19 May 2006

The women of Lake Murray

Lake Murray woman
© Greenpeace/Behring

Just as I started writing this weblog, an ant crawled across the screen. In its mouth was a whole other ant and that ant was carrying some other object of equal size in its mouth! Just thought I’d share that…

Big, big visions are swelling deep inside me the longer I’m here, experiencing life with the local people. I can hardly sleep at night sometimes, there’re so many ideas flooding my thoughts!

The thing that stands out most, for me, is the women – the role they play in the community, and the role they wish they could play. I have talked with many of the women and, after hearing their wishes to be included in this project equally (even at all), and seeing that they are not, I decided to organise a meeting. It was just for women, to listen and to share and of course to encourage each other to become involved.

Woman at the sago camp
© Greenpeace/Behring

Greenpeace volunteers and the foresters from FPCD have been trying to encourage the women to attend the eco-forestry training sessions we are holding. Unfortunately, no women attended the latest sawmill training. However, when I went to the business management training I was heartened to see that, of the 20 people who were present, four of them were women. This probably doesn't sound like much to western readers but believe me, it's a huge deal here.

There was supposed to be one woman from each clan, but many didn't attend. Some weren’t allowed (their husbands said no). Others believed that it wasn’t their place to attend, even though they were invited. A few were too shy to join the men (especially men from other clans).

In class, our guest teacher from West Papua was explaining the difference between a ‘product’ and a ‘service’. We went through how a tree, through processes like sawing, carving, etc, becomes a product.

Women pounding sago
© Greenpeace/Behring

Now those who know me will probably agree I’m not very good at sitting still and staying quiet when I have something to do or say. I noticed that none of the women had answered any of the questions yet, or commented without being asked. Since I knew that women are mainly responsible for the cultivation, harvesting, production and transportation of the local food staple, sago, I deduced that a question about sago was in order, to get them involved.

I raised my hand proudly and asked: “Is sago an example of a product?”

Every head turned towards me. Every pair of eyes stared, in shock, including the teacher’s.

“Oh crap,” I thought, “the first thing I've said has been completely wrong, and I'm a blonde woman!”

My cheeks burnt and my heart raced until, after what seemed like an hour, the teacher nodded. “Yes … sago would be an example of a product,” he said.

There was much murmuring, followed by a chorus of “Oh, yes”. I sat back in my chair.

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Comments

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