Mentawai Cultural Performance Festival

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After almost 1 year of implementing our Mentawai cultural education program, the Yayasan Pendidikan Suku Mentawai (YPSM) team have initiated a cultural celebration festival to coincide with Indonesia’s 73rd anniversary. This event brings all of the YPSM student groups from

Mentawai Ecotourism Launch

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As a means to sustain our Cultural and Environmental Education Program (CEEP), we have developed a Mentawai Ecotourism system. Tourism is our fastest growing industry, contributing to a very large portion of our economy, so through this we see a

Suku Mentawai cultural education program officially underway!

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Due to the wonderful response and support we’re receiving via the Indigenous Education Foundation (IEF) and their As Worlds Divide #wafsac – ‘watch a film, save a culture’ campaign, our Suku Mentawai ‘Cultural and Environmental Education Program’ (CEEP) is now officially

Mentawai Government support Suku Mentawai’s cultural education program

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It has been a rather eventful month in Mentawai – gathering documentation for a campaign video; furthering our strategy to enable the community an avenue to sustain their cultural education program; and meeting with Mentawai Government heads to discuss their

Upcoming fundraiser event – win $2000!

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There has been a lot of activity for Suku Mentawai over the past few months; including cultural celebrations and traditional tattooing, illness, shamanic ceremony, and a particularly fortuitous meeting with the (West Sumatran) cultural education department in Padang. An article

Developing the program’s curriculum

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Together with August Sikatsila, Suku Mentawai’s program manager, we’ve spent the past month gathering cultural and environmental-based research in the Sarereiket regions of Siberut Island. August headed our previous community research and survey activities and is indeed right at home

Maximising Our Impact

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To help maximise our impact within Mentawai, Indonesia and beyond, we’re working in partnership with the Indigenous Education Foundation (IEF) supporting the production of a feature-length documentary film called As Worlds Divide. The film, directed by Rob Henry who has

Mentawai Telephone, Tuddukat

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The prospect of functioning without a telephone would be considered near impossible by a large and growing portion of today’s modern society who now depends upon this device to sustain a means of living. For better or worse, this change

Raffle winner announced!

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Please watch the video below to see if you’ve won the limited-edition Mentawai photo prize! Thanks to everyone who purchased tickets and for your support in getting the Suku Mentawai program off the ground. We’re extremely grateful, and excited. Plenty

Cultural Story: How to build a Mentawai Uma

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Storytelling is a fundamental component of all indigenous cultures and heavily intertwined within their native educational systems. For Mentawai, according to Sikerei, “Our stories teach us about our history and how to survive here. They carry the wealth of Mentawai