Limol #16

Another no-run streak of days. I feel like there is always something. On Saturday when I caught those fish, I took my shirt off so it would stay dry and clean while I jumped in the swamp. I was in and out of the water for about an hour or two, then we harvested sweet potatoes for a while. Anyway, I got a terrible sunburn on my entire back, so much that I haven't been able to wear a bra for past three days - so running is out. 

Moreover, yesterday morning we received the news that a woman in next-door village Malam died in childbirth. She was in labor for four days and no one brought her to Limol or to Upiara where there is a health center. Many Malam people, and all the leaders, were in Upiara, so when they came home yesterday via Limol, they heard the conch shell from Limol on the way and learned the sad news at the canoe place. The mother and father of the girl jumped out of their canoe in grief. I was able to carry the mother's baskets to Limol, when Wagiba, Grace, Lauren and I met them on the way to help. So much sadness. She was their oldest daughter and this is the second time this has happened in Malam. Last time was 15 years ago.

We helped people carry and cried with them but we will stay here in Limol while everyone goes to Malam for the burial and funeral. I'm feeling very sad and angry because her death was preventable (if they had taken her to a hospital) and also very sad that she felt that the help she needed was too hard to get. Grace is taking the news especially hard, she's been helping women in Limol read about village midwifery and what to do if you can't get to a hospital or a trained midwife. I know that we may not have been able to help, but we would have tried. (After discussing with Tessa, she believes that it only could have been prevented by a surgeon, so I'm glad now that we didn't have to experience a death first hand but still sorry that it happened at all). 

Today I will gloss and translate a text on funeral traditions that Winson wrote for us last year. I'm also going to track down a man who came through two days ago that apparently speaks another Pahoturi River language called Em. I was able to understand him, so it seems to be a dialect of Ende/Kawam.

Until next time,

Kate