"IN THE JUNGLE, THE MIGHTY JUNGLE.......THE LION SLEEPS"

ON OUR WAY INTO THE JUNGLE, 

THIS PLANE IS ABOUT 30 FEET LONG INSIDE

Last Sunday we flew to Miri and then on Monday morning flew into the interior of Sarawak to make a visit to the Lun Bawang people who live near the small village of Ba'kelalan.  The Lun Bawang are a very small ethnic group of perhaps 2 or 3 thousand people.  A hundred years ago they lived in Indonesia but moved to the west side of the mountains and it later became Malaysia.  They are almost all Christian of the SIB faith (SIB means Bible Group of Borneo) and live up in the mountains at least 8 hours by dirt road from the nearest town of any size.  In Buduk Bui, where we visited, there were no cell phones (no phones of any kind), no internet, no TV, and minimal electricity which provided only enough for 12 volt lights.   This trip took us the deepest into the jungle we have been or ever will be. We flew over one hour over nothing but jungle to this village called Ba'kelalan. We were there investigating a potential water project for about 500 people.

ELLEN ON THE WALK BACK TO BA'KELALAN

ARRIVING IN BA'KELALAN

THE TOWN COME OUT TO MEET AND GREET THE

FOUR FLIGHTS INTO TOWN EACH WEEK

We arrived at a small airstrip in the jungle valley just in front of the village of Ba'kelalan. Our luggage was off loaded onto the runway where two fellows picked it up and lugged it over to the 4x4 truck for a 45 minute trip over a deeply rutted track to Buduk Bui or 'village of the wind'.

                                                           The air terminal building

WE WERE GUESTS IN THIS HOME ANDTHESE LADIES COOKED FOR US

We stayed in one of the homes.  Busat is second from the right, our hostess.  The fire behind them is where they cook. The woman always eat separately from the men and guest.

She is doing a beautifully graceful rice harvest dance with 15 other women.

Bill hiked to the water source to investigate.

  

BUDUK BUI

     We were the guests of the retired pastor and his wife, Liau and Busat (Busat means 'flower' in the dialect of the Lun Bwang people) in the village of Buduk Bui.  They are farmers who grow their own food and market a small portion of their highly prized bario or highland rice.  In recent years they have started growing apples because they are at a high enough altitude that the weather is cooler.  We really enjoyed that cooler weather.  I even put a jacket on one evening.  I think the temperature ranged from 65 to 75 during the few days we were visiting.
     They have a wonderful clean source of spring water about 2 or 3 km from the village but their pvc pipe has disintegrated and they need new pipe.  That was the purpose of our visit---to assess what they need and determine if it fits the parameters of what we do to help people with clean water.

HIKING TO THE WATER SOURCE

  Bill did the hiking without me this time.  He went with others to see their one-turbine hydroelectric 'plant' and the river where they get their water.
     On the first evening we were there, they had a community meeting so that we could let them know why we were there.  At the beginning of the meeting we were welcomed by 16 women dancing a 'welcome' dance and then a rice harvest dance.  It was very beautiful and graceful.
They are very friendly and kind.  Their dialect is different form the Malay we are beginning to understand a little so we had to always have someone translate.

THE LUN BWANG LADIES DANCING FOR US

     Bill had the experience of leeches after his hike in the jungle but learned to tuck his pant legs into his socks.  He is quite a trouper at hiking in the jungle.  At least it was cooler for his hiking this trip.
On our last day at Buduk Bui it rained for about 4 hours so the road out was nearly impassable but we made it slipping and sliding all the way.  It reminded me of driving on ice and at one point we nearly slid into the bank on one side of the mountain road.

WATER BUFFALO

As we got closer to the little village of Ba'kelalan the road WAS impassable so we had to walk the last mile through the rice paddies among the mud-wallowing water buffalo who would stop to look at us.  Such an adventure!

Our luggage was taken by this fellow on his motorbike while we walked the last mile because the road was so bad the 4x4 could not make it any further.

THE BORNEO HIGHLANDS

THIS IS WHERE WE WERE.

     We returned to Kota Kinabalu on Thursday afternoon just in time for our interview with President Clark and zone conference.  Then Saturday was District conference.  Our district is all of Sabah so members of the branches from Tawau and Sandakan came.  Because they travel so far---overnight road trip---there were meals provided between the Saturday meetings and after the Sunday meeting.  Kinda nice and that gave us a chance to get to know them a little bit. We both were involved in the leadership training.

RICE PADDIES IN THE BORNEO HIGHLANDS

Kota Kinabalu is suffering a drought. We have not had rain for over 3 months. The iar is really bad. It has alot of smoke in it from all the open burning that is not allowed. However there are several fires all around us every day. This plus the buring on the farms they do every year. The air so bad it is hard on our breathing and throats and gives us headaches. The people are suffering on the farms as their rice will not be as good. Please keep us in mind in your prayers. They are not expecting rain until May.

We have new wheel chair, vision project and water projects to get going on this next week and the current projects to keep going. It will be a busy week.

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