Building Bridges

On Wed 16th we flew into Bario airport in a small twin-otter . From there we had a 45 minute walk from the airport to a tiny little village called Pa' Ukat where we were based for our project phase. It is a jungle community 2000m up in the Kelebit Highlands. We were staying in the longhouse belonging to Pang, the village chief. Pang was an amazing guy, we couldn't have asked for a more hospitable or considerate host. He used to be an engineer for Shell & spent years working around the world on oil rigs. He was the person who had designed & written up the plans for the bridge we were building as our project. The old bridge had washed away about a year ago, & they were making do with 2 thick bamboo poles lashed together, along with a hand-rail. The new bridge was 4 ft wide, 30 ft long, & strong enough (hopefully!) to support a fully laden buffalo. The kids, along with a handful of local workers, made a great job of it, even if some of their hammering skills caused a great deal of mirth amongst the incredibly skilled locals. The Kelebit people are extremely religious, & we were expectedto take part in their church services. On the Saturday night we had to attend a fathers day service that was about 2 hours long, & quite hard work at times. We had gone straight from dinner at Pang's, but there was also a meal after the service, & being guests of honour we were obliged to try & force down a little bit more food. I wasn't brave enough for the fish porridge, but Ric tried a bit & said it wasn't that bad. The food at Pang's (cooked by his lovely wife Nora) was really good. The meat most nights was wild boar, usually with some sort of curry, & always with rice. The area is also renown for its pineapple growing, & I ate so much of it during my time there it's a wonder I haven't turned into one!

Sunday was the big church service which the whole village attends. It was about 2 & a half hours in total, but there was much more singing than the previous nights service, which helped it to go quite quickly. We were expected to give a presentation, so the 16 of us stood up & gave a rousing rendition of 'Lord of the Dance'. It seemed to go down quite well... All those Friday morning congo sessions (hymn singing practise at school) paid off, with the kids knowing all the words. We got off quite lightly with the church thing really... The villagers also attend a daily 5:30am service which we were excused from.

Monday was our last day working on the bridge. We were well on schedule & Pang was very happy with the work done. Another world challenge group were coming in after us to finish it off & put a roof on it. As Monday was our last night, Pang put on a huge BBQ, with the most divine wild boar, & lots of chicken wings. He mixed up a whole bottle of Bacardi for the kids, but only mixed it with 3 cans of lemonade for the whole bottle! Soft drink was relatively expensive compared to the alcohol. It had an interesting effect on the kids... One boy we have nick-named "Tom two-sips" because he was silly after only a couple of mouthfuls! Later that night after the kids were in bed Pang also insisted that we drink more Bacardi with him & his wife, & would not let us go to bed until we had finished the whole bottle! That was the end of our time in Pa' Ukat, as Tuesday morning we set off on our jungle trek.