TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Dozens of dogs howled time and again, as if welcoming the night that fell on Nubahaeraka Village, Lembata Regency on a Sunday in August. Darkness then enveloped the whole island that is famous worldwide because of the whale hunts that take place here each year. Lembata is one of the islands that comprise East Nusa Tenggara.
Lighting is something rare at Nubahaeraka. Lamps were only spotted at some corners of the village with a population of 288 people. For example, the house of the former village headman who held the post for 18 years was brightly lit thanks to a diesel generator. A diesel oil-powered generator roared at the house of another villager who distributed the power to 20 other houses in the neighborhood. Of course, it was not free. The rest of the village remained dark.
Wide use of electricity seems nowhere near the village located around 1,000 meters above sea level. In the 1960s, when their brothers and sisters in Java were using electric irons, residents of this village had just switched from torches to oil lamps. The antiquated illuminator has prevailed since then.
While electricity is available in the village, it is very limited and expensive. A house with electric installation is charged with a shared payment of Rp47,000 per month. With three bulbs for the whole family, the time for illumination is limited from 6pm to 9pm. Afterwards, the family returns to using oil lamps that use kerosene, at Rp5,000 per night.
Aware of this condition, a group of local women rose up to fight against darkness. Their weapon is the solar lamp. It was Elisabeth Nogo Keraf who started going back and forth to the regency capital of Lewoleba to distribute the lamps in May 2015. Driving the 37-kilometer distance on a rocky, bumpy road takes some 3.5 hours.
"Whatever I can do for the people, I do it," said Mama Elis, the nickname by which Elisabeth goes. At Lewoleba, she often meets with the representatives of Kopernik, a foundation that distributes intermediate technologies for people in remote areas.
Elis offered the lamps to her neighbors. Leaflets were spread out to the neighboring villages, too. Sometimes, her husband Agustinus gives her a ride on the motorcycle, but most times she walks down and up the hills herself.
However, Mama Elis was confronted with rejection after rejection. Sometime before, some of the villagers had bought similar technology from traders in Makassar, South Sulawesi, and in Java but it malfunctioned after only a few weeks.
Luckily, Elis, 58, uses the lamp in her own house. After a month, the lamp remains burning bright. Only after that did the neighbors come back again to her home. Since that time, this ikat fabric craftswoman found it easier to sell portable solar lamps to friends. "You just need to dry it in the sun during the day and it will burn all night long," she said. "No more spending."
Aided by four friends, this mother of five has been able to illuminate 50 or so houses in 14 of the 15 villages at Atadei Subdistrict. Consequently, village meetings can carry on until late at night, like the one that took place in Elis' house to discuss the Independence Day celebration preparation in August. "Before, we had to go home at 9:00pm," said Vincentius Nuba Lajar, the village secretary.
REZA MAULANA
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