Schools and skulls for York girl

Justina O'Callaghan is rubbing shoulders with headhunters during her year out in Sarawak, near Borneo.

Justina, 19, a former York Sixth Form College student, is spending six months teaching English between finishing her A-levels and taking up a place at Goldsmith's University, London, in September.

She has been in the country since January on an assignment organised for her at a school in Kapit.

The children she is teaching are descendants of the Dayak tribe, once feared as Borneo's fiercest headhunting warriors but nowadays much more passive.

"We never have a moment to ourselves," said Justina.

"People are so friendly that they have all our time planned out for us.

"When we are not teaching there is always something organised for us or we are being invited out."

Justina is spending her spare time visiting upriver longhouses where whole communities live under one roof in some cases surrounded by skulls which hang from the rafters as a grisly reminder of days past.

Today, Kapit is a bustling trading and market town for the Upper Rejang river region. There are no roads and it can only be reached by light aircraft or a two-hour express boat ride from the nearest large town.

Mail from England takes two weeks to arrive, but Justina does not feel isolated.

"There is so much to do and the people are so nice," she said. "I will be sorry to leave here."

Justina is pictured among the crowd on the banks of the Rejang river for the end of the Balleh Raft Safari - an annual event commemorating the days when the Ibans carried their jungle produce on bamboo rafts down the river to Kapit.

These days it is a two-day race involving men and women in teams of between six and eight paddling bamboo rafts 50 kilometres through rapids in the blazing sun.

This year there were 72 rafts in the competition and Justina's host community was one of the entrants so she dressed in traditional Iban costume. She said: "I'm dressed like this to welcome our home team. One of the girls at the school very kindly leant me the costume."

She wore a blouse and skirt decorated in intricate beadwork and a kilt made of old silver coins. The ensemble was topped off with a delicate silver filigree head-dress.

It's just one of the many colourful memories Justina will bring with her when she returns to England.

PICTURE: TALKING HEADS: Justina O'Callaghan, right, with fellow Briton Elizabeth Speedy, dressed in the traditional costume of the Ibans, in Sarawak. Justina is spending her year out teaching the descendants of the fearsome Dayak headhunters