WOMEN: Porters of Padawan Highlands

http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/health/women-porters-of-padawan-highlands-1.59452

WOMEN: Porters of Padawan Highlands
By Dennis Wong


DORIS Ringo, 34, is petite, hardly 152cm tall. But with one swift move, she hoists a wooden backpack heavier than a flight passenger’s luggage allowance and walks with an agility that can shame many able-bodied men. She is one of the porters of Padawan Highlands, some 40km southwest from Kuching. Her route is a 12km trek of muddy mountainous terrain, with bamboo crossings over 15 rivers and streams to Kampung Semban, Rejoi, Taba Sait and Bojong from the Bengoh Dam entrance. The Padawan Highlands is the heartland of the Bidayuh people. They were called the Land Dayaks during the Brooke administration mainly because they reside in these highlands; an unforgiving mountainous terrain, with hill slopes, valleys and bamboo crossings across several rivers.


FULLY LOADED

When I first saw her, sitting demurely on a wooden bench at a tuck shop at Bengoh Dam, it did not occur to me that she would carry a load weighing nearly 30kg on a tambok, a wooden structure with a compartment at its base. I have heard stories from those who have visited this region, but I have never witnessed such strength and agility, especially of women porters like Doris. The porters carry items ranging from construction materials like cement and metal sheets, to consumer items like gas cylinders and livestock. Some porters can carry up to 50kg on their backs.


BALANCING ACT

The trail to the village seems to be designed for the porters. Short bamboo planks terraced the steps, wide enough to allow half of a foot to step on it and barely half the height of a normal stair. A porter will use less energy climbing the terrace and hiking the trail in smaller steps. Climbing hills and tottering up slopes, however, are nothing compared to mimicking a tightrope artiste on handmade suspended bamboo bridges across Padawan River. The bridges are about 10m high and 15m long. Being half-Iban and growing up in a long house, I am rather skilled at walking on wobbly structures but crossing the river on swaying bamboo bridges in Padawan Highlands requires an entirely different set of balancing act. There is no traction on my trans alpine-designed boots on the smooth bamboo stem. I nearly fell into Padawan River just after making a few steps on the bamboo bridge. My ego is kept in check. As we struggle on the trail, Doris catches up, overtakes this urban Iban with ease and soon disappears around a bend.

NATURAL COURSE

The trail to Kampung Semban is a combination of secondary forest and plantations, rubber, padi huma and tropical fruit. Not far after we pass the rubber plantation, we are greeted by the pungent smell of durian mixed with crisp mountain air, a pleasant reminder of walking in my grandparents’ orchard during my childhood days. As we slow to a halt, I hear people chatting in Bidayuh, and there’s Doris with other porters and some villagers taking a breather at a makeshift bamboo bench which doubles as a rest area. The tambok is off her back and she is taking out her lunch pack from the base compartment. Doris’s tambok, withered with hard use, is loaded with groceries that she bought earlier at Batu Sepuluh market, the nearest town about 15km away from Bengoh Dam. “I have just returned from the bazaar to get my kitchen necessities. I do this (being a porter) at least twice a week and whenever there is a need, I will offer my services to villagers,” says the 34-year-old pepper farmer. “When any of us go to the bazaar, we get requests from the villagers, so we help them with their groceries too,” explains Doris while savouring her tiffin of rice and meat.


VILLAGE LIFE

On other days, she works on a patch of land growing pepper and helping her neighbours with their crops. The villagers work together, taking turns on each other’s land. “It is a tough life on this highlands. But living in the village, I can work on my land and not starve. As long as you are willing to work, you’re alright.” There are several “stops” along the way, usually located after the longest hike along the trek. Somehow, they are strategically built at locations with strong mobile telephone signals and become a meeting point where porters and villagers read text messages, return telephone calls and even exchange reviews on football matches. You can tell who the ardent fans are. Some porters proudly wear their club jerseys; Manchester United, Liverpool, and Arsenal are the apparent favourites. Here parents tend to their young; babies get nappy change and toddlers pace the ground. Yes, even new mothers and their babies have trekked the same route, while VIPs come hither air-flown. Perhaps this explains the endurance of the people here, they ply the route from a very young age.

Another porter, Lenard Lingi, 37, clad in Arsenal’s striker Theo Walcott’s No. 14, eloquently relates a recent match to his peers. His tambuk is strapped with a gas cylinder, among other things. “I don’t really know how much this weighs, but I think it is some 50kg on my back. I had to get a replacement from the bazaar. We ran out of gas,” he explains. Carrying these weights on mountainous terrain is not exactly like lifting weights at the gym. I have done weight training, torturous routines prescribed by my trainer of 10 repetitions in four sets with one-minute rest time to build athletic strength and endurance. But these porters do not have the luxury of gym training; their purpose is only to carry the load on their back home safely. We can always debate about bringing development and modernity into the community, but after taking that 12km stretch and returning like other porters and villagers, I gain a new perspective. Modernity can only take you so far; it provides you comfort and makes labour intensive task easier, but humanity, kindness and sincerity take you further in life. And in Padawan Highlands, it could even mean survival.


Firm support The porters here used a tambok on their backs to carry heavy loads up to the villages on the Padawan Highlands. The tambok is a wooden structure with a compartment at its base for storing tiffin. The load is secured by raffia strings to the wooden backing of the tambok and a wide strap made of a tree bark, worn on the forehead, helps distribute the load weight.

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“So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and grovel to none. When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision. When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.” ~ Chief Tecumseh (Poem from Act of Valor the Movie)

Are You Not Sad Looking at Yourself

Are you not sad looking at yourself?

Plague with hunger, in a white man's land,

Frail and weak,

Waiting for alms.

Drown in the vivid sea,

Full of lies and deceit

Feeling on top of the world

But you will never succeed

For you can do wonders, far beyond compare

Only when you're awake

But sadly you chose to slumber,

Drowning and waiting for alms

Are you not sad looking at yourself?

I Came And I Saw

I came and I saw

People of the land

Working, toiling,

Not knowing the devil - watching from a far

I came and I saw

People of honour

Pride, respect

Taken away by devils in disguise

I came and I saw

People of kindness

Warm, humility

Raped by the devils who once walk among them