'Koba-Koba' Is Still Alive

What would you image to have one product that can be used for more than 5 purposes? Like keep your body warm, become umbrella when the rains come, become a mattress for sleep, become a temporary foods bags for commutes and the bags to keeps your money or any material while you are traveling.  I don't thinks it easy for us to find it. We always bring many things for over travelling needs. Each material based its function as mentioned above are different I think and we should puts them in out big travel bag to do travelling. And if you ask me I will says it is "Koba-Koba' from the bird head of Papua Island.

Koba-koba is the local words describing this multipurpose material that form by the sawing Pandan leaf and be used by people in the Papua particularly those in the bird head of Papua for travelling. I'm happy to remain see this product are still alive until now even though its rarely found. Because I do remember the story my father told me about the importance of "koba-koba" in their childhood times with it uses for different purposes. One of the fantastic story when he said before Papuan people touching modern mattress, koba-koba is always likes a treasure particularly for the new birth women to lays their baby while sleeping. It is also the playing areas for  the baby while her mother cultivating their traditional garden and when the baby was sleeping it is used to cover the baby. When the rains come people will use this as umbrella. Another inspiring story he told me was when he went out from the village to access better education about 43 years ago his mother only gave him two piece of yams and 1 small slices of roasted wild pigs that putted in the Koba-Koba while advised him with words "Namo Tuan/become a success man" with this small things.

Happy to see this traditional hand made multipurpose koba-koba is still alive. In September 2016 during the trip preparation to Waibem Village, I found this in Sausapor of Tambrauw when two people wearing it to cover their body from rain. I know it is rarely to find it now and the purposes might has changes much since the new modern material and facilities are easily to access by community in town. Number of woman with the ability to sawing this koba-koba has also decrease by their ages and no class for handy craft to transfer knowledge and value to the next generation. To confirm this fact, I met Mama Baru - she was told me that "the new coming synthetics umbrella, sponge mattress, plastic bags and plastic box to package food for traveling has changing much their willingness to keep produce koba-koba". She also express her sadness by saying "I sad because most of the recent generation are not longer aware of this big cultural knowledge and mostly chose the synthetics material for the needs". 

Since is made from natural material i've learned from my family that this material can be used until 2 years and then you needs to sawing the new one because after two years its mostly broken by its ages and used especially when people using it as umbrella. Question are again appeared in my hear - how long this local knowledge and handy craft will still alive? What action do we need to take to secure the tradition and this valuable wisdom and tradition of having ecological friendly multipurpose material?  

Sometime Koba-Koba Is Used In the Traditional Ceremony