Ribed Sweg!

Tepuq Ribed and I :3

This is the amazing lady I was assigned to while I was in Bario with Project WHEE!. TEPUQ RIBED! 

She may be pretty quiet, but I personally think she’s the most adorable tepuq of all! With the jokes she tells and her silent body shaking laugh, she never fails to put a smile on my face. One of the cutest things she said, was when I was trying to gauge her level of English, she said we were in a ‘Faddy Pield’ (paddy field). So cute! After correcting her, you could randomly hear her practicing to herself, ‘Paddy Field’ with an adorable accent and spring in her step.

When Tepuq Ribed and I first met, we were pretty awkward with each other, she’s naturally quiet and takes time connect, and I am just super awkward with trying to connect with the elderly. So a lot of the time, we’d just sit next to each other in silence, and it didn’t help that I was sick in the first week.

She’s a super caring tepuq! On my first day following her to the paddy fields, of course I didn’t come prepared, just shorts and a tee-shirt that I was ready to sacrifice to the mud. Tepuq Ribed gave me a shirt, gloves and even offered boots for me to wear into the mud, they were all her stuff, but she readily passed them to me to use because she felt the need to make sure I was well taken cared for.

After a few days, I realised Tepuq Ribed was hard core! A few of the Bario Asal Tepuqs would work together in harvesting paddy so the work gets done quickly, and it’s far less dull. So they’d take turns going to each other’s paddy fields, harvesting, talking, laughing, sometimes even singing and having lunch together, it’s really quite entertaining to watch, let alone be a part of. But all the tepuqs would stop harvesting and head home at about 4pm and just chill for the rest of the day. Tepuq Ribed on the other hand, would head back to her own paddy field and keep working till about 7pm. HARDCORE MAN!! It was really funny when I asked her about it and her response was just, “saya tak takut hantu macam tepuq lain” then laughed and continued work.

At the start of the second week, Tepuq Ribed and I had a day alone in the paddy fields, and that’s when we first connected very well. Though harvesting paddy was hard work, it was fun because the 2 of us were getting to know each other really well! Sharing stories about each other’s families and what life was like, was really nice. Of course with me being only 20 and she being in her 60s, my stories were so much shorter than hers. :P

It was interesting to hear the grandmother’s perspective of the family. I mean, I have grandparents too, but I’ve never actually spent a full day just listening to how they felt as the oldest in the family, and watching the kids grow up then leave home, have grandchildren and to watch them grow up in a totally different world that she’s not familiar with. Tepuq Ribed spent her entire life in Bario, while her grandchildren are now growing up in different cities across the country. The lifestyle is quite different for her, but she’s glad they’re doing well.

Over all I’d say I’m super glad I got matched to Tepuq Ribed.

She’s an amazing grandma, very caring, funny, and has her own style of swag. :p

Ribed sweg shared with Shu and Thriya 

Miss her to bits, and I cant wait till I get the chance to see her again! 

Cheers,
Dib!
(that's what she ended up calling me because she couldn't pronounce Dev) :p



Totally random, but check out this pic of the Bario Asal Longhouse: Bario Asal Longhouse