How do you take your part in this humanity mission?
a Story behind The Shirt
Tapi……sa tiada baju….
baju yang sa punya, satu saja….sa pakai.
Ugimba, June 2011.
First time
I went to Ugimba village was to do initial survey on the condition of
Moni and Dani tribe living there. I did walk through a really long
up-and-down path composed of clay and stones. I was walking accompanied
by some kids from Ugimba who were currently having school holiday. We
went around the village to the direction of a quite long bridge crossing
Kemabu River while greeted mommies or fathers working in the garden
along the way, as well as seeing closely the honai with some pigs were
playing around.
The
weather was pleasant that afternoon, so it was such an opportunity to
walk through the village while kidding and joking with the Ugimban kids.
Every now and then, I asked them some words in Moni language and they
asked me about how the city people live, whether they still live like
Moni and Dani people or not. Therefore, the questions aroused my passion
to introduce the world to these Ugimban kids as soon as possible.
It was
late afternoon and was time to go back to homestay when the rain
suddenly poured so heavily while we found no decent place to shelter.
Big trees growing nearby were also not able to hold the dropping water
on this terrain of Ugimba. As a result, we were all wet but had to keep
walking to reach a school building. As we arrived at the building, I
felt tremendous cold.
Ugimba,
which lays 2.710 meters above the sea level, was certainly cold,
especially with its fog always surrounding the village.
As I felt
the unbearable cold, I assumed the kids had to go back home to change
their shirt so they wouldn’t get sick, and so I asked them to.
“But I have no other shirt,” as one kid answered. While the other said, “I have only one shirt, the one I’m wearing now.”
Those
answers shed my tears to realize how unfortunate they are. They have to
be topless while waiting for their shirt to dry, which also means that
they have to sleep without any shirt. In that kind of place, which is
cold and humid, being uncovered is surely something enjoyable. They
might have to sleep by the fireplace in honai to keep them warm, which
means they have to inhale the smokes from the burned wood the whole
night. Respiratory disease must have been their nightmare all their
life.
So… what can you do for kids in Ugimba?
Here some things you may do to help the kids of Ugimba to cope with the cold air:
- donate casual clothes for kids and adult,
- donate sweater and blanket for families,
- donate raincoat or umbrella to endure under the rain that comes so often in Ugimba.
Ugimba is a
village located on the slope under Carstensz top in Papua. It lays 2,
710 meters above sea level and is habituated by two tribes, Moni and
Dani Tribe.
Please contact us by sending email to :
somatuafoundation@yahoo.com
or
riniindyastuti.ri@gmail.com
