Capturing the explosions in my heart

Today is the fourth day of my stay in Bario, Sarawak. It’s the first time I’ve been away from home alone. Come to think of it 16 days is pretty long for a first timer. Somehow, time passes slower here and I feel like I've been here for a week already.

Its really mind-blowing the number of things you can pick up if you’re observant. Just living in Bario can teach you many lessons. Peace, gratitude, love, beauty, a sense of community, connectedness, teamwork.

Last night, when the electricity in the longhouse was cut and we were talking around the dinner table lit by candles, Rhonwyn asked us if we would like to come along to Aunty Nicole’s house to learn to make “Senapih” and to help prepare pineapples for some media who were coming the next day.

Tepu Uloh busy making senapih.

We walked to Aunty Nicole's house. That was the first time I saw the beauty of the night sky at Bario. It was also my first time seeing so many stars lighting up the sky. The view was amazing. Throughout my short life of 17 years I have never seen anything like it, and the beauty of it really took my breath away. We stopped and stared at the sky with many ‘oohhs’ and ‘ahhhs' while I just stared, in awe of its beauty. And there were little explosions in my heart.

From young, I had always been moved by nature. When adults asked me about my ambition when I was young I would always answer scientist, but in my heart I always pictured myself in the middle of a jungle. Although I didn't really have an idea what I was doing there, but I loved that picture. My love for nature has always driven me to join the mission to save Mother Earth. But you can't do anything passionately if you’re not inspired. And I think Bario was just the inspiration!

Here, the people live side-by-side with nature. Animals such as ducks, chickens, dogs and cats wander around peacefully. The hills and mountains surround the village in every direction you face. The huge hills and mountains, the stretch of paddy fields, they fill me with the peace and love that I treasure.

Nature is so precious and sometimes we don’t realise the extent of our actions that hurt mother earth. We continue to just take what we want from the earth without pausing to think of giving back to mother nature. We cut down trees for development, we dig the ground for minerals and we exploit earth of all its resources and enjoy its monetary blessings. But we don’t pause to think, when all the trees are cut down, all the animals are dead, the water poisoned, and the air unsafe to breathe, will money keep us alive?

Sometimes, I think it takes one to lose something before he or she can wake up to appreciate what he/she has. It may not be a bad thing that nature in Kuala Lumpur has been compromised with its rapid development. We can use it as a lesson. To move on; to start anew; to heal our country, the world and the environment. It is important that we realise the fate of the world and the environment lies in our hand. 

We are the change. What we do now determines how the rest of humanity live in the future. For a nation to develop, industrialization and construction might be necessary but there's always a better way. A third way: to live and evolve. So let us keep nature and the environment in our thoughts always as we progress!

Christine