Our glasses reaching East Amarasi region weavers of West Timor

The last leg of our journey in East Nusa Tenggara in 2016 was in Amarasi region of West Timor. Here we met over 50 weavers in a small village called Dusun Huko’u, in the Oesena Village. The meeting took place in a small church in the village called Gereja Efata Huko’u, organised by the local priest and his wife, Bapak Pdt. Daniel Thimotius Tafetin & Ibu Welhelmina Barek Hurint.

We left Kupang (the capital of East Nusa Tenggara) fairly early in the morning on 19th September 2016, passing some truly gorgeous panorama on a slightly bone dry surroundings, but later welcomed by a very heavy rain on our arrival in Oesena. We headed straight to the church (Gereja Efata Huko’u) were our meeting was held, and welcomed by the lovely weavers and the priest. There two weavers’ group here, group 1 called AINA NFEN (Mama Bangkit = roughly translated as the “Ready to go Mums” group) and group 2 is NEK’BUA (SATU HATI = roughly translated “one heart” group). Tea and coffee were served alongside gorgeous and delicious local delicacies.

We distributed glasses to 45 weavers here and shared and learned so much from each of these amazing textile artists. The groups have just started to produced ikat textile using natural dyes using many different colours using readily available raw materials from around the region. Our gathering was closed by a lavish lunch for everyone, enjoying local cuisine and a chance to mingle with all the weavers.

We are truly grateful to Bapak Pdt. Daniel Thimotius Tafetin & Ibu Welhelmina Barek Hurint, the local priest for Gereja Efata Huko’u and his wife, who has very kindly arranged the gathering and who have provided every bit of support we need during the distribution. We were truly impressed with all the demonstration on how the ikat weaving was produced by the weavers. We can’t thank them enough for such an amazing time in Amarasi.

Please visit Amarasi, and treat yourself to an amazing holiday and ikat shopping here. Don’t forget to contact us if you need any information about the weavers’ groups here.

Our happy weavers who received glasses on this visit are: