VHT to Sungai Iran

this simply has got to be one of my most tiring excursion ever. went for another VHT (village health team) trip and this time we were travelling along Sg. Iran. Sg Iran is slightly bigger and longer compared to Sg. Lijau. the furthest longhouse will take up to 2 days to reach.

My team (L-R) PPK James Senabong, PPK Merom, JM Jaleha, Me, JM Winnie. MA Ambrose taking the picture.

prior to our trip, it had been really hot and not a single drop one rain fell for more than 3 weeks. because of that the river water was really shallow. so for most of the journey, we had to drag our boat along the river bed. and the boat aint light. it weighs somewhere around 200+ kg, not including all our stuff. for every 1 minute that we sat on the boat, 5 minutes or more were spent pulling it. what would have normally took 45 minutes ended up taking 3 hours plus to reach.

Pulling (berpatak) our oversized longboat

this was the routine for the next 4 days. pulling our boat from one longhouse to another. we were physically drained. my staff told me they had never experienced such shallow waters before. how we could still see patients after that amazed me. we visited 7 longhouses and i saw a total of 115 patients. most were for NCD (non communicable disease) screening and hypertension follow up. thank god there weren't any serious or emergency cases for me to handle. wouldn't know how to transport the patient to Song with those water levels.

At Rumah Muchin. No electricity available, so had to use a portable lamp to work cause night was  approaching

in between those physical endeavours, we took breaks along the river bank to have our lunch. or we went into the jungle to look for wild vegetables or using nets to catch fishes in the river for our food. or when we are just too tired to move, we just soaked ourselves in the cold river water for some much needed rejuvenation.

Rumah Empali

all the longhouses that we visited do not have electric supply and rely solely on generator sets for electricity. they would have to make fortnightly or monthly trips to Song to get diesel/petrol for their generators. there was one pintu in a longhouse which ran out of diesel and they couldn't go to Song to get it cause of the shallow water. they are an old couple and their frail bodies just dont have the strength to drag their boat for hours end to Song. so they depend on the goodwills of their neighbours or just live in darkness. 

Soaking our aching muscles 

on the 2nd day, we could only reach up to Rh. Medan which was almost 4 hours from our last stop. my initial target was to reach all the way to Rh. Sari (the furthest longhouse along Sg. Iran) which took another full day to reach. but because of the water level and the size of our boat, i was advised to abandon that plan. as we journey further up river, the water level gets shallower and shallower. at that time, i didnt think anyone one of us would have been able to physically made it all the way Rh. Sari without collapsing midway.

Mobile clinic at Rh. Medan

by the time we reached Rh. Medan, which was the 2nd furthest longhouse (Rh. Sari was another 4 hours away), i was really hot, tired, hungry, itchy all over and irritated. i was thinking to myself, "why the hell must these people choose to stay in such a deeply remote area and make life difficult for everyone?"

Net fishing at Sungai Wei for dinner

so i put that question to one of the folks at the longhouse and she replied me with this, " Doktor, bukannya kami mau tinggal jauh-jauh macam ini. kalau ada pilihan, siapa tak mau tinggal kat pasar (iban word for town). Senang bah. semua pun ada. tapi kalau kami tinggal kat pasar, susah mau cari kerja. barang semua mahal.mana ada duit. mana ada tempat untuk tanam sayur. walaupun tempat kamik ini jauh, tapi tanah ini semua kamik punya. boleh tanam padi, tanam sayur, ternak ayam. boleh pergi hutan untuk memburu. boleh tangkap ikan dari sungai. ini semua tidak perlu duit. kamik orang miskin doktor. kalau tinggal kat pasar, memang tidak dapat hidup."

I aslo tried my hand at net fishing...caught myself instead.

at times like these i feel like a real arse. this just proved that despite being educated, people (in this case me) can still be very ignorant of the plight of others because we see the world only in our own dimension and logic. people sometimes find it very hard to open their minds and hearts to the views and plight of others. unless and until we undergo a paradigm shift in the way we think we will continue to be blinded by our own folly and discrimination. that day, i learnt an important lesson from that simple ulu woman.

Hiking to Rumah Melina along Sungai Wei....Ambrose and James not sure which part of the  river bank to  climb up.

on the final day, we visited Rh Melina. Rh Melina is situated along Sungai Wei which is a tributary of Sungai Iran. our boat was to big and heavy to travel through this river. so we had to hike along the river and the jungle for an hour to reach the longhouse. this hike was harder compared to the hike in Sg Lijau cause the under growth was much thicker and the river bank was very very slippery due to its soft  sandy soil. 

Rumah Melina

we did eventually reach Rh Melina in one piece. its just a small longhouse with probably 12 pintus. after we were done, the longhouse folks started to take out their tuak and ijok. needless to say, i got drunk. very drunk. seeing that i honoured him by getting drunk at his longhouse, the tuai rumah (head of the longhouse) volunteered to send us back to our boat using his smaller sampan. thank god for that. if i was to walked back, i dont think i would have survived to write this piece.

Me and the people at Rh. Melina....very intoxicated