This post is relatively long. There is so much to tell you! There are pictures in this post and one of Colby at the very end!
As you all know Chris and I are here studying malaria. Officially, we are working on a Gates Foundation project. The ultimate goal of this project is to determine the effectiveness of spatial insect repellents. This study will look at 4 separate villages in West Sumba. The first field site, a large village called Wainyapu, was chosen before we arrived. Since this project is in its infancy, the remaining 3 villages are still being determined.
Chris and I are responsible for the parasitology portion of this project, but we can’t just walk into Wainyapu and start asking for blood. First, we have to figure out how many people live there and where their houses are. We are starting from scratch on this one. There are no road signs in the larger towns, let alone tribal villages like Wainyapu. We have hired guides from the village to lead us through the 4 sub-villages within Wainyapu and 2 local guys (Kamilus and Wajiyo) to assist with the census. As you can imagine, making a map is no small task. Our task is complicated language barriers. The official language is Bahasa Indonesia, but each island also has its own language. In Sumba, everyone speaks Bahasa Sumba, which they learned at home, and Bahasa Indonesia, which they learned at school. In addition to these 2 languages, there are numerous tribal languages. In Waiynapu alone, there are 12 distinct tribes with their own tongues. Chris speaks decent Bahasa Indonesia, although rudimentary. My Bahasa Indonesia skills are okay suck. We are practicing constantly and learning new words and phrases everyday, but there is no Rosetta Stone for Bahasa Sumba and there is certainly no dictionary for any of the tribal languages!
Despite these difficulties, we have accomplished a fair amount in our first week. With only 2 hand-held GPS, paper, and pens, we have hiked throughout Wainyapu, geo-positioned every house, and taken names, ages, and genders for every person living in every house. We have counted 562 houses and approximately 2500 people.
Now, I get to crunch the data and Chris goes back to the field with Kamilus to geo-position all major landmarks (churches, wells, ponds etc.) and map all of the roads and foot paths. In 2 weeks, we hope to have a map of this interesting village and its fantastic traditional homes.
The houses in the pictures are from the main cluster in Wainyapu, which sits near the coast and is just behind the Pasola Field. Pasola Field is the site of an infamous tribal festival, which includes a realistic reenactment of tribal war. Fortunately, they have switched over to using blunt-tipped spears resulting in almost no deaths and fewer injuries. The stone structures in front of the huts are tombs. The tall spires in the center serve to keep the hut cool and as storage space for things such as rice or the dead bodies of relatives they can’t afford to bury yet. Thankfully, I have not been invited inside any traditional homes!
Waiynapu resides in a region of Sumba known as Kodi. This region has a reputation for being rough. We have not experienced any aggression (except from the local dogs), but the people are rather primitive and poverty is widespread. Most everyone practices subsistence farming and almost all tools are made by hand from materials found in the local area. I have seen men making fishing nets with roughly carved tools, thread, and seashells. Women weave mats out of dried grass and beautiful cloths on looms made out of fallen tree limbs. Livestock sleeps under the traditional huts and graze on grass near each cluster. We have seen water buffalo, pigs, horses, goats, and chickens.
Water is lugged from various wells and rivers throughout the village. Sometimes the closest water source is almost 1 kilometer away. We saw one well that is 17 meters down into a ravine. Young girls throw containers on strings into the ravine and then pull up the water.
To bathe and wash clothing, they must hike to a river or pond, which is also used for drinking water. Everything is cleaned in this water including livestock.
Unfortunately, I don’t have many pictures of people and their activities. We are not tourists here and have a job to accomplish. It is also considered rude to photograph these people without offering some sort of compensation. The only photo I have are of a small group of children who begged Chris to take their photo. They wanted candy!
While the majority of people in Kodi claim to practice Christianity, the local adat (custom) reigns supreme. They believe the wealth you acquire on Earth can really be taken with you. (Thus, the reason for corpses in the attic – they have to send their relatives off in style.) This wealth includes livestock (one of the primary symbols of wealth), which are sacrificed at the funeral. Fortunately, the practice of also sacrificing wives and servants has become extinct.
Which brings me to an interesting point.... the treatment of women. While I did not observe any physical signs of maltreatment, women are definitely second-class citizens. Families use their daughters to get substantial “belas” (dowries). The man who “purchases” the girl often considers her more like a possession than a person. She must be a good wife, work hard, and produce many children. The first marriage takes place in the church. Subsequent marriages, if the first wife can not produce any more children, if the husband puts his mistress in a “family way”, or if the man has enough wealth for another belas (more than one wife can also be a sign of wealth), all take place with a village ceremony presided over by the Pak Desun (Village Chief). I met several men with 2 and 3 wives. Supposedly, there is one chief in the region who has 12 wives. These marriages are not legal in the eyes of the Indonesian government, but are valid to the tribe and the village. I asked about the case of Love. What if two people fall in love, but the man doesn’t have enough for the belas (which can be adjusted depending on how much the family likes the match)? Often, the girl will be come pregnant on purpose accident, which requires they get married. The pair spend the majority of their lives trying to pay the belas owed to the family.
I have met many women during the census. Again, none seemed outwardly unhappy. All looked very tired and many times older than their years. I was shocked at the number of children these women already had. By the time they reach my age (the ripe old age of 30), they have at least 4 children, but often 6 or 7. They were equally shocked that I only have one child. I could see they felt sorry for me, because this meant I am either physically weak or my children have died. I am fascinated by their perception of me. When Pak Gerson (my local guide) informs them I am an “ibu doctor amerikat” (American female doctor), a few look at me with awe, many look at me with a hint of disapproval. This disapproval fades from their faces some when he goes on to explain that my husband is also a doctor and he is just over in the next hamlet. I wish I knew enough of the local language to find out what they are really thinking.
While I feel safe in Waiynapu walking with Pak Gerson, (pictured here with Kamilus)
I would not wander through the village without a local guide. Chris attempted to map some roads on his own one afternoon through a portion of the village he was familiar with. He was not met with aggression, but was harassed for money. Adults merely asked repeatedly, while children physically reached into his pockets. Two men who asked for money were pacified somewhat when he told them we would consider making a donation to the local schools before returning to America in a year. Unfortunately, they switched tactics and offered Chris some alone time with their teenage daughters for “seratus” (100,000 rupiah or about $12). He has not tried to work alone since. His words – “It was just too crazy.”
As promised, here is a picture of Colby and his new best friend, Darcy, sharing a plate of nasi!
