goodmorningpapua.com – The portraits of life with all the uniqueness of the people in several villages in Sentani, Jayapura Regency, Papua Province were successfully recorded quite completely by 13 students through their book entitled “Snippets of Stories from Sentani: A Collection of Stories from Kampung Asei, Kampung Abar, Kampung Yoboi, and the Tutari Megalithic Site. “
The book was published by Samudra Biru Publisher in April 2021 and launched in the FKIP Hall of Cenderawasih University, Jayapura, Papua, Thursday, June 24, 2021.
The presence of this book is inseparable from the long thought initiated by the founder of the Papua Universial Writing House (Cumpun), Roberthus Yewen and his companions, Musa Abubar and Fabio Costa.
They held the training of feature writing for 13 students to awaken their imagination through writing.
“Thirteen students of the feature writing class from Clump were recruited by opening three classes and participated in the provided subject, they managed to complete the training and write well,” said Roberthus Yewen at the FKIP Uncen Hall, Thursday, June 24, 2021.
The thirteen authors are Merry Rumbino, Hubertus Dogomo, Merince Maria Pigai, Yohanes V. Mafiti, Maria Papuana N Mayabubun, Zakarias Agapa, Santi Tuu, Gelda Asrouw, Septa Kulsumawulan, Viktoria Kandam, Nelce E. Assem, Sicily W. Elopere, and Lydia Eldaberta Koymot.
The book with 100 pages long, written in a feature style, contains a review of the culture and daily life of the people in the three unique villages. The three villages are Asei Village, Abar Village, Yoboi Village, and Megalithic Tutari in Doyo Lama Village.
On pages 9-28 the author reviews about Kampung Asei which is known as the village of bark painting, because of all residents from children to adults are good at making paintings on bark. The motifs of the paintings depict the lives of their ancestors for hundreds of years ago.
In addition, Asei also keeps a number of prehistoric relics, such as menhirs. In the middle of the stone there is a circular carving motif, in the Sentani language it is called “Fouw” which means a symbol of peace, kinship, and togetherness.
Another interesting thing that the author raises in this book from Asei is the old church. The GKI Church in Tanah Papua, Filadefia, which was inaugurated on January 1, 1950, was actually designed by Wolfwarm Wodong, an architect from Germany. The church was built with 10 wooden pillars representing the 10 oldest clans in Asei, namely the Ohee, Ongge, Pepuho, Asabo, Nere, Puhri, Poue, Kere, Modouw, and Yepese clans.
Kampung Abar is written on pages 28-48. Abar is known as the pottery village. No wonder every citizen in Abar is adept at making various types of pottery.
Another uniqueness raised by the author is the process of eating papeda in pottery which in 2019 was designated by Regent Mathius as the “Heley Mbay Hote Mbay Festival” or “eating papeda in earthenware” which is held annually on September 30.
It turns out that it’s not just pottery, in this book the author reviews the creativity of the community in dealing with tilapia fish or cork in the style of bete leaves. Traditional cuisine derived from ancestral heritage.
This book also discusses the electricity supply project in Kampung Abar which was developed by a private company, Electric Vine Industries (EVI) from Germany through PT Electric Vine Indonesia. It is not unreason, Abar was introduced to PLTS, because EVI seeks to make Abar an example in introducing the eco- friendly electricity sources.
Yoboi Village, nicknamed the Colorful Village, is written on pages 49-79. Yoboi is famous as one of the people’s choices if they want to travel to traditional villages in Jayapura Regency.
In addition, there is also a story about Mama Hanny Felle who started the Onomi Niphi Reading House. Thanks to his hard work, Yoboi Village is also known as a literacy village and has become a model for other villages in Jayapura Regency to develop a reading garden through the village library.
Another story from Yoboi Village is the Sago Caterpillar Festival. The festival, which was initiated by Yen Hendrik Tokoro, was initiated for the first time in August 2020. Before the implementation, the community cut 30-50 sago trees and left them for approximately two to three months to get sago caterpillars.
In the last section, pages 87-100 tell about the Tutari Megalithic Site in Doyo Lama Village.
According to a story from the Doyo Lama community, the stones in Tutari Hill are the Tutari Tribe community who used to make mistakes and were eventually cursed to become stones.