Christmas in Wilderness - II

We arrived in Sun at around 2pm. It took me 4.5 hours while others took 4 hours to arrive in Sun. We spent the night there. It was such a relief to be able to rest and to have a bath after that wearing trip. In the evening, we had a mass in a church/school. But that night I started to get stressed out thinking about the tomorrow’s trip. I was told that the track to Seya from Sun was more difficult. I tried hard to sleep as early as possible in hoping to regain back my energy to face tomorrow. The next morning, I woke up feeling the pain in my feet. However I had no choice but to go on walking. It was indeed a more difficult track.

Having walked for 3.5 hours (for others 3 hours), we finally got to Seya, our destination. Unfortunately I couldn’t take part in the traditional welcoming ceremony since I arrived much later than others. Seya was a lot bigger than Sun. There were some other alternative ways to Seya besides the one from Suswa. You could either come from Sire or Ayawasi (through Mosun). But both ways can only be accessed on foot. By that, I meant walking for more than 8 hours (for the locals). Moreover, should you come from Sorong, you have to drive for 12 hours to Sire and 8–9 hours to Ayawasi. Besides this difficult access, there wasn’t much water in Seya. They had to walk 1-2 km to take water from the spring. What a place to live! There must be something about Seya that people are willing to live there. I honestly couldn’t comprehend this.

According to Engel Semunya, a Seyan who now lives in Sorong, the people of Seya have moved 8th times to the current location which they found in 1993. Gosh, wasn't it still quite recent? I thought a nomadic life was something from the old, ancient times. They moved to seek for a new piece of land or a better access for water or sometimes because they fought among each other. They did fight a lot with each other. Engel could still recall how in 1993 at a very young age, he and the whole village were carrying some furnitures and stuffs to a new place.

That afternoon, an opening ceremony for the new church in Seya was held. It was then followed by the Christmas Mass led by the Bishop. The mass was not only attended by the people who lived in Seya but also by some other people from the surrounding villages and from Sorong. It was the first time a bishop ever stepped foot in Seya. I was sure that they really appreciated this gesture. Mgr. Datus Lega used this opportunity to listen to and to look for the solutions of all kinds of problems that the people in Sun, Seya or Suswa were dealing with, right from the mouth of the horse.

After the mass, the people started to dance the traditional Papuan dance called tumbuk tanah. They did it all night long until the sun rose the next morning. Unfortunately, they did it right in front of the house where I was staying. They were singing while dancing. They were so excited and so loud that I had to spend the whole of Christmas Eve with wide open eyes listening to the sound of tumbuk tanah. My plan to recuperate in order to get ready for tomorrow’s trip was doomed to fail.

At Christmas day, after the mass and lunch, some of us (Reno, Fanny, Rita, myself accompanied by my dayang-dayang and some other locals) left Seya ahead of others who would leave the next day. It was my idea. The thought of walking straight for 8 hours from Seya to Suswa worried me a lot. I was afraid that I would be unable to catch up with the rest of the group. The plan was to spend the night in Sun before heading back to Suswa the next morning. We would arrive in Suswa the same day as the others who left one day later. I suppose it would be more bearable. Apparently some of us had the same thought.

It turned out to be a correct decision. The rest part of the journey, Seya-Suswa and Sun-Suswa, felt different. It looked like my body had made some adjustments that I now could breathe evenly and place my feet swiftly and smoothly between the roots. I began to enjoy the hiking. My self confidence was building up. And I now could look around the forest, felt the cool breeze and smelt the fresh, natural scent of the leaves and earth. I started to see the beauty of the Papuan forest. During the first 2 days, I hardly ever took my eyes off the track for I had to watch over my steps.

And we finally arrived in Suswa on December 26 at around 1pm. The rest of the group arrived later in the afternoon. We all spent the night in Suswa and played cards with the Bishop. He played it really well. I lost to him, and the others, all the time. We had been playing cards in any spare time that we had during the trip. The next day, Sven, that young, cute pilot picked us up to leave for Ayawasi. But it was really the end of the Seya trip. No more hiking. No more leeches. I was relieved. I was glad I made it. But at the same time I regretted that it was over when I just began to enjoy it. I started to miss the hiking in the forest. Don’t we always miss something after it’s gone? Goodbye Seya!

Christmas in Wilderness - I

I finally had a chance to taste the “wilderness” of Papua and saw with my own eyes places that can only be accessed on foot by which I meant walking for hours. Never in my life have I been to that kind of places. I joined the Bishop and some other people including Reno and Fanny Colombe, the volunteers from France, to visit and celebrate Christmas in Seya, Mare District, Sorong Selatan Regency.

We left Sorong on December 23, 2007 with that petite Pilatus. After 35 minutes flight we landed in Suswa, a small village by the river, and stayed there for a few minutes to prepare for the trip. We then left Suswa by crossing the river with a small, gawky boat. They had arranged who among the locals would help us carry our bags. God bless them! Without them, I didn’t know how I would survive the trip. I actually started the journey by carrying my own camera backpack. But in only a few minutes, I had to hand it over because there was no way I could carry it myself. I couldn’t even carry my own jacket. So embarrassing! This first part of the trip i.e. Suswa-Sun was a real challenge to me. Hey, I am a city folk. Have mercy on me ;-).

We had to hike up through the roots in the hilly, wet tropical forest and to tilt along the hillside. The forest was so dense that in some places the sunshine did not reach the surface of the earth making it damp and slippery. I slowly trekked the hill while panting, gasping for air wishing that I had exercised before. I was totally pooped.

During the whole hiking, I was literally “babysat” by 2 people whom I called dayang-dayang”. They, Frater Selvi and Om Emus, with great, utmost care helped me go through the whole hiking. They carried my stuffs, held my hands through the difficult hillside, waited for me when I needed the rest and water … and they even snatched the leeches from my legs. Gosh, I didn’t know how many leeches have glued themselves to my legs. Yuck! I could only scream for help whenever I felt something was biting my leg. They were disgusting. So these dayang-dayang were really my guardian angels. My slow pace had obviously tired them out. I felt guilty but could do nothing about it. They were jokingly (or maybe they really meant it?) offered to carry me in a cart that we could speed up the hiking. Hell no! Yes I was struggling but there was no way I would let them do that. That would be so humiliating, wouldn’t it?

I obviously became the weakest link of the whole group. I was in awe to see how little kids and some women who were carrying their babies walked fast past us. I tried to console myself with the idea that if I had been born in Suswa or Seya, I would have been able to walk like them. Yeah right!