Hey 👋
In Indonesia, there’s a region called Papua, the easternmost province of the country. It’s the land of gold, minerals, uranium and beautiful scenery. This place is a stream of income for the country yet unfortunately, is very underdeveloped. Unlike many of us living in Java with all the luxury of electricity, abundant food, cities that barely sleep these days, in many regions around Papua, they’d be lucky to have running water, basic necessities and even higher education.
This Sunday, my family and I happened to watch an Indonesian youtuber who ventured to this area and organized a communal feast . From that youtube documentary, we learned that Papua looks so foreign. It’s as if night and day compared to Java or other bigger and more developed islands in the country. While it was a cooking cultural show, it saddens me to learn that most of the region only has elementary school. For the children to get higher education, they have to travel far away or even bury their dreams to go to higher education.
While around here, what we normally see is always the news about so and so corruption. The widespread corruption almost felt like it’s something so mundane. There are billions that should be used for people’s prosperity yet we still have widespread poverty.
It sickens all of us but we’re just normal civilians, there’s nothing we can do about it other than perhaps some occasional donation here and there which we hope goes toward the actual place. Our best chance to contribute is also simply by raising awareness about the place and the condition but there’s only so much we can do about it.
Throughout the documentary, it was pretty eye-opening to see how happy the children and the people around them were because they received some milk and snacks. It’s as if their happiness was pretty simple. Our family ended up binge-watching the shows and we reminded each other to constantly be grateful about all the privileges that we have even though it seems so mundane and menial.
After that Sunday afternoon, I reflected on simple things that we have which actually is a privilege. Think about running water, a school to go to, a comfortable place with proper roofing, you know things that are seemingly mundane. Even for me, I tend to take them for granted too.
In the past, those who lived on major islands were blinded by this fact that we thought such things only happened in Africa. Yet, I don’t think we need to look far because where I am from, we still have this same condition, a place stripped of its resources while its people are left behind even in 2025.
We currently have a free lunch program organized by the government. Though some of them reached that part, there were still many regions untouched. This is just one from many policies that Papua is one of those regions that aren’t so prioritized. When I first heard the pilot project started in Java and in the city, I thought it was pretty ridiculous. But at the same time, I recognize a hidden poverty especially in the city where it’s not so apparent. Everyone blended in and felt like we all could afford the same thing.
But what do I know, right?