Selling Sago and Fish, Buying Instant Noodles

Kompas/Totok Wijayanto

A boy eats uncooked instant noodles on Friday (15/10/2021) in Kampung As of Three Islands district in Asmat regency, Papua

The Asmat people’s encounter with a new food culture and food assistance has changed their food consumption pattern. Artificial seasonings are increasingly replacing the sago and fish that are abundantly available in their villages.

As soon as the ketinting (wooden boat) had docked, Mama Juliana Soromaut (43) rushed to lay out 10 bunches of water spinach and dozens of fish. She quickly got off the boat and made her way to a market in Agats that was only a stone's throw from the harbor. She rolled out a length of sackcloth on the side of the asphalt road running alongside the swamp and placed the water spinach and fish on it.

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Her son Johanis (13), who was walking behind her, kissed Mama Juliana's hand and headed to school. Other women at the Agats market in Asmat, Papua, stopped by to purchase the water spinach, handed her several Rp 10,000 bills. Less than half an hour later at 6:15 a.m. Eastern Indonesia Time (WIT), Mama Juliana’s fish and water spinach had sold out.

“I usually sell sago too, but the supply has run out. The remaining sago at home is for meals to feed the family for a week," Juliana, who lives with her husband, three children and her father, said in mid-October 2021.

That morning, she had pocketed Rp 100,000. She set aside some of the money to buy fuel for the boat, while she used the remainder to buy coffee, sugar, cigarettes and instant noodles. After Johanis came back from school, they took the food she had purchased to their village of Bivak in Ewer, located around 7 kilometers from Agats.

Coming from a community of hunter-gatherers, Juliana is like her fellow Asmat tribesmen who still grind sago, which is easily found in her village. In addition to collecting sago caterpillars, they catch ikan duri (sagor catfish), ikan kaca (glassfish) and ikan sembilan (eeltail catfish) to serve along with the sago. As for coffee and instant foods, they consume these daily, or when the sago has run out.

Juliana's family also consumes rice and instant foods since her family started receiving assistance, from both the government and encounters with people from outside Asmat. Mathias Etmambai (65), Juliana's father-in-law, consumes rice, drinks coffee and instant noodles when the sago runs out.

KOMPAS

The children of Asatat village, Three Islands district, Asmat eat breakfast to start their day, just like other children. However, they eat raw instant noodles and energy drinks almost every day, not sago balls or sago porridge.

If the sago has run out and the family cannot eat sago, Mathias only consumes instant noodles, rice, or canned fish. The rice comes from the government assistance the family receives every six months. Meanwhile, his family buys the instant noodles and canned fish.

"[We get] a lot of assistance. There are noodles and canned fish. It tastes good. If we have the money, we buy it,” Mathias said with a chuckle.

Children also like the taste of instant foods. Unfortunately, some parents allow their toddlers eat uncooked instant noodles. It is easy to find in the villages in Asmat.

In Sawa village, Sawa Erma district, for example, a number of children sit on a wooden bridge, munching on instant noodles straight from the package, crushed and sprinkled with the included spice packets.

Paulus Taspere (29), a local resident, has been unable to stop his son from eating uncooked instant noodles.

“Since he was 1 year old, he has been eating raw noodles. If [he is] forbidden, he cries," said Paulus.

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A boy from Kampung As in the Three Islands district of Asmat, Papua, enjoyed his "breakfast" of raw instant noodles on Thursday (14/10/2021) as his parents watched. Especially for small children, the digestive process can be disrupted if they eat uncooked instant noodles.

Paulus and his four children live with 15 other family members in one house. The front section of the house, which was built with government assistance, has a tin roof and wooden walls and measures around 6 meters by 6 meters. The rear section of the house is almost the same size and has thatched walls and roof. In the corners of the house are packages of energy drinks and instant noodles.

Paulus said that the children of the household were used to consuming energy drinks and raw instant noodles. Paulus worked odd jobs every day, often using his strength to construct bridges or electrical installations in his village. When there are no construction projects, he occasionally catches fish and roasts sago.

Kompas/Totok Wijayanto

A boy from Kampung As in Three Islands district, Asmat regency, Papua, enjoys his "breakfast" of raw instant noodles on Thursday (14/10/2021) as his parents watch. Raw instant noodles can cause digestive problems for children, especially young children.

The rest of the time, he simply stays at home, waiting for the government assistance to arrive. Paulus receives Rp 600,000 in direct cash assistance and Rp 1 million from the village administration. Before the aid is disbursed, he often owes money to a shop owned by the family of a member of the Indonesian Military (TNI) who serves in his village.

His family often owes the TNI member money for instant noodles, rice, coffee, sugar, energy drinks and cigarettes. When the aid is disbursed, the shop owner immediately collects the debt. As a result, the aid money simply slips out of Paulus's hands. This happens every month.

Because they receive cash assistance, Paulus and other residents do not go out to harvest sago or fish. When the aid money has not been disbursed yet and the sago supply has been depleted, he chooses to go into debt instead of harvesting sago. Instead of managing the relief money for other needs, he uses it to buy instant foods.

His lack of knowledge in money management means that Paulus uses the money on food. If any aid money remains, the elementary school dropout buys clothes or fabrics for his wife and children.

Bad luck

The introduction of instant foods and drinks has also led to a shift from some Asmat traditions, but not in a good way. In the past, harvesting sago palm was a sacred activity, and the gatherers would not bring food or drink from the village when heading out on a harvest.

Long ago, it was believed that bringing food while harvesting sago would bring misfortune and that the gatherers would not find any good sago. So, when they grew tired or thirsty, they ate whatever they could find in the forest, such as drinking swamp water or eating sago stalks.

Some people even brought energy drinks. When their water runs out, they mix it with the muddy swamp water without boiling it first.

However, the people have abandoned this belief today. When Kompas followed the residents of As and Atat to harvest the sago, they brought coffee, water and snacks with them. Some people even brought energy drinks. When their water runs out, they mix it with the muddy swamp water without boiling it first.

History of malnutrition

This food consumption pattern is a cause of various diseases, such as intestinal infections. The Asmat District Health Office noted that 5,806 residents suffered from intestinal infections in 2020, the fourth highest in the region. Most people have diarrheal disease.

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Village administration workers prepare mung bean porridge for distribution to children under 5 in kampungs As and Atat in Three Islands district, Asmat, Papua, on Friday (15/10/2021). Mung bean porridge and eggs are provided as part of a nutritional improvement program run in collaboration between the Social Affairs Ministry and the Agats Diocese. The pilot program has been implemented in only 10 villages in Asmat regency.

Worst of all, in 2018 the government declared an extraordinary occurrence in Asmat due to an explosion in cases of malnutrition. At least 72 children died. The Asmat Health Office recorded 627 total cases of malnutrition that year.

Village administrators prepared mung bean porridge on Friday (15/10/2021) for distributing to children under 5 years in the households of As and Atat in Three Islands District, Asmat. Providing mung bean porridge and eggs as additional food intake is part of the nutritional improvement program, a collaboration between the Social Affairs Ministry and the Agats Diocese. The pilot program is implemented in only 10 villages in Asmat regency.

Asmat Health Office head Riechard R.B. Mirino admitted many residents still consumed instant noodles and drank raw water from rivers and swamps. The people, including children, grew sick from these practices.

“Especially for small children, the digestive process can be disrupted. The awareness [campaign] that we carried out gave them the understanding that food and drink must be cooked first. We also provided knowledge about healthy food alternatives," said Riechard.

Healthy foods like vegetables were difficult for them to produce. Living on swampland meant it was difficult for the people of Asmat to grow crops. Only sago palms could withstand the wetland conditions. The rise and fall of the swamp water made it impossible for vegetable crops to survive and grow.

Learning to farm

Papuans living on the coast are used to being spoiled by nature. The fish can simply be taken from the seas, the sago can be harvested easily. They even believe that sago palms will never run out, even if they are harvested from generation to generation. This has made them unfamiliar with cultivating crops. Moreover, the land around them is dominated by muddy swamps.

According to data from the Asmat Agriculture Office, the total land potential for cultivating sago is 1.4 million hectares, but sago grows on only 4,255.50 ha of this area, while sago is harvested from just 2,122.50 ha. In 2020, the district harvested 10,612 tons of sago, even though less than 1 percent of the potential land was cultivated. It is no wonder that the people feel that sago will never run out.

They learned of vegetables and rice through the social assistance they received from government, state agencies and churches.

They only know about the axes and machetes they use for harvesting sago and the spears and arrows they use for hunting. They have no knowledge of hoes or shovels, let alone gembor (watering cans). They learned of vegetables and rice through the social assistance they received from government, state agencies and churches.

For this reason, the Asmat Diocese has tried to introduce the people to farming techniques for meeting their food needs. At least 10 villages have started farming and raising egg-laying hens.

Yohanes Wanakat (25) has started planting crops such as mustard greens, cucumbers, long beans, and other vegetables. He made a container to grow the crops. It is a large wooden container measuring approximately 2 meters by 3 meters. He fills the container with dried soil from the swamp. He started planting without using fertilizer. It was the first thing he had done in a month. "We get seeds from the church so we can eat vegetables," he said.

In trying his hand at growing crops this month, he hopes to get good results so he can provide healthy food for his family. Yohanes lives with six family members in one hut. But unfortunately, rice and instant noodles remain their main choice. When it was all gone, they will return to sago again.

"Buying rice uses money from the government, when it runs out, you just go to cut some sago again," said Yohanes.

(This article was translated by Kurniawan Siswo)