The Omen Birds Still Sing in Sungai Utik

Seedcast

“The land is our mother. The forest is our father. And the river is our blood.”

Today we share a story of an Indigenous people who fought for their forest – and won. Sungai Utik is a village in the Indonesian province of Kalimantan on the island of Borneo, where people treat nature “as if it is our own bodies.” Since the 1970s, companies have tried to take trees and land, but the village has successfully defended their forest. In this special episode, 18-yr old Kynan Tegar, a Dayak Iban filmmaker from Sungai Utik, shares excerpts from his upcoming film, which he describes as a “love letter” to the forest and river he grew up with. In these clips, hear village elders explain how they heeded the warnings of the omen birds to ward off those who would endanger their forests and way of life.

Thank you to Dayak Iban elders Apai Janggut, Apai Gadja, and Apai Kudi, whose voices and stories are included in Kynan’s film, as well as this episode.

Deep gratitude to Kynan Tegar and his filmmaking partners, Muhammed ‘Aldi’ Khatami and Yogi Armada, for sharing audio from their film, which is being made in partnership with the Wayfinders Circle. Wayfinders Circle is a global network of Indigenous communities, including Sungai Utik, and is dedicated to unleashing the transformative potential of Indigenous lifeways, inspiring all people to reimagine development, conservation, and the way they relate to each other and to Mother Earth. The conveners of the Wayfinders Circle are the Pawanka Fund, the World Union of Indigenous Spiritual Practitioners and Nia Tero.

Special thanks to our Nia Tero colleagues Joel Cerda and David Rothschild for kind guidance and generous introductions that made this episode possible.
Host: Jessica Ramirez. Producer and Audio Mix: Jenny Asarnow. Story Editor: Nils Cowan.

Learn more:

• Kynan Tegar’s journey on Instagram
• Kynan Tegar’s work on If Not Us Then Who?
• Wayfinders Circle

More Wayfinders Circle Collaborations:

• The Boat of Dreams: How the Achuar Embraced Solar Power
• Meet the Gabbra People of East Africa Pt 1
• The Omen Bird Still Sings in Sungai Utik
• Tuhaymani'chi Pal Waniqa (The Water Flows Always) in the Mojave Desert
• The Sacred Essence of Blackfoot Culture

Seedcast is a production of Nia Tero, a global nonprofit which supports Indigenous land guardianship around the world through policy, partnership, and storytelling initiatives.

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