Inp.polri.go.id - Jakarta. The waters of the Batang Pasaman River rushed steadily that Friday morning, just like any other day. But for Dona Lubis, a 46-year-old midwife who has spent more than two decades serving in the remote corners of Pasaman, West Sumatra, that day was anything but ordinary.
She stood at the edge of a steep bank in West Cubadak, eyes fixed on the torrent below. The wooden bridge, which was her only way across, had collapsed the day before. On the other side, a tuberculosis patient waited. There was no road. No boat. Just the river.
“I had no choice,” Dona said on Sunday (3//8/2025), as quoted by antaranews.com. “There was a TB patient who needed urgent care in Kejorongan Sinuangon. The bridge was gone, so I climbed down the bank, crossed the riverbed, and stepped into the current.”
With her medical bag in hand and rubber shoes on her feet, Dona waded through the cold, waist-deep water. The current fought her every step, but she kept moving forward. Her clothes soaked through. Her breath was short. But she knew that if she did not reach the patient, the consequences could be fatal.
Footage of her crossing the river quickly spread across social media, not for spectacle, but for what it represented, quiet courage in the face of adversity.
Kejorongan Sinuangon and its neighboring hamlet, Batang Kundur, are now cut off from the outside world. About 150 families live there, now isolated by the broken bridge. Children, elders, and working parents must brave the same river just to get to school, access markets, or reach healthcare. Food prices have soared by 150 percent. Transport costs have more than doubled.
Village head Kesria Novi confirmed that temporary relief is underway. A makeshift bridge is being planned, and district authorities have been contacted.
Still, the journey is far from over. And for Dona, it’s not about the praise.
“Providing healthcare in remote areas comes with many challenges,” she said. “But this is what we are called to do, reaching people wherever they are, however we can.”
(mg/inp/pr/rs)
