Back to the field. Our seventh village is named Telok Parak, and is one of my favorite places to work. The village is tiny – maybe 70 households total – and does not have electricity. I think there are more children here than in any of the villages I’ve lived in so far. Children have funny reactions to me; some are afraid and scream and cry when they see me, others are shy but curious, and others follow me around. In Telok Parak the kids are of the following type – within ½ hour of arrival I had three 10 year old boys trailing me upstairs, downstairs, around the village, and even to mandi (bathe) in the river with me!
We finished in Telok Parak in record time, only two days of field work and tomorrow we go to a new village, Muara Kayong. Right now it is rice growing season (the rains have started, and the planting is finished) so walking around rice fields is relatively easy compared to last month, when the fields were filled with logs and brush. The agricultural system here is to cut down forest, let the trees and brush dry, burn the cut wood, and then plant rice. Walking in fields of cut trees is not an easy job, but walking through fields of padi simply requires carefully stepping.
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