SRI WAHYUNI, DRIVEN BY MOTHER’S INSTINCT

USAID LESTARI: STORY FROM THE FIELD - Women and Environmental Rescue Edition EDITION

By: Irma Hafni (Participant of the Series of Leuser Awareness Women’s Training Workshops )

Sometimes our daily routine traps us as if we are in a stuffy room. It takes not just fresh air for us to break away from fatigue, but also something inspiring. Fresh air and inspiration came in the form of energy from a woman named Sri Wahyuni.

This energy drew me to meet her in Gayo at the end of December 2017. Long before, in mid- October, we had met in Blangkejeren, Gayo Lues. The meeting was unplanned but left with a pro- mise to be fulfilled. We met face to face at the next opportunity.

“Dek, Bener Meriah and Central Aceh are also part of the Leuser Ecosystem, you know. Those are KEL buffer zones located in the north. But unfor- tunately, they have been forgotten.” Ayu remarked - as Sri Wahyuni is called - her remark continuing to play in my thoughts.

Saturday, 23 December 2017. At a coffee shop in Pante Raya, Bener Meriah, I sipped a cup of hot chocolate to warm myself up. The digital

Irma Hafni is a participant of the Series of Leuser Awareness Women’s Training Workshops held by USAID LESTARI to encourage women’s participation in advocating conservation issues in the Leuser Ecosystem Area. The training was held during October 2017 - March 2018.

Ayu feels using an individual approach like this is easier. Because the people will later on their own, pass on the ‘virus’ to care for the environment to others. “Because if one per-son has felt the benefits, others will follow.”

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clock on my mobile phone showed that the time was 4:50 pm. It was too early to expect a ray of sunshine to banish the 17 degrees Celsius biting temperature. I tightened my jacket many times. I still felt the remnants of sleepiness in my eyes after traveling six hours by public trans- portation from Banda Aceh. Thirty minutes later Sri Wahyuni and her husband, Husni, came to pick me up.

The name Sri Wahyuni is no longer foreign, spe- cifically in the world of social activism. She loud-ly voices women’s rights and takes a keen inter-est in the issue of saving the environment. A few years ago, she joined the Aceh Green Commu-nity (AGC) based in Bireuen. Currently Ayu is the Coordinator of AGC for the Bener Meriah region.

This is the cold country where the 39-year- old woman dedicates her time, thoughts, and ener- gy in campaigning about the importance of pro- tecting the environment. Sometimes she is wea-ry. Her spirit rises and falls, but she never stops. There is something within her that drives her to keep moving.

“My instinct as a mother moves me. This earth should be taken care of,” Ayu’s answer makes me shiver. “Like a child, the earth is sick. And many hands are moving to destroy it.”

Ayu, who was raised in a village adjacent to the pine forest at the foot of the Ni Telong Bur (mountain), still remembers exactly how her vil- lage looked at that time. She likened it to hea- ven. As far as the eye could see, there were the tips of green and dense trees. Greeting the morn-ing feels livelier with the melodic chirping of birds. However, in just two decades everything

has almost completely changed. Now the birds she had seen so many times during her childhood had disappeared along with the trees that conti- nue to diminish.

“The function of the forest at the foot of Bur Ni Telong is other than serving as a buffer zone of volcanic areas, is also a source of water. Currently, only a few dozen hectares of the forest remains. Thousands of hectares have been destroyed and diverted. I feel sad, how very little people care. And everyone needs water.”

Her instinct as a mother moved her to restore the shattered paradise. She motivated people to replant pine trees at the foot of the volcano with the hope that the trees will later repair the damaged forest cover. However, what hap- pened? “When we returned the pine trees we planted had been uprooted from the ground.”

Disappointed? It is human. But Ayu is never frus- trated. She continues to work in her own way. Her social media homepage is always full with in- vitations to save the forest. Sometimes she dis- plays pictures showing the beauty of nature. At other times, she displays heartbreaking photo- graphs of forest conditions. The aim is to awaken the people to the fact that the earth is dying.

To console her heart, Ayu is now focused on embracing the residents of the Bumi Ayu Village, Timang Gajah Sub District and beautifying the Rembele Airport area. The airport entrusts Ayu to take care of the airport park.

Bumi Ayu is a beautiful village. A plot of land owned by a resident is located here where Ayu had successfully ‘persuaded’ to plant pine trees. Ayu calls this man Pak Lek. On Pak Lek’s land, pine

Photo: Ibu Sri Wahyuni, member of Aceh Green Community and AGC Coordinator for Bener Meriah

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is planted side by side with coffee, a plant that has become an identity as well as a commodity that sustains the economy of the people of Gayo. The four-year-old pine trees are growing slowly but surely showing their existence as living orga- nisms.

On Sunday morning, we left Pante Raya Village, where Ayu lived, and headed for Bumi Ayu by car driven by Husni. This car looked very old with paint that was peeling here and there. However, the power of the engine was unquestionable. This car is used by Ayu and her husband to explore the Gayo highlands. Amina, Ayu’s second daugh- ter came along with us. This is how she engages her children into her world.

We arrived at Bumi Ayu when the sun was not too high. While waiting for the dew at the tips of the leaves to dry, we stopped by Pak Lek’s house. Ayu’s arrival was welcomed by the fam-ily. Soon after, his wife served us tea. The warmth of the tea dispelled the surrounding chilliness.

I listened and watched the way Ayu communi- cated with Pak Lek. There was not one sentence that sounded patronizing. For example, when Pak Lek told us about the primates have lately began entering the residential areas.

“Oh ... that we can handle, sir. We can plant trees that monkeys love down there. We can plant pas- sion fruit, papaya, Japanese pumpkin. The monkeys come here to look for food; if we make food avai- lable over there they will not go up here.” Ayu explained it simply.

Pak Lek nodded. Ayu prefers to give examples and approach people from the heart in this way. “The function of forests in addition to serving as water catchment areas is also to dispel pests. Monkeys are also pests for plants. So the forest should not be destroyed, but protected,” she conti- nued.

After the sun rose a bit higher, we were ready to go to the Pak Lek’s farm that was planted with pine trees. We walked along a path through the houses that were surrounded by coffee farms. Flowers of various colors that grew in the yards also enlivened the atmosphere. ”Wouldn’t it be suitable for this place to be made into a tourism village?” asked Ayu. I nodded in agreement.

Soon we arrived. Pak Lek with a machete in his hand cut through the bushes. There was a faint sound of water. Apparently, the area is located not far from the edge of the Peusangan Krueng (river). This river is the pulse of the northern part of the Leuser Ecosystem, and even the Bireuen coast. In the past, said Pak Lek, there were many fish in the river that can still be caught for consumption. ”Now I no longer fish as a hobby because there is no more fish that can be caught,” he said.

Ayu explained to Pak Lek clearly, after the pine trees grow large, the village will be transformed into an ecotourism location. Thus, the residents will be able to feel the benefits directly from the forest that is managed wisely.

Ayu feels using an individual approach like this is easier. Because the people will later on their own, pass on the ‘virus’ to care for the environment to others. “Because if one person has felt the benefits, others will follow.”

For Ayu, dealing with environmental issues is not easy. On the one hand, forests and land must be saved. On the other hand, it is becoming in- creasingly crowded and the people require more land for residential areas. It is just, said she, the problem is access to land is more often control- led by a handful of people. “The community still do not own any land.”

“The retraction of protected land status for exam- ple must be monitored by environmental NGOs. Often

Photo: Ayu with Pak Lek, a villager from Bumi Ayu Village that works together with Ayu in addressing environmental issues in his area.

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the designation of an area into APL is done without environmental studies. Thus, areas that are essential are eventually made into farms or land for other uses. This threatens the environment.”

The government in this case should not ignore the various environmental problems that are oc-curring in plain sight. The community must be gui- ded wisely. The challenge, said Ayu, is not is it possible or not. But are we willing or not. “Because what we are doing is not paid with money,” said Ayu, on our trip to Takengon the next day. At that time, I felt the temperature of the air start to rise.

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