I was assigned to work with a lady named Tepuq Bulan, along with another Project WHEE! participant, David. Although she didn’t open
up to us right away, I told myself that it was okay because our relationship could
only get better from then on. It took us awhile to get her to be comfortable
with us. I first met her during the Meet and Greet session on my first night
there, where we had all the Tepuqs from Bario Asal over to where we were
staying at in the longhouse. Our fellow participant, Jacky, planned out a few
ice breaking games for us to play and know about teach other. After all the fun and games, David and I walked
over to our Tepuq Bulan to introduce ourselves personally and let her know that
we would be working with her. Tepuq Bulan already knew about the objective of
Project WHEE! as there had been five batches before us, so letting her know what
we were doing wasn’t a problem.
Although I
was told beforehand that Tepuq Bulan’s English was reasonably good, I was still
surprised at the fact that she could converse in English fully. Her English isn’t fluent yet, but she is one
of the few Tepuqs in the programme who can speak English in front of other
people confidently, even if she takes some time to think and form her
sentences. I found out much later from Gloria (from the first batch of Project WHEE!) that her English level was much lower one year ago, when the first
batch of Project WHEE! came to Bario. It makes me so happy knowing that this
project is one of the reasons she is able to speak English so confidently today. The
previous participants that worked with Tepuq must have done a terrific job as I
was told that she has come a long way since the start of this project.
During my
first week there, Tepuq, David and I spend most of our time together at the
paddy field planting paddies. Conversations across the paddy field were always
brief as she was always focused on planting paddy. For the first couple
of days it was always me initiating a conversation and she would just answer the
questions, but after awhile, she would voluntarily tell us stories about her
family and about life here in Bario.
Tepuq Bulan working hard at her paddy field.
She wasn’t there beside me all the time. Sometimes she would
be uprooting the paddies from the nursery for us to plant on her field while I
was left planting paddy alone or sometimes with David and Hliang on the paddy
field. So that gave me more reasons to look forward to lunch time because it was
when we actually got to sit down with Tepuq and have a proper conversation, share stories and exchange jokes, beside the reason that I was obviously
starving after planting paddies for the whole morning. Tepuq Bulan and Tepuq Ulo like to help each other out and take turns to plant paddies together at each
other’s field. So for two days, we got to work with Tepuq Ulo and Hliang. It was
always more fun to have more people working together on the paddy field.
David, Tepuq Bulan, Tepuq Ulo and I during our lunch break
For lunch, we would always have nuba laya’ (steamed and
mashed rice wrapped in Isip leaves) along with a few side dishes that she had
prepared in the morning before we left for the paddy field.
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| My lunch on my third day of work |
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The hut where we would have our lunch after planting paddies
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Following
her to work everyday, I got to experience first hand her daily routine during
the planting season (every August) and I must say that I have never met a lady
that works half as hard as her at that age. I would follow her to the paddy
field at 9am and we would work until 3pm, but she would stay on to plant
paddies until 6pm even when it starts to pour.
By the end
of my first week there, we (mostly Tepuq) managed to finish planting paddies on
her approximately one acre paddy field. She has another plot of paddy field,
but Ceria, a company that provides agriculture services manages that. That
meant that we were basically done with paddy work! So on my second week there,
we were busy preparing for a group of tourists from Kuala Lumpur that were coming
to stay at her homestay. For two days straight, we cleaned her house from top
to bottom until it was spotless. David and I mopped and swept the floor and
even had to scrub some areas, changed the bed sheets, wiped the window panes
and cleared the cobwebs (which meant that we had to kill some spiders!) that
were hiding at almost every corner of the house. The most fun part was when
Tepuq Bulan’s husband got us to help him paint the outside of the house. I felt
like I was on an episode of Extreme Makeover! Our painting skills are nowhere
near a professional painter’s but we had great fun painting while trying our
best not to splatter the paint on ourselves.
During one
of the breaks that I took from cleaning the house, I sat down with Tepuq and
practised how she would greet the tourist and show her around the house. I
pretended to be the tourist and got her to welcome me into her home as if it
was my first time there. While practicing her welcoming speech, I could tell that she was very anxious waiting for the tourists to arrive.
The
tourists from KL finally arrived on Wednesday and it was so good to finally see
them after preparing for their arrival the past few days. Tepuq
welcomed them with her warmest smile and I was so glad to see how easily she
got along with them. The tourists were five ladies with the most amusing
personalities, so much so that the whole homestay experience a lot fun for both
parties. They were constantly praising Tepuq’s cooking and the
lifestyle here. I would say that Tepuq had a joyful time being their host for
the six days that they were there. She really does make an excellent homestay
host and anyone would be lucky to ever be under her hospitality, myself
included.
I’m really
grateful that I got to work with Tepuq Bulan. Tepuq, her husband, Daud, her
granddaughter, Rebekah welcomed me into their family with such sincerity. It
was a bitter sweet goodbye when I had to fly back home especially after they
had accepted me into their family, and I hope I get the chance to visit Bario
again one day to be reunited with them.
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| My Bario Family! |
Nurul Iman
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