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Leaving his comfortable life in Java, Pastor Alfonsus Biru Kira is dedicating his life now to empower people in West Papua and ready them for a great change: the modern civilization.

People in NZ should definitely see him as a role model to help better West Papua. What he is doing to empower West Papuans is totally the opposite of what Kiwis has been doing.

When these Kiwis are busy with condemning and accusing Indonesians of discriminating West Papuans, Indonesians like Pastor Biru chose to refute the accusations not by accusing back but by doing real actions.

Leaving comforts

As reported by Kompas (25/4), Pastor Biru serves as a religious leader at Modio District in Dogiyai Regency in West Papua. Aside of his job as a religious leader, he often takes a long hours journey through the forests and hills to distribute local West Papuans’ products mainly coffee to various shops in Nabire. The money he receives will be given back to local West Papuan farmers to be used for further productions.

His ultimate, yet simple goal is that he wants to lift up the living standard of farmers in Modio, an area that is relatively isolated and distanced around 200 km away from Nabire, the closest big city. The area is 45 km away from the closest Trans Papua road.

Modio People live simply, Biru explain. But recently, it has been a worry for West Papuans there that modernity will threaten their lives. They are afraid of people from outside of their are to come and buy their lands forcefully.

“We do not want that. West Papuans here have very good soil. We have coffee and garlic. Why not cultivate them better,” Biru, who has a master’s degree, said in the end of March, 2018.

The isolation of Modio and other similar areas are mostly due to geographical reasons. West Papua is a mountainuous province and is a host of many big rivers. Some remote areas are still isolated because there have not been any bridges yet. For example, to go to Nabire, West Papuans at Modio will have to cross the Mapia river that is almost impossible to be crossed during rainy season.

Indonesian government is very aware of this situation and now in the progress of developing some including one close by Modio. Biro acknowledged that there will be one bridge to be built by the government over the Mapia River soon.

Challenging changes

Biru admits that the recent development brings many unprecedented changes to West Papuans especially those who live in remote areas.

“Development brings not only positive things, but also the negative ones. It is like angles and demons are coming your way through the same path,” Biro analogized. “But, change is inevitable. People have to be always ready to face it.”

The development of Trans-Papua roads that reaches Dogiyai is a great thing. It brings postive atmosphere in the area including Modio. The change and the development bring so much ease to West Papuans. Health care is now more accessable. There are more schools in the area. And, prices of basic needs are more affordable.

However, the negative things also come. Young people now choose to move to and stay in more urban areas. Consumerism and new diseases come too.

Seeing all of these complicated situations, Biru chose to light a candle instead of curse the darkness. Since 2015, he has been mapping the economic potentials of Modio. He found that coffee, garlic and noken are great economic potential commmodities of West Papuans in Modio.

Now, with the help of some West Papuans there, Biru has been sending those products outside of Modio. He keeps introducing Modio’s economic commodities to the outside world. The revenue is given back to the farmers to keep farming and to improve the farming methods as well.

In the future, Biru is willing to help Modio to be ready to be a religious tourism destination where coffee, garlic and noken are the main souveniers. People there are a dedicated regligious society. And, People who want to taste the one of the original West Papuan coffee have to go visit Modio.

Biru also trains young West Papuans in Modio to keep up with his endeavors so in the future they can be like him when he needs to go. At the moment, he admits that he enjoys what he is doing very much. It is not as comfortable as living in Java. But the value of serving West Papuans his way is priceless.

In the long-term, through his works, he wants that West Papuans can become the hosts of their land. It means when all ready, they are the ones that benefit the most form the land.

Pastor Biru was born on May 14th, 1980. He holds a master’s degree from Sanata Dharma University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He has published a book titled Menuju ke Alam Liar or Going to the Wilderness.