others, then supporting the activities of these young people is very important,” Agus added.
This support, among others, can be done by ensuring the distribution of books, from urban areas to the interior. If needed, local governments in Papua can budget financial assistance to help with this kind of youth program.
In addition, said Agus, the government also needs to collect data, which areas have their book needs met, and which ones have not. With such data, local governments can encourage more young people to move to deal with the literacy gap.
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