#XPDCMBD NOTES: KAIWATU VILLAGE AND WAKARLELI VILLAGE
Author: Nara Wisesa (WWF-Indonesia)
Kaiwatu is a coastal village in the north of Moa Island. The village is located adjacent to Tiakur, the capital of Southwest Maluku Regency. Upon arrival at Kaiwatu Harbor, the Land Team was again divided into two groups, namely Team A - consisting of Estra and Damora (WWF-Indonesia), Igna (KKP), and Niar (IPB) - who were tasked with meeting with the Marine and Fisheries Service (DKP) of Maluku Barat Daya Regency; and Team B - consisting of Nara, Novi, and Vero (WWF-Indonesia); Budi and Hakim (KKP); and Hellen (Unpatti) - who went directly to Kaiwatu Village to collect social and fisheries data.
Kaiwatu Village is located not too far from the harbor. It takes about a five-minute walk to meet with the Kaiwatu Village Head official, who has been gathering residents to come and participate in the survey at the Village Hall. There were about ten people at the location, of which eight people participated in the focus group discussion and rapid mapping, one person participated in the key informant interview, and the Kaiwatu village head was interviewed regarding the village profile.
From the data collection, information was obtained that the church still prevails in this village, especially for the land area. The 'meti' area also includes sasi areas for lola, sea cucumber, and batulaga, which are already very few in number in their habitat. Kaiwatu villagers make their main livelihoods as gardeners and cattle farmers. They go to the sea to fish if they need additional fortune or look for side dishes for their daily food needs.
Meanwhile, in the middle of the day, the smell of salted fish was quite piercing from Kaiwatu harbor. After meeting with representatives of the Southwest Maluku DKP in the town near the harbor, Team A followed Team B to Kaiwatu Village. Igna and Budi broke away to visit a fisherman at his home to collect data on fisheries in the village.
At around 14.00 WIT, both Land Teams were picked up by a car belonging to DKP Maluku Barat Daya and driven to visit another village near Tiakur, namely Wakarleli Village. However, only some members of the Land Team went down to Wakarleli Village, namely Nara, Novi, Hakim and Hellen. The rest stayed at the harbor to wait for the fishermen to return to sea with their catches.
Upon arrival in Wakarleli Village, it turned out that most of the residents were still doing gardening or fishing activities, while some were getting ready for worship. However, fortunately for the Land Team, there were still some village officials who were willing to attend and participate in data collection activities. The focus group discussion only involved two men and one woman, but there was one person who lived next to the discussion location who helped answer some of the Land Team's questions, as he may have been interested or curious about the survey. Meanwhile, most of the village officials were more interested in participating in key informant interviews.
All data collection activities were stopped at 17.00 WIT because both residents and village officials had to attend worship and health socialization activities at the local church. The team was then escorted around Tiakur City by an employee of the Southwest Maluku DKP. Tiakur City is a city that was only established two years ago, so there are still many road plots on former scrub forest land. Many government agency offices have not been built or have just been completed. Not only that, there is also no fish market, so many fish sellers are demanding market facilities and cold storage to keep their catch fresh. Starting today (6/11), a representative from DKP Maluku Barat Daya will join the #XPDCMBD Team until the expedition is completed.