Elsdpp

My name is **Els Tieneke Rieke**, my colleagues usualy call me **Els** and my families call me **Rika**. I have sure or family name but actually it does not written in my birth certificate. **Katmo** is my sure name, it come from my father. Some people think that I come from Java because of that name. Three of my names come from three women in my past generations, Els come from my grandmom, Tieneke comes from my mother and Rieke comes from my mom’s aunt. When I was kid, I did not to be called Els, I prefer to be called Rika but now I really love it because too short and easy for everyone to remember. Some of my Dutch friends said that my name is soo Ducth, I think so because my grandmom was born in Ducth colonialism. I also have special call name from my big brother is Ipi, it is lovely name for him. Anyhow, after have children I have new call name for my families, ‘**mama Senov**’ means Senov’s mom in English. It given name culturally for most of women in Papua who already get married and have kids, so Senov is my oldest son’s name but sometimes it makes my youngest son get jelous. Both of my are parents passed away, they buried in Makimi, a coastal village in eastern part of Nabire in 2000 and 2001. Nabire is located in Cenderawasih Bay, north of Papua. My mother came from Nabire and my father came from Muyu, a tribe in high land of south Papua. When my father was young he moved from his hometown, Merauke which in south of Papua to Biak, an island in north for study. He wanted to be a teacher, a year before he finished his study, my mother enroled in the same school, so they meet each other and get married after she finished her study. Then my parents employed as teacher in Nabire. Actually, they were not teacher like formal education teacher, but they were teacher for informal education which taught community outside the school such as gave reading or mathematic skills for adult who never went to school or drup-out from the school. My father came from farm family so he used to spent his free time after work for gardening. We had few farm and honey bee farm. We used to plant some vegetables, fruits, cassavas, corns in our garden outside of the town. When I was kid I became my father’s helper if bee harvest season came. I also used to help my mother planted some flowers in front and back yard of our home to supply food for the bee. I remember that my father used to remained a box of bee out of the harvest season so the honney change became bee pupae. The box of bee pupae was special compensation gift for me. I like it very much because it tasted nice like fresh milk. Every morning we used to have honey for our breakfast, my mom spread it on the bread, it delicious. I was born on September 20 in Nabire and grew up there. I am the fourth of one sister and six brothers. I spent seventeen years of my life in that town. I know every part of this town well. Topographi of Nabire is wide flat and there are alot of rivers. Native people in Nabire who are the owner of central of Nabire called Wate tribes. They live in clans and semi nomadic, means they move from one part to another part and do subsistence agriculture practices. Their population less than other comer in Nabire. Other tribes in Nabire are Mee, Dani from high land of Nabire and some tribes from coastal area and small islands of Nabire. I finished my senior high school in Nabire in 1994 and moved to Manokwari to continue my study in Faculty of Agriculture in Universitas Negeri Cenderawasih. I took Socio Economic of Agriculture program. In first year of my study was frustated because I prefered to go to Jayapura to take English and became English teacher. However, my father asked me to go to Manokwari, he said that “you could learn English while you were learn agriculture, but if you learn English you would not have chance to learn agriculture”. I followed him but I think the important think was because he came from farm family and he wanted to continue his family tradition. I found that my father was true because I got some oppurtunity to improve my English. In 2007 I awarded by Ford Foundation to followed sandwich program in University of Arkansas in Fayettevile, Arkansas, U.S.A. In the end of 2011 I got schoolarship from Nuffic to took a shot course about Market Access in CDI Wageningen University in Netherlands. By the time I enjoyed study agriculture. I find it is enjoyable when stay in the village and living with farmer. Focus of my study was socio agriculture means the farmer and their life (culture, beliefs and traditional agriculture pratices). I got my bacheloor degree in Agriculture and went back to Nabire and became English teacher in Agriculture High School for six months. In 2002 I employed as a field facilitator in [|ACDI/VOCA], an USAID project. This project focused on cocoa farmer in some villages in Manokwari. My duties were conducted field school for cocoa farmer, visited cocoa farm, did small social analysis study in some project area and sometime I became gender facilitator in field school. Actually, in that time I really did not understand about gender yet while I worked with some women cocoa farmer. In 2005 I granted by Ford Foundation to continue my study. I planned to go to ISS in Netherland but it was hard for me to live away from my one-week baby so I decided to changed my plan and stayed in Jakarta. I took Women Studies and Gender in Universitas Indonesia. Another reason was, I thought that women and gender studies are applied issue and women isuues in Indonesia even Papua quite different with woman issues in Europe. I raised up my baby while study. It was hard time and I am happy because I could gain my master while raised up two babies, oldest in the first year and the youngest in the end of my study. I wrote my thesis in title Feminist Political Ecology: Kamoro woman’s adaptation to the changes of Cartenz ecosystem in Timika Papua. The focus of the research was to explain how Kamoro woman adapt to the environmental changes based on a study on the individual daily life experiences of Kamoro woman with their matriarchal culture in interaction with the damaged ecological condition. In one side Kamoro women is a bread winner because they live in matriarkhal culture so they have to provide food for family. They depent on natural resources to meet their needs such as rivers and sea which supply food for them. In the other side Freeport the mining coorporate waste the //tailing// through the river. It poisonous and contaminated the rivers and the sea. It causes, some sago plants around the rivers which comsumed by Kamoro people withere and soon dead. Also some fish, crabs, shrimps and shells population decline. I found out some interesting things that Kamoro woman did to be survive. They have traditional knowledges, practices and the way of thinking to prvide safety food for their family. They also improve the environment in their way so, it can provide some needs for them, although it quite difficult and takes time. In 2008, I went back to Manokwari and be came a lecturer in Agricultural Department in University of Papua. I teach some subjects in Agribussiness program such as Rural Development, Introduction to Agriculture Extension, Agriculture Extension Planning and Evaluation Program, Ethnography of Papua, and Basic of Socio Culture Study. I also did few research in women issues such as Violence Againts Women Survey in Pegunungan Bintang Regency, Gender Profile in Wondama Bay Regency and recenty I granted from HCPI-KPAN to do research on Housewive and HIV/AIDS in Manokwari. As a lecturer I have University mandate to do community services. I have some activities in term of this mandate such as a member of steering committee of Papua Woman Empowerment Project (PAWE) Oxfam in Papua, Papua regional coordinator of Association of Gender and Women Studies Community, in 2011 I was a member of team writer of Gender Statistic of Manokwari, and in 2011 I am a coordinator of a Unipa’s pilot project in Siwi that focus on Peanut Agribussiness develpment. The most thing which encourange me to study Gender and Women studies was my parents. When I was kid, I saw my mother lied with alot of blood in her feet. I scared and panic becuase as a little kid I prohibited to enter the room where my mother was there and asked some questions about my mother. I remember, my anty said to me that you did not have to know, it was adult women bussiness. I kept that moment for my self and tried to find the answer by my self. By the time, I knew that my mother got serious blooding because of unsafe abortion. This experience influenced me alot, so I did research on contraception metdhod as a thesis for my bacheloor degree. My father was a man who has good gender perpectictives. He really encourage my sister and I to continue study and got good job so we have our own income. While, my mother was very strong patriarchal minded. Those experiences influenced me to learn more about gender and women studies. In the fact while teaching I involve gender perpective in to the agriculture development, because women have responsibilities in agriculture such as a labour, a manager, and a producer. In my opinion if we want to develop Papua women, we should strat from agriculture because most of them are engange in agriculture. I have dream someday, Papuan woman can empowered themselves. This my moral responsibility as a Papuan women scholar 