The engine started ‘coughing’, the boat was moving forward haltingly. ‘Please, please, don’t break down here,’ I talked to the machine. We almost reached the mouth of Betz River, and the next would be the most turbulent water in the region. It was the spot where Betz met Siretz (two of the largest rivers—cruise-able by…
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According to the official statistics from the Indonesian Government, in 2010 Indonesia had 85 million hectares forest. When I came to Papua in 1989, it was 144 million. Within 22 years, almost a half of the forest disappeared. Assuming the deforestation rate constant, all the forests of Indonesia will be gone in 2035—like in Java…
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I sent him to Wamena, the center of Highland, for fixing his broken jaw a week ago. Dr. Vrinjs, a senior Dutch doctor, had fixed the bone so that he could eat with some support. But he was back now; too early, his bone operation wound still needed thorough care. If it returned to the…
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One week on water, one week off water: my initial life schedule in Pari. The schedule had never been met because I was down with malaria every two months. Thus, my bi-monthly schedule was 3 weeks on water, 3 weeks off water, and 2 weeks on bed. Pari has three major rivers and hundreds tributaries….
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For normal delivery, the Sisters never asked me to help them. Thus, for two years, I only handled abnormal delivery, while during the internship I had never been allowed to manage complicated deliveries. The one in front of me now was obviously abnormal. On palpable, I knew the fetus was in transverse position; Cesarean Section…
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“Doctor, there is a sick woman at the beach?” one of the boys at the yard told me. “Why did not she come to the hospital?” I said from inside the house. I did want to be bitten unnecessarily by mosquitoes outside. “She cannot, Doctor. She is not able to walk.” I took my stethoscope…
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“Come quickly, Doctor,” Sister Priscilla called me through the window. I got up from the desk and walked out. She was still out of breath from hurrying up; she needed that exercise to reduce her weight, about 20 kilogram heavier than me. “Looked at his chin, Doctor.” Pris pointed at the child on the lap…
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“Read this line,” I pointed at the first line of the page. She looked at it. One minute passed but no word came out of her mouth. I waited another minute before saying “It is OK,” and called the next woman. The result was a little better. She could read the first paragraph of the…
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It sounded like knocks at the door, but I doubted. I did not think any sensible people would leave their house under the ongoing rainstorm and thunder that crashed one after another. They had begun since the Sisters brought me dinner. The crackling and flapping tin roofs were eerie; the shaking house kept me awake…
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She must have been at least 3, but her weight was only 5.5 kilogram—3 kg more than her birth weight. Both international and national standards would classify her as severe malnourished. Bones wrapped by skin. I asked her mother to bring her to the hospital every day for feeding; they lived just 5-minute walk. They…
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“Do you have a poison, Doctor?” asked Sister Pai. “What for?” I imagined rat. “To poison Swinging Chair.” That was the parochial priest of Bayun. I did not like him either, but I had never thought of killing him. Well, giving him a lesson might be justified. “I have, Suster.” I fetched a tin of…
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Casuarinen Coast is a dream laboratory for tropical diseases researcher. They can find almost all tropical diseases mentioned in textbooks plus undiagnosed ones. Sampling size—the most common and difficult problem of medical research—will not be an issue here; they can get the patients as many as they want, with one condition: they do not mind…
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Through the window of the examination room, I saw a group of people carrying a stretcher. They put it on the floor of the hospital veranda. “Where are you from?” I asked them. “Simsagar.” Four-hour rowing decreasing tide, 6-hour the opposite. The stretcher was made from rough sticks tied with rattans. The woman—around 20 maximum—was…
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“Percis, percis, an . . ., bii,” were the only words I could grasp from what he said. As he waved his flashlight while talking to me, I understood what Dasih wanted. Percis was light bulb—since it is a technological term and not Indonesian word, it could be a Dutch word—and bii means ‘no’. The…
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Doing well with farming, I wanted to try with fishing. The Asmat used various methods to catch fish. The most common was spreading a net (stake net?) between two sticks across the river at the end of increasing tide and coming back at the end of decreasing tide. This net would catch medium and big…
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In order to survive in the interior of Papua, we have to have a special motivation. Money did not work for me; my salary was very little and I had come not for it. Helping people, honestly, was not an adequate drive when I had malaria and I was disappointed with the attitude of these…
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An Asmat woman who could read was extremely rare, probably 1 per 1000. We can trace the source of this problem to the maturity indicators of female across cultures. The ratio girl to boy in grade 1 in Bayun school 1:4; grade 2, 1:5; grade 3, 1:7; and grade 4, no girl. The Principal Simon—unlike…
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In addition to loneliness, malaria was the most difficult thing to live with. The plasmodia invaded my blood in the second month of my arrival in Pari. Having fever, chill, headache, muscle ache, nausea, vomiting, and general weakness for more than a week was tormenting. Not being able to eat, sleep, walk, and, especially, read…
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“What is the name of your first child?” “Yosef.” “Is he alive?” “Dead.” “Number two?” “Markus.” “Alive?” “He is outside.” “Who is next?” “No name yet.” “Where is it?” “Outside.” That is the typical process to get the answer to the question ‘how many children do you have?’ from a pregnant Asmat woman. If we…
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Anytime packages from Basiem or Agats arrived in Bayun, the mail bundle was always the first I checked. Most of the time, I was disappointed. Sometimes I called Basiem, Agats, or even Ewer—the Ursulin Sisters—by radio and asked the people to check their mail boxes for my letters and to make sure the letters for…
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