Nabire, Jubi – They call themselves 500 Umbrellas’ Movement for Mama Papua. They distributed big umbrellas to Papuan Mothers who were selling stuffs as vegetables, areca nuts and Noken, on the sidewalks throughout Papua.
“This initiative started around May 19, 2017, with the creation of facebook messenger group that invites friends to voluntarily help Mama-mama who sells stuffs under the hot sun and rain,” said Roberta Muyapa, the movement initiator to Jubi via electronic mail, Friday (August 18).
She is a young woman from Nabire, Papua Province, who is studying at National High School of Technology (STTNAS) in Yogyakarta. She feels moved to do something for Papuan Mama, especially those selling on the street.
Papuan student initiative
Roberta saw the attention of local government is still very poor for Mama-mama Papua. For long time they have been selling stuffs uncer the sun and rain, plus lack of appropriate place or a market worthy of them.
“Me and my friends see the lack of local government’s attention to Mama-mama, the economic assistance for Mama-mama Papua to get into the market is also lack, there is no proper place or market that makes Mama-mama sell their products spontaneously without facilities,” said Roberta, who also admit that Mama-mama themselves is very less organized.
Not only launching campaigns, Roberta and his friends to date have managed to collect 500 umbrellas from the donation of various parties since the movement was launched. At first she also did not expect public response via facebook media was very positive.
The idea of launching such a movement did arise from Roberta herself, but most of the supporters of this work were college students.
“Many are responding positively and many are willing to help as well as coordinate cities in Java, Sulawesi and Papua. Most are college students. They respond very well and support both material and moral,” she said with enthusiasm.
The main cities of the movement’s targets are the Papuan students who study in Yogyakarta, Bandung, Jakarta, Surabaya, Malang, Manado, Goronto, Jayapura, Nabire, Manokwari, Serui, Sorong and Timika.
In each city this movement has their contact persons that appear spontaneous from the results of facebook group activity in which now consists of 5459 account.
Roberta felt moved to conduct this campaign and fundraising because herself as a woman who would also become a Mother. Plus many Papuans are raised by Mothers who sell stuffs on the street to be able to feed their families and put their children to school.
“I am part of Papuan people and women who will be a mother and raised by a Mother who also sells stuffs for our family can eat and go to school. That’s the main reason why I did this,” she said.
He also saw the situation of economic activities of Papuan Mama who increasingly marginalized by migrants.
Rp 35 million collected in 2.5 months
To be able to get 500 umbrellas, Roberta and her friends need about Rp 38 million to Rp 40 million.
“The funds needed are around Rp 38 million to Rp 40 million. Our fund-raising process is done by selling stuffs and spread information to Papuan dormitories in Java, Sulawesi and Papua,” said Roberta, who admitted to having trouble sleeping because her mind can’t stop working to explore other creative fund-raising ideas.
Through creative posters spread across social media, Roberta tried independently to be able to raise funds.
So within 2.5 months they have managed to collect about Rp 30 million and the money is used up to buy 500 umbrellas. Even some umbrellas have been distributed to cities in Papua.
“We’ve bought 500 umbrellas. One umbrella cost Rp 56 thousand. Screen printing one umbrella for Rp 4 thousand. So the total of Rp 30 million plus cargo shipping cost of Rp 5.5 million. Everything is Rp 35.5 million,” said the 23-year-old young woman.
She added from the total Rp 35.5 million, still required another Rp 2-3 million for postage to other districts.
“The umbrellas so far have been sent and received in Sorong, Manokwari, Timika, and Nabire. Hopefully there are additional funds to cover the above shortcomings, so we can send it to Jayapura, Serui, Waropen, Timika, Intan Jaya beach, Deiyai and Dogiai, ” she said.
Roberta hopes this movement will stay active, even after the umbrella distribution. “We can keep the activities for Mama-mama, and the movement becomes clearer so that it can work together with other elements that move in humanity,“ said 10th semester student who admitted to difficulty to finish her study because of the difficult subjects.
The Movement of 500 Umbrellas for Mama-mama is for her a booster for a bigger purpose, “In principle we want to target the entire Papua Land to have a Special Market for Papuan Mama,” she said. (*)
