They loved the rice cooked with the Tas Mantap, they were amazed how this rice can stay warm even hours after cooking it.
Mini tech fair turned into a valuable sharing session for us
Most women in Adonara are still using three-stone fires to cook!
It was a great experience to have a buka bersama event in Adonara
K-Team selfie together with our wonder women
ON TREND WITH BUKA BARENG
“BUKA BARENG, YUK!”
My fellow friends in Indonesia’s major cities will definitely hear a lot of this during the holy month of Ramadan. For those of you who are not familiar with this term, buka bareng or buka bersamameans breaking the fast together - with friends or family - after a day abstaining from food and drink.
Nowadays, the meaning of buka bareng has shifted. It has become the most anticipated event during Ramadan - not because of the food, but for social reasons. It is the perfect time and perfect excuse to meet friends, catch up, share knowledge, or even to throw a reunion. Buka bareng is contagious and exciting, even for those who don’t celebrate Ramadan. Whoever you are during Ramadan, at least one buka bareng is a must!
But what does buka bareng have to do with Kopernik and our Wonder Women Eastern Indonesia program? Well, we wanted to embrace buka bareng by taking it to remote Adonara Island, East Nusa Tenggara - one of our project locations.
In Adonara - and most remote islands in Indonesia - people rarely get together and break fast as a community. This is because the idea of buka bareng is more specifically catered to the big city, urban lifestyle - where catching up with friends can be a challenge with all the busy schedules. I was curious to see whether people in Adonara would embrace the spirit of buka bareng.
TRUE COMMUNITY SPIRIT
To kick things off, the Kopernik team worked together with two of our ‘wonder women’ in Adonara, Mama Mardiah and Mama Sita, to prepare everything needed for the buka bersamaevent: choosing the venue, inviting all village members (and making sure they came), and, of course, preparing the delicious food - we instantly felt like party organisers.
Much to our delight, everyone was really enthusiastic about buka bersama, even before the event actually started. I was truly moved to see almost all the women in the village come together to prepare and cook the food. They were also having fun while doing it: laughing, chatting and sharing the latest Adonara gossip. I couldn’t help but join in!
One concern though: they are still using three-stone fires to cook! In the super-small kitchen, full of gossiping women and billowing smoke, breathing was difficult. This was overwhelming for me. I launched into an impromptu clean cooking sales pitch, telling them about the dangers of indoor air pollution and the health and financial benefits of using clean cookstoves or Tas Mantap as cooking alternatives. We even showed them how to cook rice with Tas Mantap. Hopefully they will now order these technologies from Mama Mardiah or Mama Sita!
SHARING IS CARING
While the preparation was fun, the actual buka bersama? Even more fun. We managed to gather almost everyone in the village, even village heads - it was a great opportunity to introduce our Wonder Women program to important people.
Before the actual breaking of the fast, we did a mini Tech Fair. But rather than introducing the technologies (most of the people in the village are already using our water filters and solar lights), it turned into a valuable sharing session for us. We got some great feedback about our technologies and services. I learned that rats are enemy number one in the village: several people complained that these rodents have been biting through the solar panel cables!
Then it was time to break fast and eat, finally! We chatted, enjoyed the humble yet satisfying dishes, and took lovely group photos. Oh yeah, they also loved the rice cooked with the Tas Mantap, they were amazed how this rice can stay warm even hours after cooking it.
I am happy to say the biggest smiles of the day came from Mama Mardiah and Mama Sita:
“WE RARELY DO A GATHERING LIKE THIS, USUALLY JUST FOR CEREMONIES. IT’S REFRESHING TO GET TOGETHER WITH ALL THE WOMEN PREPARING FOR THE EVENT, THEN ENJOY A DELICIOUS MEAL AFTERWARDS. NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT THE VILLAGE HEAD BOUGHT A FEW NAZAVA WATER FILTERS TO BE PUT IT THE GOVERNMENT OFFICE. WE ARE REALLY THANKFUL.”
The Kopernik team was also very happy with this buka bersama event: we received direct feedback from technology users, we introduced new technologies, and we helped our ‘wonder women’ entrepreneurs to make some sales. But most importantly, it was amazing to spend a few days with the communities we serve in the last mile. Sharing moments together - that’s the core essence of buka bersama, regardless of whether the location is a big city or a remote village.
We hope to continue to bring this buka bersama trend to the last mile - sharing precious moments together, one buka bersama at a time.
