Raja Ampat Story: Bringing People Together
During this pandemic, we’ve seen so many negativities on the news, social media, WhatsApp family group, etc. We act more cautious and aware of our hygiene because of this pandemic. But being cautious is also making us more individualistic and judgmental.
People easily suspect others having COVID-19 for coughing a little and argue with each other for having original opinions about this situation. What’s dangerous about these negativities is that they are more contagious than the COVID-19 itself. It affects both our productivity and mental health.
“When will this pandemic be over?” is the question most people are wondering right now.
Nobody can give an exact answer, but what if we ask a question through another perspective, such as, “What can I do to make the slightest difference?”
Wondering about the uncertainty of our future will lead to stress and anxiety, as we cannot control everything in this world. But by focusing on the things we have in our hands, will boost our confidence and make us easier to cope. So, what can we do during this pandemic?
The answer is collaboration.
Collaboration doesn’t cause instant changes, but we believe collaboration can restore our faith in humanity. We can bring positive changes in the community because the restoration of our home is not just one person or one organization’s responsibility, but it is the responsibility of us all.
Even a large organization like the WHO (World Health Organization) needs our collaboration to cure our world. They’re starting a global collaboration movement to speed up the development and production of COVID-19 vaccines (source: WHO Newsroom). To discover new vaccines, WHO needs our cooperation to be tested and stay at home. A person’s COVID-19 test is valuable to heal the world. The same goes for our act of kindness towards each other is valuable to change our situation for the better.
Speaking of collaboration, it reminds us of the Raja Ampat community. They live as a community and work together to overcome their problems. We can use their story as an inspiration to care for one another. They had a great collaboration long before this pandemic happened and became even tighter during this pandemic. Here’s why:
Raja Ampat people are known to rely on natural resources to live, even until their future generations. Before this pandemic emerged, the community had collaborated to preserve their nature through the Sasi tradition (read more about Sasi HERE) to maintain the stability of their food sources. That’s why in today’s pandemic, they’re able to survive with an abundance of food resources, even though they’re facing a decline in tourism and have limited access to the city because of this pandemic.
Sasi ceremony is a collaboration where community members give up some of their fishing locations to be temporarily closed so that the results are abundant. They also use harvest from the Sasi ceremony for the needs of the community. The people of Raja Ampat also collaborated to form a Community Patrol Team to guard their seas, even in Pam Village, the women also formed a patrol team. So, when a pandemic hits our country, they can face the situation together as they’ve always had.
Their story teaches us the importance of collaborating in this hard time. By helping each other and protecting our nature, it will have a better impact than spreading negative things and thinking only about ourselves.
Indonesian Ocean Pride would like to ask you to join us in a global collaboration to support each other and nature as a community. We can start from as simple as giving your reusable masks for others who don’t have it and spreading positive news to your WhatsApp family group to encourage each other. You can also try to donate food and other daily needs through donations at certain institutions, or to your neighbors who are quarantined at home.
We don’t know for sure when this pandemic will end, but we believe we can make our situation better by helping each other. We cannot protect our nature if we don’t start by protecting each other.
