Logistics, Logic and Heart

A Reflection of Exploring Sumba

  

  

‘Spread your little wings and fly away, fly away, far away, pull yourself together, cos you know you can do better that's Because You're a free man.’ (Queen)

The  lyric of one Queen’s song above is one of triggers that motivates me to join exploring Sumba program.

Logistics. The first and the second week, I tried to share my experiences with a group of woman peasants concentrating on organic farming, named ‘Rinjung Pahamu’, which means ‘Want to be better.’ The group was built from their anxiety towards price increase of imported horticultural commodities in the market. They have 25 ares (2.500 m2) of agricultural area located in Wangga village. This group which consists of 25 members taught me more the meaning of sharing, because even though the income of each member is still below the poverty line, their sense of kinship is able to overpower their egos. In the contrary, the state officials tend to show their ego, while many young students are smart of text-books only even standing on capitalists’ side. Hopefully they should learn from this group' sincerity.

Logic. During the third week I focused on sharing knowledge how to breed pigs and cultivate environment. They were enthusiastic to respond these topics, because Sumba could not be separated from animal livestocks, especially for the needs of traditional ceremony. Environmental topic related to mineral mining led to a tough debate among students as there were pros and cons. Most of them refused mining with their various arguments againsting the other group that accepted the project. At the end of the discussion, they finally unified a vision that an acceptance or rejection of one mining cannot be excluded from the capacity support either of the environment or society.

Heart. The last days in Sumba were filled by visiting several places in the southern Sumba. On July 15, 2014, we joined the opening ceremony Synod Congress of GKS (Sumba Christian Churches) held in Ramuk, a small remote village on the slope of Mount Wanggameti. The road condition did not discourage us going toward the destination. Exhausted body because of rough terrain of Sumba vanished by looking at the natural beauty of the strands of hills and valleys, like a natural painting. It was a quite exotic sight. Even when I was in the area of Tana Rara, this place has a charming red soil, rarely found in other areas. In Tarimbang, the next area has beach tourism potency, but unfortunately, it has not been optimally managed by local authorities. A German man, named Peter tried to develop the potency by building a cottage on a hilltop offering a beautiful view of Tarimbang's offshore.

One month in Sumba gave me a theological understanding that ‘I am not from the world, so don’t pursue the treasures of the world, gird up your treasure in heaven and a new earth later, do it for God through your fellows wherever they are including in Sumba’.

Finally, thanks to Yulius Anawaru and family, Apriyanto, pastor Domi, Abner, Yoga, Anton, Mr. Daniel -  farmer group of Rinjung Pahamu, friends of GMNI, East Sumba GMKI, espescially to Stube-HEMAT which gave me valuable lessons. Hopefully, this program will be the opening page of the book of mine about interaction with Sumba Island. (SRB)