Expressions of Anxiety from the Fringes
Frederikus has found a way to express his talent for writing since he met Yudel in school in 2021. Frederikus has been fond of writing poetry since he was in junior high school.
RD Yudel Neno
Frederikus Belek halted his steps beside a bulletin board. The senior high school student’s gaze was again scrutinizing his writing displayed over the last month. Repeatedly reading his own work is a manifestation of pride, motivation and self-evaluation. His mentor, Yudel Neno, always advises him to do so.
The text of Frederikus about the Eucharist in the Catholic church recently won a writing contest organized there. Out of dozens of writings of senior high school participants from three districts, the work of the class-XII social science student of Santa Filomena Catholic Senior High School scored the highest mark.
The school is located in South Oepuah village, Biboki Moenleu district, Northern Central Timor regency. It is not far from the border between Indonesia and Oeccuse district, an enclave of Timor Leste. From Kupang city, South Oepuah is around 270 kilometers away and takes almost 7 hours to reach by land.
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Frederikus has found a way to express his talent for writing since he met Yudel in school in 2021. Frederikus has been fond of writing poetry since he was in junior high school. Now he begins learning to construct his views through longer and many-sided writings.
Frederikus seems to have been affected by a writing “virus” transmitted by Yudel. Not only Frederikus, many students are getting interested in writing. Their works are displayed on the bulletin board with the first publication from August. The publication is composed of seven sections: reports, opinions, reflections, humor, cartoons, contemplations and short stories.
After the display of our works on the bulletin board, we feel proud.
“Father Yudel has trained us from the beginning. We started with reading, quoting impressive ideas of writings, later learning to write. For us in a village with various limitations, this process is not simple indeed. After the display of our works on the bulletin board, we feel proud,” said Frederikus in mid-September 2022.
Public reading park
Santa Filomena Catholic Senior High School in South Oepuah village is one of the spots where he stops to spread the appeal of writing. He has previously done the same in several villages during his assignment in Betun, Malaka regency. South Oepuah and Betun are separated by a distance of 121 kilometers.
RD Yudel Neno
While in Betun, Yudel was entrusted with leading the Public Reading Park of Malaka regency. Amid his activities in executing his duties as a Catholic priest, he frequently toured population settlements to campaign for literacy, starting from the simplest thing, which was fluency in letters and numbers.
The movement was intensely conducted by Yudel to enhance the literacy capacity of children although they had learned the same thing in school. In reality, many students in the regency and several parts of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) were not yet fluent in reading despite their senior high school education.
The low basic capacity roused Yudel’s concern. Every time he goes to the public reading park, he brings along study aids in the form of numbers and letters as well as pictures to facilitate the process of learning. Occasionally he distributes books he bought himself or received from Java Island’s donors.
RD Yudel Neno
“In the present era of social media, reading is being abandoned. With the entry of the internet to remote areas, they prefer to watch amusing videos on Tiktok, Youtube and Facebook,” he pointed out.
Writing not only provides information, but more than that, it can induce transformation.
Yudel has a dream that with their improved capacity of literacy, children on the fringes of the country will in the future be writers. He is convinced that their writings can unveil many things, including anxieties about surrounding realities. Writing not only provides information, but more than that, it can induce transformation.
He has proven it. While he was in Malaka, he criticized the government policy on the post-transfer of teachers. It gave a political impression. The transfer policy was later canceled by the government. “This indicates the power of an article,” he said.
Priest in politics
Yudel has known the power of writing since he was in junior high school. The house where he lives in Atambua, Belu regency, East Nusa Tenggara, frequently serves as a discussion room for journalists. His brother-in-law is the chief editor of a local media. There he has also learned to write.
As a senior high school student, he was involved in writing bulletins for the bulletin board. His capability was further honed until he studied philosophy at Widya Mandira Catholic University, Kupang. He was bold enough to send opinion articles to the local mass media.
His first article was published in Pos Kupang daily on 12 October 2012. “When my opinion appeared in Pos Kupang, it made me even more self-confident to keep writing. Dozens of my articles have been published there,” he said.
RD Yudel Neno
Yudel later tried to deal with a new challenge, which was writing books. In 2018 he published his book, Etika Politik (Political Ethics) and then Murid Bertanya Guru Menjawab (Students Ask and Teachers Answer). Recently he issued two books at the same time, Imam Berpolitik (A Priest Engaged in Politics) and Narasi Makna (A Narration of Significance).
For Yudel, an imam can be engaged in politics to struggle for the interests of a lot of people and uphold truth and justice. What is not allowed is joining politics for power.
Imam Berpolitik has become a book that invites many people’s discourses. What he means by Imam is a priest as a Catholic leader. For Yudel, an imam can be engaged in politics to struggle for the interests of a lot of people and uphold truth and justice. What is not allowed is joining politics for power.
The four books he has written are often given to his students. He is reminding them that reading is the first step to writing books. Through books, people can express themselves, including their anxieties about the realities on the fringes of the country.
RD Yudel Neno
Born: Fatuknutuk, 14 July 1990
Profession: Catholic priest
Education:Bachelor’s degree in philosophy, Widya Mandira Catholic University, Kupang, 2015
This article was translated by Aris Prawira.
