Tears in the rainforest

The Penan tribes live in seemingly idyllic settlements in the Borneo jungle – less than ten hours’ drive from Brunei, but light years from the modern world

The Penan tribes live in seemingly idyllic settlements in the Borneo jungle – less than ten hours’ drive from Brunei, but light years from the modern world

Before I moved to New Zealand in early 2011, I was living in Brunei and working for the British Army. One of the first locals I met was a woman called Shida, who told me about her efforts to help the last survivors of the Penan tribe in the neighbouring Borneo jungle. Hearing how these innocent aboriginal people were struggling to cope with the loss of the rainforest they called home, I didn’t waste a minute before joining Shida in trying to help them out.

After filling our four-wheel drive with food, clothes and medication, Shida and I headed out of town. Brunei is the city-state located at the top of the island of Borneo. After an hour’s drive north of the Brunei border the asphalt turns into unsealed logging tracks. Continuing along the road, we embarked on a five-hour spine-rattling drive through country that had once been jungle. The devastation wrought by logging brought tears to my eyes. It was rape! Nothing could have prepared me for it.

The Penan are the only nomadic tribe remaining in Asia and their numbers are dwindling. For thousands of years, they relied on the rainforest to provide whatever they needed, but today they face irreversible change as logging companies push relentlessly into their territory. If the Penan were animals, they’d be on a critically endangered list. Everyone’s heard of the plight of the Borneo orangutan, but who’s heard of the even more threatened Penan?

Once upon a time, the rainforest provided animals to hunt, sago palms to eat and plants to be turned into clothes, bags, utensils and shelter. The Penan had no need for money – the only trade they engaged in was with lowland tribes to obtain metal to make into blades for their blowpipes. In exchange, the Penan offered a range of mats, baskets and bangles made from the dangerously spiked rattan plant.

The rattan craft takes many months of effort. First, the Penan strip the plant fibres, then dye them (partly achieved by burying them in the earth for three months until the fibres turn dark brown and black) and finally drying and weaving them into exquisite pieces that reflect their love of nature. But now even the rattan plant is becoming scarce.

As well as the rattan, the rainforest is home to valuable timbers so tough they’ve been given names like iron wood. It’s nearly impossible to drive a nail through it, and yet the Penan create perfectly smooth iron wood blowpipes up to two metres in length. The technique comes from ancient skills passed down from generation to generation.

The Borneo jungle is also an irreplaceable source of pharmacological wealth. Seventy percent of plants known to have anti-cancer properties have been found in the rainforest, and the Penan are said to be one of the most knowledgeable tribes on the planet when it comes to plants and their medicinal purposes.

But it seems that much of the Penan’s rainforest will soon be gone. Animals flee from the sound of chainsaws, rivers are becoming clogged with fish-suffocating mud, and the plants that once supplied the Penan with food, poison for their darts and remedies for diseases are dying out. No heed is paid to their pleas and no sympathy shown as the graves of their ancestors are uprooted and despoiled. Despite the Penan’s long and continuous occupation of the land, the governments of Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia are seemingly doing nothing to uphold their customary rights.

One of the biggest problems is that the Penan don’t belong to any country – they’ve always travelled freely across borders. It’s difficult for them to get identification cards or passports as most cannot read or write and don’t know their date of birth. When I lived in Brunei, I met several times with the Malaysian government, who expected the Penan to visit the government office – nine hours’ drive from their home in the rainforest – every week to receive benefits and medical assistance!

As the jungle shrinks, the Penan recognise the need to prepare their children for a different way of life. Logging companies have provided them with long houses, but as a nomadic people, skilled in living off the jungle, they struggle with a settled existence. Lack of food and clothing, little education and poor hygiene are all challenges to be grappled with. Compounding the sanitation issues, the Penan settlements we visited had no fresh water supply.

Sago is the staple food of the Penan, but sago palms are becoming another victim of logging. To make up for their diminishing natural food store, the Penan are learning to grow their own crops and raise their own meat. They’ve started to grow rice, which is cut by hand and milled with the help of a diesel-powered machine. During our time there we helped repair their broken machine and tried to teach them about the need for fresh fruit and vegetables to supplement their rice diet. There is a shop about six hours’ walk away, but the food there costs more than double the prices of Brunei.

In order to buy supplies for the Penan, Shida and I sold their traditional handmade rattan baskets and bags at local parties, military functions, markets and fairs. On one of our visits, we brought them soap, medicines, food, toothpaste and toothbrushes we’d bought with our fundraising profits and showed the women how to use them. The wooden houses are basic and the Penan women are still learning the skills of cleaning and arranging their belongings. After a couple of hours of housework using donated scrubbing brushes and cleaning materials, they were so proud of the results.

Next we organised the villagers into groups and got them started on burying the rubbish, much of it dangerous for small children. With that done, we handed over a brand new grass cutter and within the hour, the whole area was transformed. Snakes became instantly visible and mosquito breeding grounds were cut to pieces.

Now that there was somewhere to play, the Penan got straight down to it with a new football. We came together for a game despite the afternoon’s stormy rain. That evening, we dined on jungle food – fried fern and bamboo shoots accompanied by fish cooked with wild ginger – and were treated to a special Penan dance.

Even though I’m now based in New Zealand, I’ve been raising money for corrugated iron roofs, solar panels for hot water and electricity, and school materials for the kids: textbooks, notebooks and pens.

I’m a strong believer in equality, empowering others, and encouraging self-sufficient cultures. We can all help make a difference to the Penan – one of the world’s most vulnerable tribes, a people who’ve lived in peace and self-sufficiency for thousands of years.

Born in the Czech Republic, Marcela Gibson studied business and economics in the little town of Kromeriz and dreamed of exploring the world. Her travels led her to Brunei, where she was offered the chance to experience life with a Penan tribe. Now working as an accountant in Auckland, Marcela is still actively involved in fundraising for ten Penan settlements and welcomes inquiries from those interested in volunteering in Borneo. To find out more about helping the Penan, contact Marcela via email: [email protected]