Irian Jaya's Amungme led to literacy in Banti school

Irian Jaya's Amungme led to literacy in Banti school

By Catur Budihantoro J.

TIMIKA, Irian Jaya (JP): While formal education in other parts
of Indonesia is advancing, it has just begun in Banti village,
about 80 kilometers north of here.

A lot of credit for this must go to Stefanus Kamo. The
55-year-old civil servant has lead the Amungme, one of Irian
Jaya's 250 tribes, to literacy.

Since the outset, Kamo, who hails from Paniai-Nabire,
elsewhere in Irian Jaya, has had to work hard. Local people
initially rejected his presence.

"Well, I have been teaching here for more than eight years. I
was unmarried when I came here," Kamo recalls, saying that living
among the Amungme is his life now.

"I have been committed to fostering local people to pursue
useful knowledge. So, why should I surrender?" says Kamo, a
graduate of a Dutch school in Paniai.

"Imagine you have to walk through dense forest for several
days. Ten years ago, passing through the forest was no big deal
for me," Kamo said courageously. "I had to trek on foot, had
enough food for several days and, very often, the trip to Banti
was dangerous."

About 150 families of the Amungme tribe live in Banti. They
resettled there more than 50 years ago. Until recent years, they
knew little about modern education.

"They are simple people who know nothing about the world
outside their community. They use the slash-and-burn farming
system, plant tubers and sugarcane and breed pigs."

"I cooperated with the tribal chiefs to introduce my
programs," he recalls. "They were cooperative because they knew I
was a government official."

Kamo's description of the difficulty of introducing an
Indonesian education to the tribe was confirmed by the Amungme
people who have benefited from his mission.

Peter Magay, for example, an Amungme man who has just
graduated from Banti elementary school, said local people did not
like newcomers. Now Magay is among the few Amungme working in a
private company in Timika.

"I must thank Mr. Kamo for showing us the way to a better
future through education," enthused Magay, while admitting there
were many challenges ahead. He estimated only about 20 percent of
his tribe had undergone any formal schooling.

Initially, the school stopped at the third grade.

Now, things have changed. In 1996, the school went up to the
sixth grade, like regular elementary school elsewhere in the
country. This year, according to Kamo, the Banti elementary
school will conduct a second exam, and more graduates are
expected to continue their studies at junior high school in
Timika.

Kamo estimated about half of those who finish their elementary
education will not go on to further studies because they could
not afford it.

According to Kamo, most parents are too poor to support their
children through junior high school. They hope their children
find work and earn enough to finance their studies themselves.

"When students are on school holidays, they usually help their
parents make money. They harvest tuber roots and sell them to
other areas. Sometimes, they pack them in sacks and sell them in
Timika," Magay said.

Red cassava, sugarcane and pigs are the most common source of
income. These are staple foods for the tribe. But lack of roads
restricts the selling of produce to other regions. "There is a
traditional market, but it does not help much," Kamo said.

The Amungme first came to know about formal education through
Christian missionaries. The missionaries would have to learn the
local language to communicate with the tribespeople. Since then
more and more Amungme have realized the need for schooling.

"Teaching through religious approaches is not enough.
Admittedly, few of them were able to read. So the tribal chiefs
permitted people to learn to read and write. You can imagine how
the priest trekked up and down the jungle to convey the words of
God and introduce literacy," Kamo said.

Since the priest could not come regularly, his aide had an
idea: He opened his living room for people wishing to gather and
learn to read and write.

It was Kamo who proposed that the local government provide
funds for education. When the money started coming through, he
cooperated with the tribal chief to build a school building with
four classrooms.

In the 1980s, the school began to receive support from the
community. Many children came and registered to study. They came
from the three villages of Upikawa, Utikini and Banti.

Some volunteers have stayed and devote themselves to sharing
their knowledge and living among the Amungme people as teachers.
One of them is Timotius Beanal, who was once one of Kamo's
pupils. Some of them have been teaching there since 1986.

Beanal says the Banti school has done a great service in
opening the locals' horizons and changing the way they see
outsiders.

The school building, renovated in 1997, now has two stories
with, eight rooms and 200 students. It also has six teachers from
other provinces.

Children aged between seven and 12 can register with the
school for the first grade.

"They do not care about their age. However, they will have
problems if they want to continue their studies at junior high
school, because age limits exist there," said Beanal.

The money needed to finance the renovation of the school was
obtained from a private company's contribution, which was paid
through the local government. The local government channeled it
to the Amungme-Komoro foundation, or AMOR, a non-governmental
organization.

The AMOR foundation actively raises funds to help the poor
Banti school students who want to continue their studies after
elementary school.

Transportation is no longer a big problem. The private company
has made a good road.

"Ten years ago it took days to go to Timika, but now it is
only a four hour drive," said Magai, the leader of AMOR.