WOMAN OF ASMAT
(The Picture of Life’s Dimension)
CHAPTER 2
Being Healthy, Pregnant, and Practicing Family
Planning
For Asmat Woman
Asmat people
believe that those exist on the earth in the very first time were some things
which consist of many materials such as trees and animals. For Asmat people,
those thing which exists in the first time were trees including ucu --banyan
tree-- and pas –some kind of wood called by local people ’ironwood-- Both
kinds of the trees considered as the physical appearance of two ‘old mama’
which are called Ucukamoraot, the banyan tree’s spirit and Paskamaraot,
the’ironwood’ spirit. Because those mamas were born by the mother earth, then woman of Asmat considered as
sacred creatures called ‘cesar or teser’3). With the cultural background, Asmat
people view woman as eram, white magic drawing fertility and power. This point
of view opposed to the argument of that woman are life resources for men and
children. Therefore, the men who have a good understanding of the
cultural view of Asmat would have been
raising their wife’s, or commonly, woman’s position. Woman also have the
strength of, in Asmat’s language –bu ambop—
Besides of
being considered as eram, woman also are called cem aman juri, meaning that
women are the dogs that will always guard their master and intercept against
enemy attacking their master. In other words, women are warders ar shields for
men in blocking the enemies or breaking the challenged. In Asmat’s mythology,
dogs are considered as a kind of animal carrying the flames foe man or
kokoputs. Kokoputs is the form of the elder’s spirit who gives warmth and life
to the human race. It resembles women, who give warmth, caring attention, and life
for the family.
Moreover,
Asmat’s traditional view gives credit to women as beyor and ir beyor. Beyor is
parrot, and ir is white cockatoo. Those birds are the symbol of an elder’s
existence. So in Asmaat’s carving, there is also a pattern of cockatoo’s beak
and the bird’s fur is used as some kind of crown in the local party. Asmat’s
tradition finally put women in apposition of taar, red wild lily which is
beautiful. The wild lily appears as the personification of the elder,s spirit
which, in Asmat women are not only considered physically beautiful, but also spiritually beautiful, just like
taar. The Asmat’s traditional symbolization shows how women act as the most
important life principle of Asmat people, which represents balance, the balance
between the relationship of human, human – nature, and of human – the
ancient spirit.
The Asmat’s cultural view, according to the
statement, is very of nobility. Such a view immediately raises women to the top of honour. If the noble view is not only a myth that spreads accidentally over
a generation, then the women’s position in the structure of the tradition would
be greatly noble. It is an assurance that Asmat women’s life has been without
crushing turbulence. However, what has actually happened to those women?
Mothers cry
when they are telling stories about their violent husbands in family life. They're some of the wives, tortured to death, burned, beaten by axe or roar, fastened
and given no foods, forbidden of going out of the house without the husband’s
guard. There is even a midwife of the village who has to give her salary to the
husband monthly is she does not, then she will be beaten to feel pain.
Asmat women
are like ‘burdened horses’, said the women. The life’s complication carried by
the women is to munch hard. Anatomical structure of women which is equipped with uterus makes possible for fertile women who have married, to be pregnant,
giving suck, and taking care of the children. That women’s part could not be
replaced with any parts of men, such fact cannot be avoided. Instead of that,
women still have to make fish-catcher, make mats, make noken, catch fish, and
catch shrimp in net, cami ci –collect sago alone, uwur ken –collect sago
together with the men and help them cut trees to make canoes.
In the
tribal parties, women have to duty to support and encourage the husbands and
also guarantee all of the feeding needs. In politic issues, women make the
effect of giving power to the men in empowering the traditional position in the
village. The kinship structure in Asmat society refers to matrilineal –
mother’s lining reference. If a village gives many women to another village’s
men to marry, then the marriage will weaken the woman’s village.
On the there
is view saying that, if a village gives their women to another village’s men to
marry, then the women’s village will be stronger? Matrilineal causes the
children of the sisters to be more important than their own children. Women who
were born from a warlord, which were called ces akan, will get a quite
significant position, especially, if they have good leading behaviour.
Women’s
social participation and the view of it show that women’s existence is not
about to be underestimated. However, Asmat women are still ‘burdened horse’, no
matter how great their participation is,
fortunately, at times, they could ever run away from that complication,
though the less complicated exit is only death. Mother’s health is the next
rising problem after the ‘burdened horse’ thing. That problem is soon followed
by another serious problem for children’s health. The mother’s and children’s
health is a major complication which is not easy to solve. In this case, health does
not come alone. Directly or indirectly, health is closely related to the tribal
tradition, life’s philosophy, fact, and history.
Every
pregnant mother has the tendency of being in dangerous pregnancy. In the state
of pregnancy, giving birth, and giving birth, and supposed to work heavily
for the sake of their selves and their babies. Therefore, in socially uncivilized community, women should be at home that they can take care of their
pregnancy. Meanwhile, men go hunting animals in a group called band. That men’s
ability in hunting to make living for their family is physical, that they are
used to working hard, the thing that women cannot do, had grown superiority. At
the same time, women, dealing with the risk to face when pregnancy, giving
birth, and giving suck, are considered to be pitiful creatures. The
psychological bond and the moral responsibility that are about to face, almost
in solitude, are very heavy burdens.
History goes
to the more civilized society, women do not simply be responsible for the
reproduction, but more than that. The opportunity to obtain the higher
education level and proper jobs available at the later time, make women could
possibly make a living after the reproduction. The equivalence of right between
men and women has been stiffly serious problem which, for years, many sides are
struggling for, in many ways. The expression of that women are weak should
considerably by reformed.
But history
goes very slow in Asmat area. Some complicated factors, such as centralized
development, living environment preventing the society from a a healthy life,
limited infrastructure, forest-centred dependence as a strategy of preserving
life, stopped bottom-up planning, and graft-collusion-nepotism cause the
equivalence of men-women to be stuck. In hundred years after Kartini’s struggling
on emancipation, Asmat women are still ‘burdened horses’, and living signs to
break this circumstance seem to be vague.
Asmat women,
who are the poorest party troubled by this life, do not fully understand where
the misery comes from. The parents especially, have they ever talked about,
that the most beautiful moments in life are when they are already together with
the men they chose last very briefly. After the men paid them with sago and the
traditional marriages happen in puberty time, that dazzling life was over then.
The passionate moments when the couple were dying to live together, slowly fade
away. Asmat girls are naturally beautiful, with no make-up and expensive
accessories, particularly in party time when they adorn their selves with awer
and full colour make up on face. The beauty charms and excites. But all charms
are gone soon after the wedding makes the women carry all burdens in life,
especially to fulfil the needs of consumption.
Permanent
job is not something owned by the husband as the head of household, they could
not afford to give their wives some money to purchase some daily foods. For
that reason, every wife should work hard collecting sago and fishing so that
the needs to eat every day are completed. They also have to row boats to look
for firewood and slice them with their outmost so that the smoke of the hearth
blows. They cannot run away from those, for it may mean that husband’s party
would count on their muscle to hit. Women’s body is not equipped with strong
muscles, that is why they will never win as they have to face their husbands
punching each other. In this particular case, women only have two choices,
making all efforts to feed the family or beaten every day, and they choose the
first one.
Hard-working is obligatory for the wives to complete even when they are pregnant. Resting
time after birth never exists. After the babies born, the mothers should go
back to work so that all feeding needs do not trouble the families. The husband's lack of understanding about the family planning program –KB—on
mother’s and children’s health, affects the time gap of the birth is hard to
control. In a short time after birth, another pregnancy follows. An Asmat
fertile women would give 5 to 10 birds and the half of the children die in the
early growing time caused by some kinds od disease, especially respiratory disease, malaria, diarrhoea, and dysentery. It happens once that a husband
kicked hid pregnant wife’s stomach, so
that the baby inside was born-dead, unfortunately, her placenta was left
inside. Meanwhile, the pregnant mothers who are treated unfairly by their
husbands, then they would not survive together with the babies born or they
would be dead together with the babies. So far, death is always considered
dealing with the spirit’s interaction or with the people’s “bikin obat” black
magic or voodoo. All kinds of illness, bad nutrition, and unhealthy living
pattern are the last to be considered as the causes of his death. That, results
in the difficulty of getting the disease rid away. The sufferers or their
family tend to believe traditional methods or psychics with carrying a chicken.
Women and children suffer from the more complicated risks, because of such beliefs.
After
getting married, the young ladies looking beautiful and attractively fresh, in
a little while, get changed soon into
old mama with black teeth caused by the mixture for chewing betel. Mother’s bad
health and wrong medication affects negatively to their physical beauty. It is
usual that a couple looks old, it does not matter if the husbands will look for
other young ladies to make them new wives or mistresses who will live together
with the old wives. The women’s misery lasts continually then, as if there is
no end of it.
***
It has not been long that the
second millennium extends, when word finishing massively celebrating with all
kinds of attraction that can be watched on television as a marvellous
broadcasting, here on a muddy island whose mobility is so much dependent to
ship’s arrival, so that its arrival would be welcomed happily and busily, as if
it is a national guest, and when the ship gets on the dogs has always been the
cause of the area’s isolation, while a long queue of passengers could not
possibly be served by the Merpati’s –one of the aviation company in
Indonesia—schedule which is badly determined by the weather, something has
happened.
A middle-aged woman, who lives in the village of Syuru which is the
closest Asmat village to the district's office, suddenly bleeds with some sharp
pain around the uterus, she never knows what happens until a relative brings her
to the local health centre to get some medication. That woman has shaved her
hair entirely to show grieve of her parent death4). The dry skin or her face
starts and her sturdy body is wrapped whatever-it-is-cloth. She is trying still
to survive by the last remnants of her.
The head of KIA –a department in the local health centre dealing with
the health of women and their children—takes her to the dealing with the health
of women and their children—takes her to the VK –bearing room—to receive the
next treatment. The blood is flowing out infiltrating through a few pieces of
clothes where she lies on. Finally, there comes a baby to be who is only four
months old. The very young age of pregnancy, without preparation and plan,
causes the baby to be born in very poor condition with no movement, which is
supposed to be the sign of life. That woman goes very surprise. She has lost a
fetus without knowing before about the pregnancy. As the other Asmat women, that
women should work hard to make a living for her entire family. For four months,
she experienced late menstruation, however, the abnormality of the monthly cycle
seems to be forgotten because of her living burden. In the very late moment,
she finally realizes that she, unfortunately, loses an innocent baby.
The fetus has formed a human that looks like a little doll completely
equipped with a head, legs, arm, and full body. That little doll lies on the
bunch of clothes bespattered with blood. The poor little baby, who has no
power, does not receive any kind of responsibility from the parents who are
really responsible. Is there any wish of the baby to be born as a human before
the right time?
The head midwife should do some curate to clean the placenta torn with
only flash-lighting. There is no proper electrical spotlight to help the midwife
do her job well in providing health for mothers and children, so that the best
impossible lighting is only maintained from the flashlight. Meanwhile, the
husband does not appear at all. Without any advice from the head midwife, the
poor woman must immediately have gone back home to do her routines. Therefore, advice must be given. Rest is very important for the pregnant women who have
an abortion. Whatever the situation is, she deserves to get the appropriate health
security. That woman has had ten pregnancies; eight of those are succeeded normally, two pregnancies have been aborted, and four born babies died after the
birth. The eleventh fetus, which has not been nine months old, is aborted and
unknown. There is not even one teardrop. No teardrop. But, is there any mother
who is willing to lose her child? Abortion is surely painful.
The woman has two days to rest in order to recover from the abortion,
and then she has to go back to her daily routines. Her life must go on, so she
has to make all of her efforts to work. The mother’s and the children’s health
is not more important than eating. Until now, Asmat women do not have many
choices to decrease birth, for the sake of mother’s and children’s health, is
not yet rooted in living. If the understanding of how significant to have not
been necessary. Likewise, previous death does not have to happen. Advice about
the necessity of having a family plan should again be given to avoid the possible
abortion. There would be women who would make the choice, whether they would
accept it as a solution or not. After such concerning cycles, birth by birth,
death by death, and abortion by abortion, pregnancy can be dangerous for the
mother’s and the children’s health someday.
Two weeks before the case above, an Asmat woman has given birth to a premature baby of eight months. Hard-working, bad nutrition, and dense bearing
gap were the factors causing the premature birth following malaria which was a
trigger of that. The baby’s father who is an employee of a local health centre, has never encouraged his wife to have the family planning program after the seventh birth. The premature baby is the eighth child, born after the three older
brothers died. The unreadiness of the mother to have a pregnancy caused her to
have no time to go to VK to get some medication. The doctor followed by the
head midwife in hurry walked on the torn wooden bridge to give the help for the
mother and the child equipped with whatever available.
In quite a short time, the premature baby had arrived in VK and was
carried by the midwife, wrapped in a sheet of a blanket. The unfortunate mother
was still lying down in her house because of the birth and the malaria. There
was many thing could do to a premature baby, except handing over to the doctor
ant the head midwife to receive later medication. The doctor was still bathed
in sweat when suggesting to the head midwife to give an injection of vitamin K
to stop the bleeding. That poor baby did not react to the injection. He was
simply quiet and breathed difficultly because of the incomplete lungs. The
weight’s needle headed into the number of 1,4 kg when the baby was put on the
weight. This number is under the normal one. The normal weight of a healthy
baby just born about 2,5 – 3,5 kg. the incubator light was off. In this
district, electricity is only turned on between 18.00 and 24.00 of the local
timing, out of the time gap, it is turned off and dark, similar to the common
village. The premature baby was supposed to be rayed in incubator to normalize
the weight. However, the local electrification state company has not given
such security yet. After the blanket had gone dirty, the premature baby was
wrapped only in a piece of fabric to cover the baby from cold air. The baby’s
father came there a little long after calming the mother down, bringing
with three sets of new clothes. The head midwife wore the clothes on the baby
well and gave the baby to the father’s guidance. The number of the midwives
officially having the duty in the district’s area is only, which is surely not
enough to be 24-hours guardians, so that the family members should give a favour
directly in that premature birth. The doctor and the midwives simply do not
more than supervising until the premature baby could be brought home.
Similar to abortion, premature birth is also an effect of bad mother health,
gender problem, hard-working, and the lack of knowledge about the family
planning program. That problem always trouble the mother and the children born
then. As the conflagration in July 2001 happened, an Asmat woman died after
giving the ninth birth in bevak. The living condition in the middle of the jungle
is not supportive of a pregnant mother going to give a healthy birth. The
placenta is left in the uterus three days after birth, bleeding happens. The
initiative to come to a midwife is immediately done when the mother’s condition
has gone critical. In the night the conflagration happened. Mrs partus died. An unequivocal hit must be taken by several responsible sides, directly or
indirectly, definity God does have the power in life and death of someone. But
if the mother continually took her self for examination as of someone. But if
the mother continually took her self for examination as the day of birth is
determined with the willing to get a midwife’s assistance, the lives must have
been preserved. However, Asmat’s circumstance does not provide that kind of
possibility.
Asmat’s area is not an appropriate place for a pregnant mother, Mrs.
Partus and children’s health. The long-distance between a village to another
village and the minimum prosperity. Which negatively affect to mother’s and children's health are the hard to solve complexity. As an addition, the
distance between the district’s office and the regency’s is a major problem
possible to solve with the white boat sailing route. When the white boat docks
for one month and a half, the mobility and all problems that can be solved with
the existing boat would be temporarily forgotten.
In August 29th 2001, a baby born with a flaw of not having
anus filed to fly by plane to Merauke because the age of the baby was too young
to go along on the passenger seat. The pilot could not take any risk. The
baby should have been received a doctor’s treatment so that he would not suffer
from the flaw, having a normal biological sewage system, so that he would not
wast organically through the little hole on the crotch, difficultly. The baby’s
family should be patient reluctantly to wait for another contact. Finally, the
parents brought the baby to Timika on a wooden boat days later.
Meanwhile, a baby was born in death, as he was born without skin on the
stomach, so that the intestines scattered out. He only live for a few hours
before the death. There is not enough equipment and expert to run for such
case, so the birth has gone fatal. Another baby was born with a flaw of having
the feet bent downward, a genetic heritage from the parent. An older brother
of the baby, who is nine years old, is flawed like his father too.
The local health centre could only advise the parents to bring their
baby to a special doctor in Merauke. However, the effort as advised is a very
hard task for the family which has no permanent income. No one knows what
happens to the poor baby then.
Pregnancy and birth are natural phenomena for Asmat women after a
marriage. They never know when should be pregnant and when should not. Counting
how children they have does trouble them. That usually happens when a mother comes to check-up her pregnancy. She
would have counted with fingers when a midwife asks, “How many times did
you have been pregnant?” She would think a while, and answered quietly, “it is
the ninth, six of them did not succeed”. Another mother said that she was
pregnant for the tenth or four tenth times, and four of them did not succeed. It
is pathetic that a woman could not answer quickly how many children she has, while reproduction
is the hardest process she could ever experience in life.
From the facts above, it is very significant that “nation” or
“government” to give some explanation to Asmat people so that they would care for the healthy life of their own. Seminar on the health, building of local
health centre and the existence of health expert are needed massively to help the
people take care of their family’s health. Such efforts have been pioneered for
years but still, women of Asmat are living in patriarchy. This environment
means that women have to work hard to make a living for their family, even if
the work is really out of their ability’s reach, and the husbands never pay
attention to that circumstance.
At the same time, the facilities provided by the “nation” to heal the
society are also limited. The equipment in the local health centre is
incomplete, incubator does not work maximally when the electricity is off,
moreover, the issues related to the human resources. The local midwives always
complain because the salary has been received late. The local doctors are also
unoccupied all time, because of other obligation the level of district,
regency, and province. With no doctors existence, people go reluctant to go for
medication. There is also a threat of the thought that medics have failed to
give medical bits of help, which is also cannot be put aside. It seems that ‘nation’
should more wisely react to the very complicated health problems in this area.
***
An “acceptor’ of the program of family planning from the
village of Syuru asked a certificate of KB Lestari – a certificate to
appreciate a citizen having the family planning program for a certain period –
to the midwife in KIA –a division in the local health centre dealing with the
health of mothers and children—because she has been actively participating as an
‘acceptor’ for about five years. The certificate was not immediately received by
her, the officer on the family planning program should propose it to the office
of BKKBN –the department dealing with the issues on the family’s prosperity
including reproduction—Merauke regency. After a certain time, the ‘acceptor’
came again to the KIA to check-up her fifth pregnancy, and ask, “Am I still
available to accept the certificate of KB Lestari?”
The question was answered when a sheet of a certificate, with the
signature of The Demographical State Minister and The Head of BKKBN and the
Governor of Irian Jaya, is on her hand. With the certificate, the acceptor
could be an example for the fertile young couple in her area. After giving a
birth, the acceptor used the program again consuming Exluton pill which affects
the user without interrupting the smoothness of the mother’s milk.
The acceptor in the story above is one of 823 PUS –fertile aged couples,
in the Asmat area, which have had the program to ménage the time gap of the birth.
The number of PUS in Agats district is 1144. The number of the acceptor is 163
in August 2001 using the birth control methods of MOW –women’s medical
operation by cutting the sperm way, permanent—IUD –Intra Uterine Device—used by
putting it in the uterus, pills, injection and condoms. In Asmat tribal
community, the KB acceptors tend to be in small number though socialization of
it has spread over there since 1980.
Most of the acceptors in Agats are outsiders. From 321 PUSs, about 50%
of the number or 148 PUS are the acceptors who need to manage their pregnancy
or who want no children anymore. They hope, as thinning out pregnancy and
limiting children’s number, that they would be more prosperous. So far, the PUS
in Asmat society have not had enough excitement to run the program of family
planning, the participation just start beginning. There is an authorized mother
in agats, she refuses to run the family planning program after two failure in
using injection and Phils. The mother has given birth ten times with no
problems at all.
Every behaviour must contain risks, including as someone decided to run
the family planning program, then she should be tolerant to such possibilities.
The program methods which are usually done are injection and pills. How about
other methods? Vasectomy and Tubectomy are not possible in Agats because of the
limited medical service. Implant method is not preferred because it requires a
small operation which is considered ‘scary’ by Asmat women. IUD is not also
preferred because of stories told about the methods, such as IUD’s failure
which affects pregnancy. At the time of partus, the particular acceptor would
be infected because of the sticky IUD. Another kind of story rises among them
that the baby born with the IUD stuck on the head. Condom, even is familiar, husbands are not positively
active to this KB device. Basically, injection and pill are the contraceptives
which are already familiar among Asmat women and so far, only fifteen women
using those. Although, those kinds of contraception affect badly to the
menstruation cycle and cause light bleeding, headache, sickness, and
overweight. As an addition, pills often end with failure because acceptors, at
times, forget to consume them before sleeping.
There comes a perception, in Asmat society, that the family planning
program is a government’s which benefits the officers. If in the duty area their many acceptors participating in the program, then the target is fulfilled and
the officers responsible in the program will get point of credit to gain promotion
of the higher level in their carrier. The perception makes the society feel
like being victims. When the acceptors are required to pay the medical bill for KB, the acceptors
refuse. Contraception are provided by the government for Asmat people, without any
cost.
***
3) The statement was
spoken by Carola Biakai, the head of the Gender’s Efficiency Akat Cepes, in the
workshop on women’s efficiency held on May 18th – 21st,
2000
4) There is habitual
action done by the local women of Papua when the closer relative dies. They
show their sorrow through mutilation, of a light kind or extreme kind of
mutilation, such as shaving their head bald or even cutting their tip of the
fingers by a knife or a dagger.
