U.S. man, Bajo woman live together

U.S. man, Bajo woman live together

Hasrul, The Jakarta Post, Kendari

Era, 5, was running with small steps along a wooden bridge in
Sama Bahari village, her little hand clutching a small plastic
bag containing iced water.

She drank the water through a straw, on and off, until the bag
was empty. Over a dozen dark-skinned kids, all naked, were
running behind her. They got along very well, seemingly
indifferent to the burning sun. In another corner, other children
were swimming or paddling small boats.

Era is easily distinguishable from the rest of the kids of the
Bajo tribe because she alone has fair skin and blonde hair. From
a distance, however, you can hear her talking in the Bajo
language.

Era was born to an American father, anthropologist Chris
Majors, 38, and a Bajo mother, Ida, 30. Majors has spent 10 years
in this village studying the lives of the Bajo people.

Ida, meanwhile, is a real Bajo woman. She observes all the
traditional mores of her tribe. Like other Bajo people, she
believes in the existence of Umbo Mandilao, the ancestor of the
Bajo people who dwells in the sea and acts as their guardian.

A marriage between a Caucasian man and a Bajo woman (or vice
versa) is very unusual. Majors himself never expected that his
stay in Bajo Sampela village, Kaledupa district, Wakatobi
regency, would finally lead to his marrying Ida.

"I lived here (in Sampela) for only a year before I married
Ida. I gave a dowry of Rp 2 million in cash and a ring made of 3
grams of gold," Majors said.

Their marriage was held in conformity with local custom and
was attended by Majors' parents. "I could do nothing when Chris
suddenly proposed marriage," Ida said, rather shyly, in a strong
Bajo accent.

After they had been married for four years, they had a
daughter, Era. Like most babies born in the Bajo community, Era
was given a drop of seawater, a symbol that she should, as a
member of the Bajo community, love the sea, a source of life for
the Bajo people.

Unlike her father, who can speak fluent Indonesian, Era can
speak only the Bajo language. She does not even know how to speak
English, the mother tongue of her father.

As for Ida, she speaks Indonesian and is now learning to speak
English. She is devoted to her husband and will go to the U.S. if
her husband returns home. "Chris asked me to go to Perth,
Australia, eight times and each time I agreed," she said.

Majors said that he decided to marry Ida because of his deep
love for the isolated Bajo tribe. For Majors the anthropologist,
the Bajo tribe is an invaluable asset. These people must be
included in the environmental conservation program, particularly
as regards the Wakatobi group of islands.

Majors has dedicated his life to the interests of the Bajo
community. In the 10 years he has spent among these people, he
has provided the Bajo people with counseling, medical care and
other forms of assistance. He has also built a store where the
fish caught by the Bajo can be kept.

Majors has also established the Bajo Matilla Foundation,
hoping that this foundation, which concentrates on research on
the Bajo people, will help them to better tap natural resources
while at the same time preserving their indigenous culture and
traditions.

In Sampela, Majors and his family live in the house of his
parents-in-law in Sama Bahari village in the coastal Kaledupa
area.

The house, like hundreds of other Bajo dwellings, stands on a
large slab of rock, known locally as an apo, which is also its
foundation.

Bajo people live their everyday lives in houses like these.
There, they wash, bathe and fulfill the calls of nature. They
moor their boats nearby. Like his Bajo kinfolk, Majors has made
fishing his livelihood.

Majors, however, is very much concerned by the belief of the
Bajo people in the existence of Umbo Mandilao, whom, they
believe, will ensure that the sea will provide an abundance of
food.

They do not care, therefore, that the use of explosives or
other destructive means of fishing will eventually damage marine
life. They are convinced that Umbu Mandilao will continue to
provide them with an inexhaustible supply of fish.