In Asmat, toothbrushes are rare, classrooms often sit half-empty, and river currents, not roads, determine who gets to see a doctor or a teacher. For the 121,000 people who live in this vast, swamp-covered regency, these challenges are not just everyday struggles, they are inherited and deeply structural, shaped by geography, poverty and generations of limited state presence.

Read also: Children of the mangroves: Keeping education, health accessible in Asmat

In Agats, a local dentist holds up a toothbrush and an oversized plastic mouth to teach children how to clean their teeth, some for the very first time. Farther inland, teachers in remote riverside settlements wait in half-empty classrooms for students who never arrive, absent for days or weeks while accompanying their families on long hunting trips through the forest.

A 2024 government report paints a bleak picture: only 14.8 percent of children in Asmat stay in school through primary education. Nearly a third have never attended at all.

The regency has one of the lowest road densities in Indonesia, just 229 kilometers for an area nearly 37 times the size of Jakarta, leaving most villages accessible only by boat, and only for those who can afford the high cost of fuel.

Read also: ‘Why we choose to stay’: The volunteers building a future in Asmat