Independent Women from Tanimbar
Women in Tanimbar, Maluku, refuse to be financially dependent. By working together in groups, they help raise and feed their families. WOMEN in Tanimbar are of an independent spirit. It’s taboo for them to sit idly by while their husbands are hard at work to feed the families. Lodowina Takendekut is one of these women. After preparing the family’s meals, Lodowina would go straight to the farm located not far from home. Daily she would spend much of her time on the 150squaremeter farm growing onions and groundnuts. The first harvest was very encouraging, producing 60 kilograms of onions. Each kilogram sold for Rp150,000 on the market. It means that Lodowina took home Rp9 million in income from the first harvest. It was a big income for Lodowina. Since she joined a farm group called Lolorain, Lodowina has learned better farming methods. She found out that she could plant not only groundnuts but also onions on her farm. “The last groundnut harvest was disappointing because of plant