Posted: 1/9/07
Remote village becomes "home" for local student
 Jonathanís home in Bokadini. They cooked outside over a fire, and caught rain water for cooking and drinking in the barrel pictured in the foreground. Nine men lived in the home. |
By Jane Palen
Managing Editor
Halfway around the world, Jonathan Gerdes of Caledonia found a place that became like home to him.
It didnít happen overnight. In fact, he experienced a jaw-dropping type of culture shock when he and four other students arrived in the remote village of Bokadini in Papua, Indonesia. It was the kind of place one would see in the pages of National Geographic; a place where people lived in huts and where the worth of a bride was measured in pigs. A place where money was almost unnecessary, where people work day in and day out to grow the food that keeps them alive. A place he grew to love.
Jonathanís trip was through "Eduventure," and as the name implies is intended as an educational experience and as an adventure. He originally signed up to go to Fiji, but that trip was called off.So, with very little time for research, he opted for the trip to Papua.
"I didnít even know where Indonesia was," admitted Jonathan.
Last August, after a short orientation in Arizona, he made the 72-hour trip to Bokadini.
Indonesia is a chain of islands in southeast Asia located near Australia. Papua occupies the west half of one island, and the east half of the island is Papua New Guinea. The village Jonathan stayed at was inland, about an hourís plane ride from the coast.
The appearance of westerners in this part of the world is unusual, and a cause for celebration. Upon their arrival, students were greeting with singing and dancing, and crowns of flowers were placed on their heads. They eventually began referring to themselves as the "walking zoo," because they felt as though they were on display. When visiting another village, all activity would stop and the eyes of all the villagers would be on the students as they passed through.
As Americans, the students had better housing and bathroom facillities than most in the village. They lived at the former Missionary Aviation Fellowship air base, and lived in a wooden structure with a roof. A rusty barrel caught rain water from the roof, and this was their drinking water. Their bathrooms consisted of a squat toilet and a barrel of water they used for washing.
Most villagers lived in two-level grass huts called honai. A fire was usually burned in the center of the hut, and there was no chimney. Jonathan and the other students nearly choked, but the smoke didnít seem to affect those who lived there.
Jonathan found that the people in Bokadini were very status-conscious. There were two types of people, the "straight hairs," who were Indonesian, and the "curly hairs," who were native Papuans. The straight hairs lived in the better homes, the curly hairs in the honai.
"There was a little bit of tension between them," Jonathon explained.
People from the coast also enjoyed a higher status than those in the highlands. A woman from the coast, for example, had a high bride price of 20 pigs, while a woman from the highlands was only worth four.
The people of the village spent their days gardening. They raised cassava, corn, bananas, sweet potatoes and pineapples. Their gardens were up and down the hillside, and their tools consisted of sticks to dig holes for the seeds and machetes to clear away the grass. Seeds were scattered randomly; Jonathan had trouble adjusting to corn that wasnít planted in straight rows.
Because of the perfect weather, gardening took place all year around. With very little variation, temperatures ranged from about 65 at night to 85 during the day. Every couple of days, it rained for about two hours.
"It was the Garden of Eden," said Jonathan. "The weather was perfect."
The villagers grew food primarily for their own use, although some of the extra would be sold at a market. They had very little meat in their diets because there were few animals.
Communication was a challenge at first. There are almost 300 languages spoken in Papua, with each tribe having its own language. Most people speak Indonesian and a few, such as Jonathanís roommates, spoke English, and were able to translate. The Eduventure students also taught English classes.
A value system
The Bokadini villagers shared a value system that placed importance on giving, relationships, family, generosity, greetings, tradition and tribalism.
"They are very giving, very friendly, and always glad to see you," said Jonathan. Relationships are placed above all else, he said.
There were some customs that were difficult to adjust to at first, explained Jonathan. For example, men always walked hand in hand. In school, his Papuan roommate would sit very close. It started out feeling awkward, but eventually felt normal.
One day, the students were escorted to a neighboring village by a government official who came from the village. The entire population came out to greet them with music and dancing. The students and officials were given seats of honor, while all the villagers sat on the ground. They shook hands with each villager, and then enjoyed a meal of roast pig that had been cooked in a pit.
Men also carried machetes where ever they went, while the women carried almost everything else in bags which had been woven from tree bark. The bags had wide straps which the women put across their foreheads. Babies, pigs, and produce all went into the bag. If a man was seen carrying anything, it was usually something large, such as a tree. Women did most of the labor in the gardens as well.
Occasionally, the group would trek to another part of the island, For some of the native Papuans who accompanied them on their trek, it was like traveling in a time machine. Many had never even seen the ocean. Inhabitants of the coast enjoy a more modern lifestyle and have more contact with the outside world by virtue of their location.
In a discussion with village leaders, Jonathan was asked where Americans get their money. He tried to explain the concept of commerce to them, and how people work for money. They had thought that Americans had machines in their homes that dispensed money.
The elders asked Jonathan if he had any questions for them. After observing that the all the days seem so similar, and people continue to work every day until they are physically incapable, Jonathan asked what in their lives excited them. After some laughter they responded through the translator, "Girls."
After a visit to the Papuan coast and then to Bali, the students returned to the U.S. in early December. Jonathan was reluctant to comment on how the excesses of the holiday season compared to the simple lifestyle he had been living.
"We were challenged not to say anything critical for six months," he explained. He does admit to feeling overloaded when attending a Christmas concert upon his return.
Eduventure has its roots in the Christian ministry, but students are not called upon to preach, but to embrace community, simplicity, and adventure, and to live as disciples among people of different cultures. Part of what Jonathan came back with, he said, was a sense of how real God is.
"He is the same here as He is there," he explained. "He made them and He made us."
Jonathan said he also came to see how selfish he is, and how selfless he should be. Just the fact that he could make it in that remote village, and make important connections with the people there, taught him something of what he is capable of.
After he finishes his studies at Crown College in St, Bonifacius, Jonathan hopes to be trained as a radiology technician. He also dreams of teaching English one day in another country, perhaps somewhere like Bokadini.
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