Hope springs eternal

A charitable NGO reaches out to destitute Penan families in Baram through its Charity Without Border project.

WITH only two to three months to delivery date, a heavily pregnant young Penan woman migrated to Bario town with her family for easier access to medical care from Kampung Patik A.

They made the gruelling journey on foot for four days from their village but on reaching their destination, their hearts sank when they discovered housing rentals in the Bario town was way too expensive for them.

With little money and a mother-to-be in the late stage of pregnancy to care for, the Penan family had no choice but to build a temporary home in the nearby jungle, using wood from trees they chopped down for building materials.

Their temporary shed was located deep in the jungle on government land. They could not build a house nearer town because they would be squatting on Kelabit land. Even then, it would take them half an hour on foot and another half hour by motorcycle to reach Bario town.

This heart-wrenching episode was related to Hope Place founder Kelvin Wan by the Penans he spoke to recently.

Hope Place is an NGO that visits poor families, especially in the interior, to contribute food items and other daily necessities.

There are now 140 poor families on its list of beneficiaries. This charitable body distributes RM27,000 worth of foods and essential items to the needy and destitute every month.

Wan had visited Baram-Bario to conduct a survey on the number of Penan families who could benefit from Hope Place’s humanitarian initiatives under its 3rd Charity Without Border project. While there, he found the temporary shelters of the Penans in the jungle not only thread-bare but also very small.

Branches and leaves or old zinc sheets were used for the roof– hardly adequate to protect against the elements — while there was barely enough room in the shelter itself for human habitation.

Twenty-nine families have built these temporary shelters in Bario area. Some travelled three days, others up to seven days, to get to Bario town, depending on how far their villages were from their destination. Kampung Patik A and Kampung Patik B are four days by foot while Long Lubang is three-four days walk.

Wan said to survive, the Penan villagers gathered jungle produce and made mats to sell in town.

They built temporary homes in the new area they migrated to — such as Bario town — to not only enable a pregnant family member to go for check-up but also a sick family member to receive treatment. Such makeshift abode gives them a place to stay in the new place so that their children can go to school or when they need to look for jobs.

Some of the Penan families have been living in temporary shelters in the jungle for as long as five years — with no water or electricity.

“The cost of building actual homes is very high with red bricks going for RM10 a piece while cement is RM85 for a 50kg bag due to costly transportation,” Wan noted.

The normal selling price of red bricks is RM1 plus each while cement fetches RM15 per bag.

Penans are not lazy

“It’s wrong to label the Penans lazy. They gather jungle produce for food. They hunt and fish, and as such, do not have any other skills needed to get jobs in town, except hard labour. With jobs being so scarce, it’s hard for them to earn enough, being paid only RM10 to RM30 a day doing such manual work as road maintenance,” he added.

A villager once taught the nomadic tribe to plant paddy but after the first harvest, they stopped because they had enough rice to sustain them for two months.

“What they do not know is they have to continue the cycle of rice planting to sustain them the whole year round,” Wan said.

“They do not know they have to continue planting and harvesting because they have no experience or they do not think about the future. They are so used of their old way of life — only looking for food when hungry, either by going out to hunt or to gather jungle produce. They know nothing about farming and depend solely on the jungle to survive.”

At one village, Wan said the women were bare-breasted and openly breast-fed their babies.

“When I told them to cover up or wear a bra, they asked ‘what is a bra?’ Or they would say their older women never wore one and why should they. In fact, I had to hire a guide to translate what I was saying to them in their own language.”

Long Laput, one of the villages Wan visited, has 392 disabled persons who are recipients of government assistance to cover rental costs and payments to the teachers at the Community Rehabilitation Centre, at PDK Long Laput, Baram.

Wan said that the Centre needed constant food supplies as some of the disabled came from far to seek rehabilitation. They live in the Centre which, in fact, is only a house.

On a good stretch of road, it would take 20 minutes to make the 16km trip to Long Laput but since the present road is a muddy oil palm plantation road, the travelling time can stretch to as long as one-and-a-half hours.

Another village, Long San, has a total of 148 needy families.

“The mini hydro dam has been out of commission since last year, leaving the village without any electricity. The villagers believe the dam was damaged by logs floating downstream,” Wan said.

The third event

On the 3rd Charity Without Border, he said it was the third time the event had been held and this year, it was supported by the Bintulu 4X4 Challenge Club.

According to Wan, the club provided the vehicles, fuel, maintenance and drivers to help bring food and other supplies to the Penan villages.

This year, Charity Without Border will be from December 9 to 13 – five days and four nights – with food items to be delivered to 300 Penan families in five villages.

“We begin our journey on Dec 9 at 4am from Bintulu with our first stop at Long Laput to hand over provisions to the PDK Centre. The over 200km drive from Bintulu will take three hours – plus another hour off-road.

“Next, another 200km away, is Long Lapok, Baram, where we will deliver food to around 100 needy families. The drive will take over four hours. After that, we will drive seven hours over another 300km off-road to Long San,” Wan said.

Meanwhile, according to Pemanca Paul Kalang, Long San is without water and electric supply.

The 148 needy families in the village have asked the Hope Place medical team to visit them to conduct check-ups for high blood pressure, diabetes and knee pains among the villagers.

For this, Hope Place has confirmed two doctors and six pharmacists. Four personnel from Bintulu Polyclinic, one doctor from Bintulu Hospital and a vet from Miri will also be joining the team.

Why a vet?

“It’s because the Penans keep a lot of dogs for hunting. They even put the welfare of their dogs first, sacrificing meals just so that their dogs can have something to eat. Their dogs follow them everywhere they go,” Wan explained.

Long Banga is the fourth stop to help 30 families while Bario area is the final stop. Between stops, the team will spend the night at the villages.

“This Bario area is where the Penans build their temporary houses. We have to transport the daily necessities to them — first on motorbikes for half an hour, then on foot for another 30 to 45 minutes.

“We are racing against time to get the items we are still need — 900 bottles of 1kg cooking oil, 900 packs of 1kg Milo, 300 blankets, 100 3” by 5” mattresses, 500 bags of 10kg rice, 300 packs of L-sized adult diapers and 300 packs of M-sized adult diapers,” Wan said, adding that they are also short of 20 4×4 vehicles.

Those who like to volunteer and help can call Bintulu 4×4 Club president Tie Sing Ung (019- 824 3876.) The deadline for collecting the items for the Penan villagers is Nov 30.

Anyone who knows of people or families in need of help can also approach or contact Hope Place (013-567 2775).