The Iria people of Papua have likely given their name to the former name of Papua, Irian Jaya. The live in Papua Barat Province, Kaimara Regency, in nine villages; and in southeast Bomberai Peninsula, Kameru Bay. Like all indigenous peoples of the island of New Guinea, they are Melanesian. Once part of the Dutch colony of Indonesia, they came under Indonesian rule when Indonesia won its independence from the Netherlands. Currently their lands are centers of deforestation and mining. They speak the Kamberau language.
They are a communal people. That is, they favor community over the individual; the individual exits in community. Thus, daily life is communal. Agriculture, fishing, and hunting are livelihoods. However, some are moving to towns and to go to work in mines and forestry, which can negatively impact tier way of life and environmental integrity.
Family is important. And so, there are weddings, birth, and funerals. However, these are community events. Religion is also a community activity.
Their traditional religion is animistic, reverencing spirits in rocks, trees, sacred waters, and ancestors. As a result, their Christian faith is often syncretistic, a mixture of animistic piety and Christian faith. However, they do have the Audio Bible available from Global Recordings Network.
They need infrastructure, health care, bilingual education, cultural preservation, land rights and territorial integrity, environmental and cultural preservation.
Pray for their cultural and linguistic preservation. Pray for land rights and environmental integrity in the face of logging and mining. Pray for a more Biblically orthodox Christian faith that takes seriously community and ancestors without syncretism. Pray for outreach by Christians to their non-Christian neighbors and family.
Scripture Prayers for the Iria in Indonesia.
Petrus Tekege and Marthen Rahanra, Papua People and Culture, Lakomi Journal of Scientific journal of Culture, (3:3) 2022, pp. 89-99; https://doi.org/10.3258/lakhomi.v313.792
Simon Abdi K. Frank and Usman Idris, The Papuan Culture:: An Anthropological
| Profile Source: Joshua Project |
