The first online sharing session between young members of four indigenous communities in Indonesia (Mollo and Kasepuhan Pasir Eurih Indigenous Peoples) and the Philippines (Agta-Dumagat-Remontado Indigenous Peoples) was conducted virtually on 29 August 2020. The activity, which was conducted via Zoom and broadcasted via Youtube, serves as a safe space for indigenous youth to learn from each other the concept of indigeneity and to discuss the concept of indigeneity in their own terms.
This online sharing activity is part of the “Being and Becoming Indigenous” project by VOICE, Rimbawan Muda Indonesia (RMI) (Indonesian Institute for Forest and the Environment), Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA), Lakuat Kujawas (LK), and Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (PAKISAMA). The project aims to understand the youth’s concept of indigeneity in the middle of the modern era.
For this session, Dicky Senda, represented LK, a community composed of members of the Mollo Indigenous Peoples of Indonesia. The Mollo is an indigenous community located in the Taiftop Village in North Mollo. In the online session, Senda shared their experience with indigeneity amidst modernity with the youth of Mollo.“The youth of Mollo found it hard to be connected to our own culture,” Senda explains when he shared the story behind the founding of LK. “We are educated in formal school but separated from [t]our culture,” he continues. He also shared the challenge with modernity, saying that “modernity is growing fast, but the local knowledge is not fast enough, we need stronger community organizing to deal with that,” hence the establishment of LK.
LK serves as the dialog space for Mollo youth and the outside world. They have established educational tourism activities, such as the heritage trail, to encourage people from urban areas to visit the Mollo community and learn more about the Mollo indigenous culture. Aside from educating non-indigenous people living in urban areas, LK also focuses on educating the Mollo youth on their own culture. As their community knowledge is mainly passed on through word-of-mouth, they are currently working on archiving this cultural information through documentation and the art-cultural approach.
Senda also shared that the LK activities have helped their youth in strengthening their identity, raising their awareness and care for nature, and most importantly learning the concept of inclusiveness. The activities have also helped in the economic growth of their community.
Aside from online sharing sessions, the Being and Becoming Indigenous project, which runs from June 2020 to March 2021, will also implement workshops and leadership training activities for the indigenous youth in four communities in Indonesia and the Philippines.
More online sharing sessions are scheduled in the following months. The next sharing session will be hosted by the Dumagat-Remontado community in the Philippines.
Watch the recording of this activity here:
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