Old, but young. Tired, but full of spirit. Facing challenges, but keep moving.
This lady inspires me to the core!
Mama Emi, that’s what people call her, is a health cadre in Paniai District, Papua Province, Indonesia. She is not young anymore, but her spirit still is. Sometimes she looks tired after doing a home visit, but her spirit never ends. Surely she deals with a lot of challenges since she visits her fellow women living in other sub-districts, and sometimes she has to walk hours and hours because transportation is limited. But, nothing can stop her.
This lady, is one of some health cadres who successfully changes the way people think about BANGGA Papua program. In the beginning, many potential beneficiaries were reluctant to join in the program. Why? There were a few main reasons, but mostly: distrust.
We might think that poor people will accept any help without even asking a single question. Well, it’s not the case in Paniai. When they heard BANGGA Papua provides funds to help them improving the quality of the health of their children, they asked, “Where does the money come from?” “Why are we entitled for the money?” “When we work, sometimes we get no money. And now, we can get the money without working at all. It’s absurd.”
Mama Emi stepped forward. As she is also a religious leader, she spoke at a church and gave explanation to the people. She talked to women who came to health post (posyandu), making sure they understand the program and its benefits for their children.
She visited the potential beneficiaries. Knocked their door, had discussion with them. Get them fully understand about the cause of the program. Convinced them. Guided them. Facilitated them to get registered. Made herself available to the people when they need more information or are confused.
The people listened to her. Consequently, people changed their mind. In short, they registered themselves, prepared documents that are required to be the beneficiaries and finally received the funds.
The process to eliminate the distrust sounds simple. Maybe it does for Mama Emi. But not for everybody. The people trust her because she has been serving them for more than 20 years as the health cadre. She has been through a lot of the ups and downs with the people.
People like Mama Emi plays a very important role in bringing changes, educating people, reviewing the present social values and switching people’s opinion.
We should have more people like her.
BANGGA Papua is a social protection program initiated by the Papua Government. This is an effort by the government to use the Special Autonomy fund (Dana Otsus) more effectively. The government is building a better generation of indigenous Papuan
