In the midst of ongoing modernization, the role of indigenous youth in maintaining cultural heritage and indigenous knowledge is increasingly important. They are the real custodians of cultural roots that have existed for centuries. Carrying out a vital role in ensuring that the traditional knowledge of their ancestors is not lost in the changing times.
Indigenous youth are the young generation who grew up in communities that are still very attached to cultural values and traditions. They are a direct link between the past and the future. Has a big responsibility to maintain traditional traditions and knowledge that have been passed on for centuries. Indigenous youth not only understand the values and meaning behind this tradition, but they are also committed to ensuring its continuity.
In maintaining their cultural heritage, indigenous youth are often involved in various activities. Such as traditional dance performances, religious ceremonies, and native language teaching. They play an important role in passing on this indigenous knowledge and skills to the next generation of young people. Ensuring that cultural heritage does not only live on in history books, but also in real experiences.
One of them is the Lakoat Kujawas community in Taiftob Village, Mollo District, South Central Timor, East Nusa Tenggara. The presence of Lakoat Kujawas since 2016 has attempted to respond to this condition. Lakoat Kujawas is a social entrepreneurship community. Managed by local indigenous youth who focus on archiving local food, natural wealth and cultural arts as the identity of the Mollo community. Various works on archiving traditional knowledge and village revitalization were carried out. The hope is that the Mollo Indigenous People will be able to have sovereignty over their nature and culture.
Apart from maintaining traditions and culture, traditional youth in Mollo also play a role in preserving local wisdom values. These values often include a deep connection to nature, communal ethics, and sustainable ways of living. In a world that is increasingly tending to consumerism, the values of local wisdom embraced by Mollo indigenous youth provide an important point.
Indigenous youth in the Lakoat Kujawas community are often involved in environmental projects. Such as forest conservation, natural resource management, and education about sustainability. Documenting narratives about culture in the village area, such as folklore, local food and village history.
"For more or less 7 years, there have been 7 books published by the community's own children. The content is about cultural narratives and traditions themselves as well as local food. Yesterday we just wrote a local recipe. "Starting from the recipe itself as well as the history of the local food," explained Toni Oetaman, a member of the Lakoat Kujawas community at the inclusive chat event episode 26 held by KEMITRAAN.
Tonei said that they also carried out Skol Tamolok (Tabaina Monit Neo Alekot) or cultural school activities that Lakoat Kujawas started in 2019. This is a contextual education model that raises environmental, artistic and cultural issues from the Mollo indigenous community. The speakers who are usually invited are traditional elders from Mollo who really understand the ins and outs of life in Mollo from generation to generation.
“So the cultural school is our program in the community. "Which we do once a month and is a forum for the younger generation to transform knowledge with the current generation," added Toni.
During the process of his struggle, Toni revealed that there were many challenges faced by Mollo indigenous youth in this community. One of them was the lack of community response at the beginning of the formation of the Lakoat Kujawas community. The community initially thought that the movement carried out by this community was in vain. Not to mention natural selection with the large number of young people leaving this community.
"But we believe that if our intentions are good, we will continue to move even when faced with dynamics within the community itself," added Toni.
With ongoing campaign movements, the Mollo indigenous people are slowly starting to show their support. With the campaign movement carried out by Lakoat Kujawas, the Mollo indigenous people have become confident in promoting their local food.
"So we think it will not only have an impact on community members but also on society. We also noticed that Mollo was known to have stunting tall. But it turned out when we researched that we had a lot of local food with very high nutrition. "Of course this is a discovery that can break the current narrative about our area," he stressed.
In the midst of modernization, the traditional Mollo youth does not become eroded and dissolved. They then use social media as a local knowledge approach to campaign. The documentation process is very simple. By conducting village research and visiting traditional leaders to conduct interviews about the narrative and values of local wisdom itself.
These narratives are then processed into recordings, photos and videos, then processed by the community for experimentation and re-testing. "For example, local food recipes that we find, we try in the food lab and recycle them again by testing them with other recipes so that they can be enjoyed by the public," he explained.
There is also an additional food distribution program by holding cooking demonstrations and eating together with the children. Toni explained that they manage local food with children in the village to restore their identity from an early age.
"Finally they told their parents and asked their parents to cook the food we cooked in the community."
Toni hopes that with this community they will become pioneers who raise awareness. The importance of maintaining a harmonious relationship with nature and respecting cultural values from generation to generation. With their commitment, indigenous youth ensure that the richness of local culture and wisdom remains alive and relevant in an ever-changing world.
*Photo source: Lakoat Kujawas Instagram post
