BPEC Locations
Nabire
Nabire is a larger city with a population of approximately 80 000. Located to the west of Jayapura, access is limited to air travel due to Papua’s mountainous landscape.
"Two of the BPN teachers,Tika (Nabire) and Ani (East Nabire) are located here. The Black Pearl Papua Foundation (BPPF) administration office is also located in Nabire.
Maybrat
"Maybrat Regency is one of the regencies in West Papua province, Indonesia. It is located on the western side of the province and borders the regencies of Sorong, Tambrauw, and Fakfak.
The majority of the population in the Maybrat Regency are indigenous Maybrat people, with other ethnic groups also residing in the area. The Regency is known for its natural resources, including forests, mineral, and marine resources. The economy is primarily based on agriculture, fisheries and small-scale businesses.
Maybrat Regency has a unique cultural heritage with traditional dances and music still being performed by the local communities."
Spenyer Naa (teacher)
Merauke
"Merauke is the capital city in the southern province of Papua. Merauke is occupied by the indigenous Merauke tribes, but increasing migration from the island of Java (western Indonesia) causes the lives of the native Merauke residents to experience quite significant social inequality. So we rarely come across native people in the city center area, most of them choose to live in their villages, only a few continue to live in the city as well as native people who have intermarried with tribes from outside Merauke.
BPEC Merauke opened in February 2023. The centre now has 39 course participants, who all come from other regions outside of Merauke. BPEC Merauke carries out teaching and learning activities in one of the rooms at the GKI Merauke Klasis office. Due to these conditions I hope that many indigenous Merauke children can join and learn English together at BPEC Merauke. All study equipment such as board, books, printer, and paper is provided.
Merauke itself is known as the city of Deer, because of its large population of native Merauke Deer and also its Kangaroos. Not only that, Merauke is also famous for one of the natural wonders which is the giant ant nest which in the local language is called Musamus.
Right on the border area between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, there is the “0 Km” point which is the end point of the Eastern part of Indonesia, because the Indonesian region stretches from Sabang City at the western end to Merauke city at the eastern end."
Yunitha Howay (teacher)
Apawer District
Martewar & Arbais are two small villages in the Apawer district which are approximately 45 minutes apart and over an hour’s drive from Sarmi.
Although the district is only home to approximately 3000 people there are 50 students regularly attending Willi’s BPEC classes. Conditions in Apawer are challenging. Like many small villages in Papua electricity, supplied via generator, is only available in the evening. This means technology such as projectors and computers are not an option, and even photocopying or printing of resources needs to be carefully planned.
It is planned to supply Willi with a battery-powered RACHEL (Remote Area Communication Hub for Electronic Learning) and several tablets to facilitate the use of internet resources for teaching in this very isolated area. A bonus for the children will be their development of computer skills in order to access this excellent learning tool.
South & North Biak
"Biak is the island which located in the Cenderawasih Bay. It’s divided into 4 areas; west, south, east, and north. There are Black Pearl English Courses in the south and the north. People know my class as the BPEC of South Biak. Because its location is downtown and (convenient) for the society.
The livelihoods of people in South Biak are employee, civil servant, farmer and fishermen. Because it’s an island, it makes Biak well-known in two sectors “tourism and fishery”. In the tourism sector, Biak has been promoted to be the second Bali. And for the fishery, the government has worked and exported tons of fish to other countries like Japan. So these two industries are the main focus in Biak."
Feby Mandibondibo (teacher)