VOA常速英语2008年-Radio Connects Remote Papuan Village

By Marianne Kearney
Jakarta
07 February 2008

A remote village in the central highlands of Indonesia's Papua province is now better connected to the outside world because of a new radio station. Marianne Kearney has more from Jakarta.

Until three months ago, if tribesman from Yahukimo wanted to get the latest news, they could rely on word of mouth, or make the arduous¹ trek² to town, almost 100 kilometers away, to buy a newspaper. Yahukimo had no electricity and no access to radio or TV.

But last September, the villagers took their first step in connecting with the rest of the world when a media group helped them build a community radio station, Radio Pikonane. They also built a small, hydro-powered electric generator³ to run the radio station.

During the rainy season, when roads and bridges are washed out, people from Yahukimo can only reach town by slogging several hours on foot. When famine struck in late 2005, it took two months to contact local officials to ask for emergency rations⁴.

It was this devastating⁵ isolation⁶ that prompted the New York based Media Development Loan Fund to provide money to start the radio station.

"There was a failure of the crops and the people in that local community, basically 60 of them, starved to death," said Tessa Piper, the organization's Jakarta representative. "So when we heard this, we felt clearly that information was key to this, as in so many parts of the country. So that was what led us to consider setting up a station there."

Piper says the opening of Radio Pikonane was a huge event in Yahukimo. No less than the nine pigs were cooked in the traditional Papuan way - in a massive stone pit. The radio station was blessed with the blood of one of the pigs, and by a local priest.

"What I don't think any of us had expected was that around five-thousand people turned up to this event. This meant that they had all walked either for hours or even for days to attend," she said. "And I think that was for all of us who had been involved in the setting up the station, one of the most rewarding element[s] of the whole process, was just underlining how important the local population felt this station was."

Piper says the highlanders are very enthusiastic about using radio not just to communicate with other parts of Papua and the local government, but also to understand what is going on in the outside world.

She says the residents of Yahukimo often suffer from easily preventable diseases, so they asked for programs that provide basic health information.

"Well, malaria⁷ is a major, major problem there, but also skin ailments⁸ of a whole variety, which I as a non-expert can't really comment too much upon," said Piper. "But it's very clear when you look at the men, women and children, a lot of them - a very high percentage of them - suffer from various skin ailments."

But with the famine still fresh in the minds of the area's subsistence farmers, agricultural news is also very popular.

"I've got lots of news, but it's local news - cost of food and other basic goods, because we know that the cost of goods is expensive in Papua," said Kathe Vince Damara, one of Radio Pikonane's lead reporters. "So, I did a report on the cost of things in Yahukimo versus⁹ the cost in other areas of Papua."

Damara says news on how the local government plans to help develop their region is also well received.

There are no telephones in the village, or even cell phone coverage¹⁰, so listeners do not call in to the station. But that doesn't stop them from making their views known. Damara says if villagers like what they hear on Radio Pikonane, they walk to the station to ply¹¹ reporters with questions, turning Radio Pikonane into a social hub.

In addition to local news stories, Radio Pikonane also broadcasts national and international news produced by radio 68H, an independent, Jakarta-based partner station.

28-year-old Damara is still learning the ropes of reporting from 68H, which trains reporters and provides assistance to stations across Indonesia.

Radio Pikonane's reporters have all trained with more experienced broadcasters in Jakarta. But Eni Mulia, a 68H trainer, says basic reporting is often a challenge.

"There are some students who don't even know how to research, and they've never used the Internet, and do research for their news from the Internet. Some of them have experience, but others have very little," said Mulia.

With training and small steps forward, Damara and the other Radio Pikonane reporters are helping¹² connect the villagers of Yahukimo with the rest of Papua, Jakarta and the entire world.

1 arduous   

adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的

参考例句：

• We must have patience in doing arduous work.我们做艰苦的工作要有耐性。
• The task was more arduous than he had calculated.这项任务比他所估计的要艰巨得多。

2 trek   

vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行

参考例句：

• We often go pony-trek in the summer.夏季我们经常骑马旅行。
• It took us the whole day to trek across the rocky terrain.我们花了一整天的时间艰难地穿过那片遍布岩石的地带。

3 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

4 rations   

定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量

参考例句：

• They are provisioned with seven days' rations. 他们得到了7天的给养。
• The soldiers complained that they were getting short rations. 士兵们抱怨他们得到的配给不够数。

5 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

6 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

7 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

8 ailments   

疾病（尤指慢性病），不适( ailment的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His ailments include a mild heart attack and arthritis. 他患有轻度心脏病和关节炎。
• He hospitalizes patients for minor ailments. 他把只有小病的患者也送进医院。

9 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

10 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

11 ply   

v.(搬运工等)等候顾客，弯曲

参考例句：

• Taxis licensed to ply for hire at the railway station.许可计程车在火车站候客。
• Ferryboats ply across the English Channel.渡船定期往返于英吉利海峡。

12 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。