The Generous People in Ciptagelar Village, Indonesia.

“A place is only as good as the people you know in it.” – Alex Pettyfer (I Am Number Four)

That quote got me thinking that when you know and try to connect with people in some places, when you need to leave, you’ll be missing home. Last year I’ve got an amazing experience to visit Ciptagelar Village. It is located in the south hillside of Halimun Mountain in Sukabumi, West Java, Indonesia.

I went there with friends from Bandung Institute of Tourism. The local people of this village were so welcoming to our arrival, they welcomed us in a big traditional house called Imah Gede. Ciptagelar village is  a village that sticks to the traditional environment completely from the kind of their house to non-trading activities between the villagers especially for the rice. Why there is non-trading activities in Ciptagelar? Because every single families in Ciptagelar are having a place called Lieut to put the rice from the harvest season and whenever villagers need some rice, they will give it for free as the praise to God for giving them  fertile soils so they can harvest the rice almost every year.It’s been told that this local people in Ciptagelar get their daily need of foods like vegetables and rice from their own land and their own work. The men in this village are the one who will work in the rice-field and all the farming, and as for the women, they will stay at Imah Gede to cook the foods together for men and for all the tourist that come to this village.

For years, the people in Ciptagelar have been welcoming guest to their village and let them with open hand to know and involve in the daily activity of the local. With a lot of people come to this village, it can’t be denied that tourism takes one of some aspects of economic growth in this village for local people. When I was there, I saw some people sat in their front yard to make a traditional merchandise made from bamboo shavings, and another merchandise too like Epok and Kaneron.

From the arrival of tourist, the villagers are now more in love with their culture and tradition as the tourism attraction, because the tourism attraction is not only something we can do and see, but also something we can learn and remember. And from now on, tourist not only seek for the fun, but also seek the great experience from a place they visit.

Before there were no tourist that come to the village, they could fulfill their need well but as soon as Ciptagelar become more well-known, the villagers can increase their income from selling the traditional merchandise and they know how to maintain the traditional way of living with an open mind of the modernization.

I learn a lot from this community, because they indirectly thought me to be kind, generous, humble and know to treat our environment well.