‘Missing the scramble for express boat tickets during Gawai’

KUCHING: Since starting work here six years and never missing out on the opportunity to celebrate Hari Gawai in her village in Kapit, Iban girl. Raydilla Kong Kumbau (pic), who is seeking her sustenance here, has to adjust to the new normal by feting the event moderately only with closest relatives.

During Hari Gawai celebrations, prior to this, Raydilla, 25, said, the event to fete the end of harvest, were always merry with the presence of relatives returning to the Nanga Melinau Rumah Anding longhouse which was a mandatory destination for her large family to gather and be jolly.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced her to spend the auspicious day moderately here this year.

She said there were too many moments she missed with Hari Gawai round the corner including the journey home via the fastest mode of travel, namely, express boat, a journey of about three hours from the jetty in Sibu.

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‘’Each time we want to return to our village during the Hari Gawai holiday, my family and I must scramble at the counter to get express boat tickets. The jetty is very congested as everybody wants to get a ticket,’’ the account assistant told Bernama.

She said, upon arrival at the jetty in Kapit, which she has to navigate a more than two-hour travel by four wheel drive through logging roads to reach her village.

“By boat, the journey will take up to six hours to reach our family’s longhouse,” she said, conceding that it was a sweet experience which she pined for very much during Hari Gawai this year while accepting the new normal in celebrating the festivity after the country enforced the Conditional Movement Control Order following the Covid-19 outbreak.

Raydilla said she could not get to enjoy special dishes on Hari Gawai such as fried venison, a recipe that has been in her family for ages and is only served on the first day of Gawai.

‘’In addition, the spiritual rituals ‘miring’ (which refers to the offering of meals to the spirits of the ancestors) and the ‘ngatas’ (tied banana stems containing paper currency) also cannot be held on Hari Gawai this year,’’ she said.

Meanwhile, sharing the same sad tale, Christine Lyana Raymond Moseg, 30, a Bidayuh from Kampung Semeba, here, also conceded that the Hari Gawai celebration this year was very different from previous years but she was thankful that she could celebrate it with her family.

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Nevertheless, she said even though she managed to celebrate Hari Gawai with her family, she still yearned for the ‘ngabang’ (visiting families and friends).

“(I am) sad because we cannot visit our relatives, but we have to adhere to the government’s directives and together we sacrifice to fight the Covid-19 pandemic,” she added.

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