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Subtitles for "Wamena", from Papuan Voices Volume 2.

'Wamena': in local language,
there is no name for this place.

'Wam' means 'pig'.

'Ena' is 'tame'.

From the feast where we roast the pig.

From the mountain springs to the
mouth of the river,

Smoke trails, making the heart long
to be there,

in Wamena, around the fire we celebrate.

When the Dutch first arrived here,
they saw Father Enda's wife in a field.

She was carrying a piglet in her hands.

Then the Dutch asked, "What is it?"

People here replied,
"Oh that's Wamena".

The Dutch then proclaimed
"This area is called Wamena".

We can't separate the pig
from human activities.

It's not that pigs are equal to humans.

No, 'Wam' is still 'Wam'. They are pigs.

But the role of pigs and humans
is tied together,

they are related to one another.

People here have used pigs in almost
every ritual they have.

Throughout the human life cycle,

from when they are still inside
the womb as a foetus

until their death, they'll use pigs.

In times of marriage, death,
adat (indigenous ceremony) and illness

When people were sick, they would kill a pig.

They are important for everything.

Many pigs began to die from 1995.

That's when many pigs started dying.

I had twenty-seven pigs.

Twenty died and I have only
seven left now.

When we found out the pigs had
Kondoyu disease, we felt hopeless.

All in all, 40 pigs died.

See that long house? It’s all empty
– all dead.

I have only one pig left.

We tried to nurture it until it gave
birth to many other pigs.

We shared its kids with other neighbors,
so now we have got plenty.

They are just piglets and newly born.

A virus is the cause of this disease.

When the virus infects the pigs,
it multiplies itself through the faeces.

From faeces and every secretion,
from saliva,

the virus infects other animals.

The transmission period is fast.

I tried really hard to save my animals.

I willed and prayed.

I went to get some medicine
from the government.

They gave me this tiny bottle
for injection.

I gave an injection to all the animals,
including the piglets.

Usually we don't do this.

The first step to handle this virus
is to vaccinate your pigs.

The second step is to gather all
your animals in one stall,

so you can contain this disease.

So, even if one gets infected, it does
not spread to the other pigs.

Thirdly, if animals in one stall are
infected with this disease,

we can reduce the effect
by spraying disinfectant.

I bought a syringe. I bought it
myself at the drug store.

Whenever we took our animals
to the government clinic,

they gave our animals an injection,
but we had to pay.

We thought that the government
would help us for free.

After doing that several times, we
finally started doing it ourselves.

But still the pigs died.

So, we tried other options.

We bought penicillin and other
drugs at the drug store

and we injected the animals.

After that the pigs were fine.

So, we thought maybe this
government help

didn’t suit our animals.

If many members of society
complete the vaccinations,

I'm confident that we can control
this disease.

The government never comes to the
villages to conduct surveys

about who owns animals.

They have never done that.

So, they don’t have any information
about this.

If they start consulting, maybe they can help us.

They have never done that in my village,

so they don't really know, actually.

When their animals get sick,
people often look to adat ways.

They don’t look for modern medicine.

The most that they will do is give tetra
(an antibiotic for human) to their pigs.

Is that helping?
It creates more disease.

So, I think the government pays very
little attention to us.