It was around early of 80s that I have been started to remember what happened with our family. I was about five years old that recall my daddy's livelihoods. I wrote the “livelihoods” with “s” to emphasize his several livelihood sources I realized nowadays when I work with tsunami survivors in Aceh. At that time I only know how happy I was when I saw my daddy was coming home from a sub-district capital/market which he used to visit it once in a month or once in two weeks or it depends on his financial condition to buy our daily needs. He used to be a farmer, shepherd, gravel miner, cut down trees (apparently Indonesian government has not yet have any policy on illegal logging in 80s) for logging and some time as a security guard for election.
As a common villagers, all of our neighbors relatively have blood relationship toward one another. Some are still have a very close blood relationship and some others are extended families. We are very close one another, whatever we and our family have more than needed, it always be shared. Only commodities were not found in our village are commercialized in nearby small shops, others agricultural commodities in our villages we can asked or share one another. One example is a tradition called "Ngadang Duren". Ngadang Duren is typical Jambian especially community in my village terminology. Its means waiting for the Duren falling from three. During the Duren (Duren is a typical South East Asian fruit) season, a family, usually father and son go to a Duren plantation to stay there for one night according to their turn from other families who have the same ancestor lineage either from father or mother side. The Duren never picked up on its three, it must be falling naturally from its tree to have a fresh natural ripe Duren. Mostly Duren trees have been planted by villagers ancestors. In my case, the Durian trees were planted by my father's grandma. For one night we could have a small truck of Duren if during the night was raining and followed by gale. We never commercialize it, once we got home, we divided it into others family, either our neighbors and relatives who have no access to have Ngadang Duren. People in my village at that time have very limited skill in exploiting Duren fruit. At that time, they only utilized it as below purposes;
1. Eat it in fresh
2. Made it into Kolak Duren ( the Duren is cooked with coconut milk and sugar), and serve it with Nasi Ketan or sticky rice.
3. Made it into Tempoyak (the Duren is taken off it bark and store in a jar for about one week until it tests a bit sour), the Tempoyak is one of Jambian traditional cuisine ingredients to kook fish from Batanghari river or fish from swap or paddy field water.
4. It was about 90s people in my village being introduced to make Duren into Lempok or Dodol Duren (the Duren is taken off it bark and kook with sugar and salt).
Duren Fruit
The Duren season always goes together with Duku season. Unlike Duren, Duku has to be picked off it three once it ripe. In 80s I remember that Duku had been started introduced into commercialization. Duku also usually had planted at the same land of the Durian plantation. Villagers ancestors usually planted it together with Duren. Unlike Duren, since Duku was commercialized, once harvesting time came, it usually only core family who will harvest it and sell it to middlemen and share the money to core family and the biggest proportion goes to some one or family who is closest to the ancestor who planted the tree. Having Duku had been commercialized since than, some middle men come to my village in every season. I did not know where they re-sell it, but lately I know that Duku from my village was not familiar in Indonesian capital, instead people only familiar with Duku from Palembang, a neighbor to Jambi province.
Duku fruit
As a common villagers, all of our neighbors relatively have blood relationship toward one another. Some are still have a very close blood relationship and some others are extended families. We are very close one another, whatever we and our family have more than needed, it always be shared. Only commodities were not found in our village are commercialized in nearby small shops, others agricultural commodities in our villages we can asked or share one another. One example is a tradition called "Ngadang Duren". Ngadang Duren is typical Jambian especially community in my village terminology. Its means waiting for the Duren falling from three. During the Duren (Duren is a typical South East Asian fruit) season, a family, usually father and son go to a Duren plantation to stay there for one night according to their turn from other families who have the same ancestor lineage either from father or mother side. The Duren never picked up on its three, it must be falling naturally from its tree to have a fresh natural ripe Duren. Mostly Duren trees have been planted by villagers ancestors. In my case, the Durian trees were planted by my father's grandma. For one night we could have a small truck of Duren if during the night was raining and followed by gale. We never commercialize it, once we got home, we divided it into others family, either our neighbors and relatives who have no access to have Ngadang Duren. People in my village at that time have very limited skill in exploiting Duren fruit. At that time, they only utilized it as below purposes;
1. Eat it in fresh
2. Made it into Kolak Duren ( the Duren is cooked with coconut milk and sugar), and serve it with Nasi Ketan or sticky rice.
3. Made it into Tempoyak (the Duren is taken off it bark and store in a jar for about one week until it tests a bit sour), the Tempoyak is one of Jambian traditional cuisine ingredients to kook fish from Batanghari river or fish from swap or paddy field water.
4. It was about 90s people in my village being introduced to make Duren into Lempok or Dodol Duren (the Duren is taken off it bark and kook with sugar and salt).
Duren FruitThe Duren season always goes together with Duku season. Unlike Duren, Duku has to be picked off it three once it ripe. In 80s I remember that Duku had been started introduced into commercialization. Duku also usually had planted at the same land of the Durian plantation. Villagers ancestors usually planted it together with Duren. Unlike Duren, since Duku was commercialized, once harvesting time came, it usually only core family who will harvest it and sell it to middlemen and share the money to core family and the biggest proportion goes to some one or family who is closest to the ancestor who planted the tree. Having Duku had been commercialized since than, some middle men come to my village in every season. I did not know where they re-sell it, but lately I know that Duku from my village was not familiar in Indonesian capital, instead people only familiar with Duku from Palembang, a neighbor to Jambi province.
Duku fruit As a farmer, my dad usually concentrated and work hard with my mom on their paddy field. Its started from "Nyemai" or rice seedling. Having our village is adjacent to Batang Hari river, it looks a typical of villagers make the seedling on bank of the Batang Hari river. I used to follow my dad and mom to do seedling, It was one of my childhood happiest moment in my life. Starting from getting on canoe to get to the river bank at downstream of the Batang Hari at a peace of land belong to my mom inherited from his grandma. I usually touch the river water while my dad and my mom rowing the canoe, it was so unforgettable that I still feel it hitherto. In the seedling site, after my dad and mom worked hard cleaning the land by lunch, the lunch time was the moment I was waiting for after playing with catapult. The lunch had been provided by my mom in the morning just before we left for canoeing. Nyemai usually lasts for about one week ranging from land clearing up to "Nugal" or make a hole on the cleared land in order line with a sharp point of stick of wood for seedling. Of the unforgettable moments was one upon a time, while my dad and mom were busying with putting the paddy seeds into the holes. I was fishing with a simple rod made of small bamboo and using worms for bait. Surprisingly every single time I put the bait into the water of Batang Hari river, after every about five minutes there was always fish eat the bait. It was last for about half day until I can fill out my mom bucket full of the fishes. The fishes were mostly wild Gurame or called by local as Kaloy as shown below. It was the only exiting fishing for the whole of my life!. I believed that one day an Imam in my village preached that if we donated good thing for needy, God will reward us both during our life and hereafter. I realized that it was God reward us after my dad giving dinner to 50 villagers the nigh before. In Bahasa it called Kenduri or people in my village called it "Mencedo" for inviting others, especially the needy people to eat at our house. Usually followed with praying and recital the Holy Quran preside over by an imam.
The Gurame fish
Once the Nyemai is done, does the villagers rest? no!. While waiting for the seedling growing, they moved to paddy field for field clearing to prepare for last site to plant the rice. Mostly the paddy field also inherited from ancestors after divided accordingly among grand grandchildren. Having mostly Jambi land is plateau, mostly paddy field in my village was depend on rainfall water, there was no any irrigation. Therefore, it really depend on climate situation. The paddy field clearing is called "Ngaut" by villagers. Ngaut sometimes done either by helping each other among neighbors or relatives or hiring some villagers to work together.
While waiting for the seedling growing properly, and Ngaut is done, villagers usually working on fixing pen to protect paddy once it is planted later on. During this moment my dad sometimes took me out to visit our buffalo who are release in wildlife but still around the paddy field about one hour cycling from my village. Once the seedling ready and the paddy field is cleared off the grass, now its time to "Nyabut Semai" or took the seedling out of soil and replanting it into the paddy field. The period of planting the seedling to the paddy field is called "Nandur". Nandur also sometimes done in a group either by hiring people or by helping each other by neighbors or by close relatives. Nandur usually lasts for about one month.
If the Nandur is over, villagers have much time to do others things while waiting for harvesting time. Usually my dad has much time to concentrate on shepherding our buffalo. It does not took much time, my dad used to take me out for about three or four hours a week by cycling to outskirt of our village to feed the buffalo with grass and drink it with salty water. During this free time, usually villagers have time to find out others activities that might add their income. For example, if the Batang Hari river is receding, mostly people mining gravel from the river. Usually the gravels is sold to middlemen either the have in the village, the have from other village or villagers who already success in capital city of Jambi. The middlemen is called Toke in Jambi and mostly in Sumatra.
As part of additional income, my dad, during 80s was doing "Babalok", Babalok is an activity of cutting down trees in forest to sell it to Toke or sawmill in the capital city of Jambi. Usually they do it during drought season and get it transported by rive to the Jambi city once the Batang Hari river is rampaging during rainy season. They do logging by traditional method. A bunch of neighbors and or relatives as a team stay for one or two week and even a month in forest. They carry logistical stock with them during in the forest. Each person has to find out best trees for logging, every findings have to be reported to coordinator of the team for cutting down process. They cut it dawn with traditional tool called "Beliyung", at the time of writing this article, this tool already disappeared in my village. Even I did not find it by Google search engine. Probably I have to find it at Museum in Jambi. Its a kind of hatchet. How do they transport logs from the forest?. Interestingly, they move it by using traditional rail made of woods and transported by Ongkak. Ongkak is made of typical strong palm tree by joining two flatted sides of the palm tree by joining it in the front and the rear by strong wood. The Ongkak is sliding by pulling and pushing it together on the wooden rail and the logs is put on the Ongkak. I also did not find it any more, it already disappeared went along with times by. I hope Jambi government save it in a museum in Jambi. This is the way they transported the logs one by one to nearby tributary of the Batang Hari river. Once the logs collected at the tributary bank, they tied it up one another by rattan and rope while waiting for rainy season. My dad told me that his favorite head of village who was still our relatives and our neighbor one day called me when the was a thunderclap. He asked me what the thunder is going to do and the little me answered by saying that the thunderclap will transport my dad logs to Jambi city for me to have much money. I still recall in once evening welcoming my dad was coming from Jambi city in front of our house, at that moment my dad was standing in front of our house when I opened the door after hearing his sound of greeting. He was standing with his luggage beside him and with other boxes for little me. That was a very exiting moment while welcoming my dad from long way travel and after separated for about a two or three week. Babalok was the biggest income source for villagers at that time before government enacted the law to protect the forest. Fortunately my dad was stop doing logging since I went to elementary school, long before the law was passed by parliament.
Now its time to harvest the paddy. This is a very happy moment for every villagers seeing their paddy produced pithy rice. After harvest, they calculate their result and donate charity for mosque according to Zakat calculation as taught by the Imam. These are portrait of what my dad and our villagers earn living in 80s and 90s.
The Gurame fishOnce the Nyemai is done, does the villagers rest? no!. While waiting for the seedling growing, they moved to paddy field for field clearing to prepare for last site to plant the rice. Mostly the paddy field also inherited from ancestors after divided accordingly among grand grandchildren. Having mostly Jambi land is plateau, mostly paddy field in my village was depend on rainfall water, there was no any irrigation. Therefore, it really depend on climate situation. The paddy field clearing is called "Ngaut" by villagers. Ngaut sometimes done either by helping each other among neighbors or relatives or hiring some villagers to work together.
While waiting for the seedling growing properly, and Ngaut is done, villagers usually working on fixing pen to protect paddy once it is planted later on. During this moment my dad sometimes took me out to visit our buffalo who are release in wildlife but still around the paddy field about one hour cycling from my village. Once the seedling ready and the paddy field is cleared off the grass, now its time to "Nyabut Semai" or took the seedling out of soil and replanting it into the paddy field. The period of planting the seedling to the paddy field is called "Nandur". Nandur also sometimes done in a group either by hiring people or by helping each other by neighbors or by close relatives. Nandur usually lasts for about one month.
If the Nandur is over, villagers have much time to do others things while waiting for harvesting time. Usually my dad has much time to concentrate on shepherding our buffalo. It does not took much time, my dad used to take me out for about three or four hours a week by cycling to outskirt of our village to feed the buffalo with grass and drink it with salty water. During this free time, usually villagers have time to find out others activities that might add their income. For example, if the Batang Hari river is receding, mostly people mining gravel from the river. Usually the gravels is sold to middlemen either the have in the village, the have from other village or villagers who already success in capital city of Jambi. The middlemen is called Toke in Jambi and mostly in Sumatra.
As part of additional income, my dad, during 80s was doing "Babalok", Babalok is an activity of cutting down trees in forest to sell it to Toke or sawmill in the capital city of Jambi. Usually they do it during drought season and get it transported by rive to the Jambi city once the Batang Hari river is rampaging during rainy season. They do logging by traditional method. A bunch of neighbors and or relatives as a team stay for one or two week and even a month in forest. They carry logistical stock with them during in the forest. Each person has to find out best trees for logging, every findings have to be reported to coordinator of the team for cutting down process. They cut it dawn with traditional tool called "Beliyung", at the time of writing this article, this tool already disappeared in my village. Even I did not find it by Google search engine. Probably I have to find it at Museum in Jambi. Its a kind of hatchet. How do they transport logs from the forest?. Interestingly, they move it by using traditional rail made of woods and transported by Ongkak. Ongkak is made of typical strong palm tree by joining two flatted sides of the palm tree by joining it in the front and the rear by strong wood. The Ongkak is sliding by pulling and pushing it together on the wooden rail and the logs is put on the Ongkak. I also did not find it any more, it already disappeared went along with times by. I hope Jambi government save it in a museum in Jambi. This is the way they transported the logs one by one to nearby tributary of the Batang Hari river. Once the logs collected at the tributary bank, they tied it up one another by rattan and rope while waiting for rainy season. My dad told me that his favorite head of village who was still our relatives and our neighbor one day called me when the was a thunderclap. He asked me what the thunder is going to do and the little me answered by saying that the thunderclap will transport my dad logs to Jambi city for me to have much money. I still recall in once evening welcoming my dad was coming from Jambi city in front of our house, at that moment my dad was standing in front of our house when I opened the door after hearing his sound of greeting. He was standing with his luggage beside him and with other boxes for little me. That was a very exiting moment while welcoming my dad from long way travel and after separated for about a two or three week. Babalok was the biggest income source for villagers at that time before government enacted the law to protect the forest. Fortunately my dad was stop doing logging since I went to elementary school, long before the law was passed by parliament.
Now its time to harvest the paddy. This is a very happy moment for every villagers seeing their paddy produced pithy rice. After harvest, they calculate their result and donate charity for mosque according to Zakat calculation as taught by the Imam. These are portrait of what my dad and our villagers earn living in 80s and 90s.
