“The elders find their way home under the lightning”

The sago-making song of Kasiang Toujou – a Hongana Manyawa man in the Halmahera rainforest, Indonesia.

Kasiang was born in the rainforest and lived his childhood away from outsiders, moving from place to place with his family and harvesting food from the sago trees. In the 1960s, the Indonesian government came and told the nomadic Hongana Manyawa they were "culturally disabled" and living in "dirty houses". They forcibly contacted many Hongana Manyawa, and evicted people like Kasiang from the rainforest, settling them in permanent houses, which the Hongana Manyawa described as "cages". Many then died from diseases to which they had no immunity in the "plague" that followed.

But now, another disaster has struck. In recent years, nickel mining has boomed in Halmahera, associated with the global demand for nickel in electric car batteries. Today the Hongana Manyawa's rainforest is being ripped up by mining companies like Eramet, leaving the remaining uncontacted Hongana Manyawa with little space to survive. Kasiang lamented the destruction of his people's sacred rainforest and how the young Hongana Manyawa who grew up without it, no longer sang the songs of their elders. He described the importance of protecting their rainforest saying: "What we do is not just for now but for our future generations to come; for our children and grandchildren - the future of the Hongana Manyawa people."

In 2024, Kasiang sadly passed away, but the Hongana Manyawa continue to defend their land, and their way of life - singing their songs and binding themselves to their rainforest home.

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