Tojo Una-Una, Central Sulawesi - The sun had just started to rise over Tojo Una-Una in Central Sulawesi. A thin mist was still hanging around beautiful Lemban Sinara Mountain, considered sacred by the local community. I sat in a wooden house, wearing a jacket to keep me warm. The ceiling of the house was made from sago palm and there was no cement floor.
I enjoyed the cold weather that morning.
Outside, local children Bono, Ninjang, Piro, Nto`i and Irma, with bare feet and wearing dresses or whatever they had, were getting ready to head off to a meeting hall, known in the local language as the Banua Bae.
I knew their names because I`d met them the previous night when we sat together around a campfire.
Wondering where the children were off to, I got up to follow them. When I arrived at the Banua Bae on that chilly morning, I saw more children, playing games.
I didn`t know then what those children were there for. It was close to 8:30 in the morning. At that time, a young woman arrived. The children stopped playing and went straight to the Banua Bae. They lined up and sang the national anthem, Indonesia Raya, before entering the Banua Bae.
It turned out it was in that Banua Bae that these children from an isolated community were learning to read and write.
In that Banua Bae, they went to school.
Their situation was so different to that of children in the city, where some take private cars to attend luxury schools, but these children`s faces shone with happiness.
The village of Wana Bulang in Tojo Una-Una regency in Central Sulawesi can only be reached by walking 16 hours from the provincial capital, Palu. It sits 700 meters above sea level, perched on top of a mountain range surrounded by tropical forest.
The native people are the descendants of a race called the Tau Taa Wana Bulang, known as such because they lived in the Wana Bulang region. In Central Sulawesi, the Wana people reside only in Tojo Una-Una, Morowali and Banggai.
Because the villagers are on the list of Isolated Traditional Custom Communities, they cannot hope to have a school building, not even an elementary school. But their determination to fight illiteracy has never waned.
Local people call the learning halls "Lipu schools" or village schools. The community here has four Lipu schools: Lipu Lengkasa, Partambung, Vatutana and Ratovoli. The Lipu schools and the villages all sit along the upper reaches of the Bongka River, the largest river in Tojo Una-Una.
According to a mapping survey by the Red and White Palu Foundation, the villages here are scattered across 22,270 hectares of land and are home to 352 people from 78 families.
The Lipu schools were set up by the local communities in collaboration with the Red and White Palu Foundation. The schools focus only on reading and writing, foundation director Nasution Caman said.
The learning environment in the Lipu schools is not the same as in typical schools. There are no chairs, tables or other facilities and resources to facilitate the learning activities.
Yet despite their modest circumstances, the children never forget the national red-and-white flag fluttering on a green wooden pole in front of the Banua Bae. Every morning the teacher takes her students through a flag-raising ceremony, and they sing the national anthem.
Maybe they are trying to send a message to state leaders: "We are Indonesian children, the same as other kids in this country. We also need schools, just like other children."
The Lipu schools take a natural, relaxed approach. The teaching style is very informal, and there`s no division between teachers and students -- the two elements unite and behave as friends.
So it`s no surprise that in this Lipu school I can watch students constantly shifting between jokes and laughter and serious study. Sometimes the children play and ignore their lessons; at other times they put their heads down to work. It is actually quite a democracy, here in this Lipu School.
The Lipu school in Tojo Una-Una was established at the end of 2004. According to data from the Red and White Palu Foundation, 60 children -- 25 boys and 35 girls -- attended it in 2005. The children, all from Banua Bae Lengkasa village, study from 9 a.m. to midday, Monday to Friday.
Their teacher, 24-year-old Indo Deleng, is also a Tau Taa Wana Bulang. Her name in the local language means "coolie mother".
The children don`t always study inside the hall. Sometimes they sit on rocks. Sometimes they sit on piles of timber. And sometimes they sit around the river to write. When the school runs out of chalk, Indo Deleng writes in charcoal.
But the people here are proud. They are proud because despite the lack of facilities the children can attend school, and now they can read, write and count.
That happiness was described by Apa Ntoi, 27, father of one of the children.
"This is our school," Apa Ntoi -- whose name means "spices" -- said enthusiastically.
"We are pleased our children can go to school."
Badri Djawara, manager of the Red and White Palu Foundation`s field office, said he hoped creating an educational project in the middle of an isolated traditional community could become a development model for the Tau Taa people in the future.
And as Badri Djawara, a former stringer for The Jakarta Post, pointed out, if Tau Taa children could read, write and count competently, they would naturally become the generation who could build their communities in the future.
It is important they can do this without losing their social and cultural character. Education will empower them to solve the various local problems the community faces.
"If we know how to read and write, we can be certain we will not be cheated by other people," said Apa Ninjang, 29.
Badri Djawara said the Tau Taa people had been beset by many problems in the past and many had suffered bitter experiences.
He said one issue that had affected this frontier region had been the government`s Resident Policy, which relocated people to coastal areas.
Incoming timber cutters, using Forest Businessman`s Right permits, damaged the Tau Taa Wana Bulang forests and their ecosystems, as did the development of the transmigration hub, Bulang Jaya.
So if the people were able to read and write, Badri Djawara said, they would hopefully be able to overcome the problems that arise when they encounter outside parties.
They will be able to communicate and negotiate by themselves to resolve issues relating to the forest in their traditional region.
"That was why I mentioned the cultural movement and the local community independence movement," said Badri Djawara.
Source: old.thejakartapost.com (3 Mei 2008)
