CHAPTER 12 STARTING THE SEDAU MISSION
In Sedau, Perry and Leries settled into a rented house located on the banks of the Atap River (Atap Kong). The village homes had no electricity, so the nights were completely dark. In the midst of that pitch-black night, they could hear frogs croaking in chorus beneath the house, since in the evenings, when the sea tide rose, the space under the house would be flooded by river water. It was extremely difficult for the two of them to get any rest at night. Truly, that first night felt endlessly long. They slept in the house on mats, without a bed.
The next morning, they opened a cardboard box containing kitchen utensils—plates, glasses, spoons, forks, and more. To make cleaning easier, Leries took the utensils to the spring where the whole village bathed, washed clothes, and fetched water for household use. The homes in that village had no water facilities. There were no wells—only one shared spring used by all the residents.
As Leries began to wash the plates, glasses, and other utensils, the women at the spring stopped what they were doing and gathered around to watch her. They marveled at the utensils. They spoke words in their own language, but Leries couldn’t fully understand what they were saying, as they were speaking in the local variant of Malay and in Kek Chinese (Hakka)—languages that neither Perry nor Leries had ever heard before. It was not surprising, as at that time, most kitchenware in the area was still made of coarse local ceramics, coconut shells, or the shells of other hard-skinned fruits.
From that moment on, Leries no longer wanted to wash dishes at the spring. She asked Perry to fetch water from the spring and bring it home so she could wash the utensils in the kitchen.
For the first few months, they truly felt as if they were in a foreign land—abroad. They couldn’t understand what people around them were saying. Even the Malay language was filled with unfamiliar words, and to make matters more confusing, there were also bursts of Kek Chinese and occasionally Dayak. They felt utterly out of place. Besides the two other clinic staff, Perry and Leries were the only ones who could speak a language they both fully understood.
That incident at the spring was not the only unique experience Perry and Leries encountered during their mission service in Sedau. There were many more unusual, even dramatic, events that followed. All of them were part of their journey as God’s servants in a noble mission.