Journey to Munaseli, Youth Enlightenment to Love the Hometown

By Salsabila Sogo

Salsa is my nickname and I comes from Batu village, East Pantar district, Alor Regency. After my father passed away in 2014, my mom married a man as the stepfather for us. We then moved to Kalabahi, precisely in Lendola village. I have completed my studies in Mathematics in 2019 at Tribuana Kalabahi University. As a young Alor youth, I am not ashamed to study in my area. I have my motivation in my life. For me, a person's success is not determined in which university she studies, but success is determined by oneself and how to struggle to make it happen. When I was a student, I was active in various organizations, so after graduating I still had positive activities and internships in the office, as well as an observer of women and children, and was active in handling cases of sexual violence in Alor regency.

As a young person who likes adventure and always wants to know new things, I actively interact with many people, institutions, and communities. One day I was introduced by a friend to join Journey to Munaseli in November 2020. This Journey to Munaseli was initiated by the Multiplication program of Stube HEMAT in Alor which was coordinated by Petrus Maure, S.Kom to identify the potencies of villages, natural and cultural resources in the village, and how to develop and benefit from them.

Through the Journey to Munaseli activity, I and the other participants enjoyed the trip, besides learning about the historical heritage of the Munaseli kingdom, for the first time we saw the existence of traditional tools that are still used by the community, such as coconut peeler and grater, traditional corn or rice grinders. We also had the opportunity to practice the making of VCO (virgin coconut oil). How simple things can bring new insights to anyone if packaged and managed properly like the one in Munaseli. This is what the local village government does through the Village-Owned Enterprise (Bumdes) under the name Manu Siri Koko, which manages the potencies of the village well and completes with the promotion of ecotourism packages.

What is ecotourism? Ecotourism is a form of travel to natural areas in order to conserve the environment and preserve the life and welfare of residents (the ecotourism society, 1990). So that, the ecotourism package prepared by the Munaseli Village government, apart from being a forum for promoting cultural values ​​so that their authenticity is maintained, also increases village income, especially during the pandemic. In this case, I remember the message of the founding father of this nation, Bung Karno, namely that a great nation is a nation capable of respecting its own culture, and with Trisakti with political sovereignty, economic independence and socio-cultural own identity.

In this activity, I gained new insight and enlightenment so that I was more enthusiastic to develop my hometown. This activity was expected to open the minds of young people not to be afraid to return to their hometowns and make changes. Since then, I want to know more about Stube HEMAT Yogyakarta with various positive activities, including the Exposure program to Alor island, which carried out activities in the village to sharpen the skills of young people to continue working to build their hometown, both in the fields of tourism, agriculture and humanism without losing local cultural values. Honestly, I learned that an outstanding scholar is a scholar who returns to his or her hometown and makes positive changes for society.***