I might be in the middle of nowhere, but I’ve never felt alone.
This story can not start, and would not be complete, without introducing my new friends and family here on the hill; The traditional owners of our land with whom we have partnered across the coming years.
Every morning sees Ibu Dian, the Mumma, accompanied by one of the family (pictured above), arrive with a welcome smile, invariably carrying an edible gift of some sort, be it coffee, a local delicacy, something hot to ensure I stay fed. Their priceless, genuine warmth and welcome is impossible to convey in words, but we feel extremely fortunate for having found them.
Evenings by the fire and most days, Pak Dian, the head of the household is often by my side, and although I can only mumble a few words of Bahasa Indonesian, many of the most important things about a person go without saying, and it seems Pak and I are well on the way to becoming dear old friends.
Late one night, very late, Pak arrived to find me swinging wildly at the forest with my machete…
It may have been the noise echoing across the valley to his home on the opposite ridge that brought him, but in truth, I think in the first days he came by in the dead of night, just to check I was OK. The ridge is isolated from the main village and my hut sits alone in an area known only to locals as Balunan, which I’m told means ‘The Origin’.
It was around twelve midnight and I had decided to don a head torch and attack the Salek palms, by most accounts an insane move as their spikes are hypodermic and razor-sharp… Without saying a word, Pak pulled out his knife and jumped in… together we hacked clear the first area on the ridge until 3 AM!
Together Pak and I spend hours exploring the land he has farmed and known for so many years.
It is in this way that I have started to learn about the myriad of species that live and thrive in the area. I have a wonderful feeling it will take a lifetime and that along the way Pak and I will grow old together… 😀
Question: What do you give somehow as a house warming present when they don’t have a house?
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