The People, Always.

My Happy Tepuq Club; the people I worked with on the farm. 

What makes Bario so special, for me, would always be the people.

The Kelabits have a unique tradition of changing their names when they have their first child and first grand child. For me, the changing of names represents how one's life is transformed just by having another person in his/her life. The tepuqs i worked with gave me a Kelabit name just after a couple of days in Bario, and I believe that this is symbolic of how through this one encounter with the people of Bario, my life has changed.

I came to Bario expecting to grow - but i never imagined being able to build such strong relationships with the people around me, and I never expected that I'd end up being so attached to the tepuqs. On our first night in Bario, we had a meet and greet session which consisted of a series of ice breaking games that allowed for all the participants and tepuqs to introduce themselves. When it was Tepuq Sinah Rang's turn, she gave a mini-speech and said something along the lines of how she was immensely grateful for us, and how we were sent from up above to help them out. During her speech, I remember feeling a tad bit touched, but mostly,I felt surprised at how warm and loving she was - when she barely even knew us.

The people and community of Bario have this special way of emanating warmth. There was never a single second during my stay in Bario where I felt like an outsider, and for someone who has lived her whole life in the city, this was new, and strange, and lovely. Everywhere I went, people would wave or say hi, or smile at me, but it wasn't the kind of acknowledgment and attention that made you feel like you were a famous superstar. It was the kind of welcome that made you feel like you were coming home.

Aside from that, the people of Bario were extremely genuine in everything that they did. My mom has always taught me that things are never free in life, and that if people were to gift you gifts outside of special occasions, that one should always return the favour. However, in Bario, the tepuqs never had any ulterior motives and never wanted anything from me. They legitimately just wanted to give me things or help out, and this baffled me for a bit. But the people in Bario have the culture of sharing, and its something that's hard to come across in the city. I mean, it isn't even easy for me to give a nugget away despite having 20 pieces of nuggets, and these tepuqs are just giving their rice and pineapples away, left, right, and centre.

The people of Bario have left an impact on me, and I'll always hold in my heart the little things that I love so much about the people there. I'll always miss the way Tepuq Ulo whistles while we work in the field to call for the wind, the way Tepuq Sinah Ribed has the cutest way of saying "takpe lah" whenever something happens, and how Tepuq Maga came to the airport to see us before we flew, and so much more.

The contrast between how I felt when Tepuq Sinah Rang gave a speech on our first night versus how I felt when Tepuq Maga gave a speech during breakfast on our final day in Bario was immense, and if it weren't for the sudden attack of sneezes on my part, I probably would've bawled my eyes out.

I believe that its the people who make the place, and for me, the people of Bario have definitely made it one of the loveliest places to be.