TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - If you ever wonder what is it like to live by the sea, you might want to visit Torosiaje Village in Gorontalo. In this village, people are living in elevated houses above the water that are connected to each other with 2-meter wide alleys.

There are 389 families inhabiting the village, most of whom are fishermen and fish breeders. It takes seven hours from Gorontalo to the village that is located in Popayato Subdistrict, Pohuwato Regency.

Public transports are available from Terminal 42, Gorontalo. Hop on the public transport that heads to Popayato. It will take visitors up to the land part of the village. From there, visitors can ride on a ten-minute boat trip to the marine village.

“Welcome to Bajo” is written on a board that welcomes visitors along with rows of elevated houses. Almost every house owns fish net under their houses to breed carps or giant trevally.

Despite of being built above water, Torosiaje owns badminton court, kindergarten, schools and mosque. It also has two guest house facilities that is rented for around Rp100,000 per night.

One of these guest houses run by local resident and the other is run by the government. When both guesthouses are full, visitors are welcomed to stay over at residents’ houses.

During a stay in Torosiaje, visitors are invited to witness daily life of the marine village. People are relying more on generators for electricity because the supply line is often down. They also transport water from the mainland for the same reason.

Torosiaje Village Head, Jekson Sompah said Torosiaje stands for “toro”, a Bajo word meaning bay, and “Si Aje”, which is the name of a person who first living in the area.

In 1901, there were only four units of the Bajo’s elevated houses, Jekson recalled. Other Bajo people were still living nomadic on boats.

In 1960s, a village head (punggawa), ordered boat people to build houses and reside above the water.

“Bajo tribe is known as wanderers who move a lot with their boat houses. Up to today, elderly believe that this water has clear aura, meaning it’s comfortable and safe to be inhabited by the grandchildren,” Jekson explained.

People of Torosiaje had tried to live on the mainland when Social Service Agency relocated 125 families into the mainland and gave them land. The village that is located on the mainland is now known as Torosiaje Jaya Village.

However, they experienced difficulties with their new occupations and some people decided to return to the water villages to continue life as fishermen.

Nowadays, Torosiaje is not only home for Bajo people, but also people from other tribes such as Gorontalo, Bugis, Mandar, Buton, Minahasa, Javanese, and Maduranese who are mostly Muslim.

ANTARA