The first Kenyah Nurses (Midwives) in Miri Hospital, Sarawak Malaysia
The first Kenyah Nurses
Asung Lenjau and Baun are the first Kenyah (Lepo Agak) nurses (midwife) in Miri, Sarawak (Malaysia). Asung Lenjau was born in Long Jeeh, Ulu Baram and she was the daughter of the Chief of the village at the time. Baun Balang was born in Lio Matoh, Ulu Baram, Miri, Sarawak.
As late as the mid-1950s, the genteel British governor, Sir Anthony Abell, personally went around the Baram to collect a few “bright and able young Kenyah, Kelabit and Kayan girls to study in Kuching to become ulu midwives”. I met up with Asung Lenjau in Miri through her daughter Diana, who spoke about her mother being a midwife when we went to Marudi on a social welfare project.
This is her amazing story. And let it be known there was a batch of midwives trained in the mid-1950s to serve the rural women but have they been forgotten?According to Asung Lenjau, the daughter of a Kenyah headman at Long Jeeh in the Baram, she and another Kenyah girl, Baun Balang from Lio Mato, were selected and encouraged by the last British governor to train as midwives in Kuching. They took a government boat to Kuching alongside others — two Kelabits, Bungan and Sigan, and a Kayan, Salalang.
In Kuching, they were joined by Hajijah, Jovida, Lily and two Iban sisters, Rose and Catherine Nanang. Asung was the first Kenyah girl to be picked for a two-year midwifery course in Kuching in 1956 to 1957. She was then only 16. In the morning, she and her friends worked at the Kuching hospital to orientate themselves with the working environment. In the afternoon, they studied under the Sisters who instructed in English and Malay. One of Asung’s first experiences was a caesarian birth done by Dr Chong Chung Hian (later Professor Chong and medical director of Health Services, Sarawak), the first local medical doctor in the state.
When Asung was asked to bundle up the baby who was stillborn, she broke down. “When I held the small dead body I could not accept his death so easily,” she recalled. The doctor was busy, trying his best to save the mother. The caesarian was successful in a way but the baby could not be saved. After the mother was wheeled away, the doctor came over to calm young Asung. “Don’t cry. This is a difficult case and both of them could have died. But we have managed to save the mother and she could have another child. Drink some tea and you will be all right.” Asung said it was an honour to be comforted by a doctor who was able to save lives! And she was so touched by this incident that she vowed she to do the same — save as many lives as possible on her return to the Baram.
The two years went by quickly and the trained ulu midwives returned to their homes or villages to help rural women in childbirth and provide some childcare. The study instructions were simple and by watching deliveries, Asung and her friends learned quickly.
It’s difficult to source documents or records for this course as only oral history of the Baram gives us an idea of how these first ulu midwives returned to serve in the Baram — at Long Jeeh, Long Moh, Lio Mato, Long San, Long Silat and some other remote areas accessible only on foot.
