Warmarway, Indibo and Kebar
door Kathrin Pape
Since my last blog post four weeks ago it had been a very busy time again and Europe seemed to be far away. Not only because of the around 12.600 km distance between Germany and West Papua, but also because the internet connection was not (or very slow) working for about a month. Emails didn’t reach me and I had no chance to read the newspapers on the internet as I normally do. During the last months I could maybe experience a little bit how Europeans must have felt to live in Papua years and years ago – far away from their home country and friends and family with the only information channel by mail which took a few weeks. Right during this time I got 2 letters from friends in Europe and Australia which they already sent in the beginning of July. So the letters still need about 2 months to West Papua.
Besides giving regular classes at the high school, I had the chance to spent a night in the forest around Warmarway where a new guest house will be build soon. I met the Tourist Guide Yunus Sayori in Manokwari and we took a local transportation from the market to the small village of Warmarway which took us around 1 hour. The first thing we did when we reached Warmarway was to walk to the ground where the guesthouse will be build. It is outside the village and a short walk from the main road. The Guest House will be in the middle of the forest, but still right at the secluded black sand beach. It could easily happen that you would be the only person enjoying the perfect view over the bay or the corals and marine life right in front of the Guest House. The place will be perfect for tourists who like quiet places in the middle of nature. Not only you have the beach and the river to go fishing, snorkeling or getting a sun taint at the beach, also those who like to try to see the birds of paradise have the possibility to do this with Yunus in the morning or afternoons (the track is really steep and just suitable for persons who regularly go hiking)
After a night in the jungle and trying to take many pictures of the birds of paradise (well, I saw them, but they are too fast moving as I had the chance to take photos…) we went to the village of Indibo to check out the conditions for the planned water project of Wally and Coby in September.
Not only in school, but the internet in the immigration office wasn’t working as well for a couple of weeks. I was already afraid that I will have no chance to extend my visa for another month, but after two weeks I finally could extend my visa till the 10th of October.
In the beginning of September Wally and Coby were arriving in Manokwari and I was able to accompany them to Indibo to have a look at the water project from the beginning till the end.
During that time it was my birthday and I experienced a very different, but also nice birthday with the kids singing songs for me, a birthday cake, traditional clothes and a very long and poisonous grilled snake (after that I stopped for a few days walking barefoot through the jungle)
When most of the work was done in Indibo we took a plane to Kebar to have a look at the water situation in Akmuri where Wally and Coby already helped two years ago. We were supposed to leave the airport at around 10 o’clock in the morning, but finally left at around 4pm. When we reached Anjai we had to rush to find us an accommodation and two motorbikes to go to Akmuri. The villagers were able to help us and we could still visit Akmuri on the same evening. Wally and Coby used this visit to give some school books to the teachers and children.
After a good meal and good night sleep we borrowed two motors again to have a look at a new village which the locals call “New Akmuri“. There are about 30 households in this 2-year-old village which is only accessible by foot and crossing the river on a bamboo bridge. The villagers can get clean water at the nearby river and they have a well in the village too.
Two days after we came back from Kebar we took the local transportation to Indibo again. The villagers did a great job and the water was already reachable at every household. We hope that because we didn’t use a pump but just gravity, the project will be sustainable and the people will continue to have access to clean water at their houses.
