Sunday, June 29, 2008






College life; First week on orientation.


Haini Yahaya and Olivia Andrew reported to PPKS Kuching on Jun 23, 2008. A day to remember for all of us in this group.
Both of them nightstop in Miri, Haini flying out from Mulu and Olivia from Marudi (she is from Long Balau ). Both of them stayed in Million Inn, Miri on the Sunday night and also did abit of shopping. Shopping is taken for granted by us, but to a Penan, there is no cash or little cash just enough to survive.
The next day Jun 24 Monday, they took a MAS flight at 8.40am to Kuching. I can imagine how it feel to have another Penan friend/ buddy to sit inside an aircraft to a modern age. Being served by a MAS Stewardess with a Malaysian Hospitality smile and "coffee of tea, miss".
They reported at PPKS and was handled by Mr. Sim who Haini met in the first interview. Then came the question of Registration Fees, and the girls panicked. I called Mr. Sim that the 2 girls will pay in the afternoon provided he fax to me the amount. So got to rush to the BSN and tranfer the money to them. One good thing about BSN is the money will appear in seconds in their account.
The first night, both of them slept in the Campus Hostel with beds next to each other. So they are happy. Second day, they are free in the day because they will attend Orientation at night. And it was till 12 midnight.
On the third day, news came that both of them are separated. Olivia in Campus and Haini outside Campus. Both want to stay together so it was quite chaotic. Both were stressed up and feel like crying. Haini got the worst deal outside campus as the bed is just a thin sheet of mattress, no water in the bathroom, no TV and no fridge. She cried and want to go home! I called Mr. Sim and Catherine Pero to help.
She found a bathroom with water but no light. I told her anything can do; it is "God's way of testing you". Later she found a new friend and they moved to another block on their own and there is water there and a fridge.
On the forth day; today, Catherine Pero called me up and told me that she sternly asked the Hostel Warden to moved Haini into the Campus immediately or face the CEO. They promised to do it in a week but she insisted it to be done by today.
Catherine also found that she is too timid and told her to be strong and outspoken. She also told her to eat more and she feels that Haini is undernourished. She cares enough wheather she has money which she say yes. I sms her about what Catherine told me over the phone and she sent me a mms photo "Miss Honey" "Tengok mana ada saya kurus...tembam adal"
There is also a video of Olivia taken by Haini which say "Olivia sedang ber-make up. Pheewitt...!he he saya jadi Mamarazi".

Friday, June 27, 2008

Report on Long Adang visit by Dominic, Jun 08










Hi friend,

Ya, in fact I didnt forget to tell you bits of my last trip to Adang except that I was quite busy and too tiring after the trip. Limbang to Adang are only link by logging roads (bumpy, muddy and dusty) where on some loction is very steep and hilly.

Well my last trip seems very fantastic and informative. I was there to facilitate a community organising and leadership meeting. It was attended by the leaders from 6 viiages including the nomadic from Ba Medihit. I facilitate the leadership meeting where all the leaders from the six villages express their concerned with the present land issues problems.

Apart from that they also discussed conflict between the villagers on certain issues (internal) where in the end we could see them shaking hands with each other as "Forgive and Forget".

Regarding the statistic or villages population I not very sure but on papers we have a statistic as follows;

Lg. Adang; 24 families (Tk Kayan Itik)
Lg. Keneng: 13 families (Tk Oyan Ngang)
Lg. Gita: 8 families (Tk Aweng Tevai)
Ba Nyakit: 6 families (Tk Along Sega)
Ba Peresek: 18 families(Tk Selai Sega)
Ba Medihit: 7 families (Tk Peng Megut)

These people are in and out of their original village (today you see him/her in one village and tommorow you see him/her in another village) About seventy percent of the total population are people below 30 yrs old.

I was told by the driver (Nyengat) that you are planning to go there on 27th June (I was confused bcos in your email I saw 27th September) and he told the people in Adang about it. But I didnt tell any body about it yet during my stay there as I was not very sure and also after your failed trip last month.

But anyway its still a long way to go (September) where we can relay the message about your trip. You have to tell them about your specific visit (what and why) so that they can decide whether to wait for you or not bcos they have other chores to do (hunting and looking for sago). At the moment they are facing food problem and they have to look for wild sago to depend on.


Make sure that you make appointment or make sure that they will wait for you at the road side and from there they will carry your luggage to the village which is about one hour walk to reach Lg. Adang. You have to reach the end of the road by at least 4 pm. But if you knows the way or have some guide from Limbang there's no problems. But remember NOT to give money (cash) to the people there for free or if there is no emergency. If you want to help, make proper arrangement for assistance (on medical or academic issues). If you start giving money they will come to you endlessly and I will also be affected or criticised for not doing like what you are doing.

May be I will be going to Lower part of Limabng again in middle July. Oh ya, i will send you some of the photos to you later this evening because I will be going to Apoh Tutoh region tommorow.

Thanks

Report on Limbang by Shida. Jun08

Dear All,
Violette, Molly and me went to see the Penan in Rumah sakai.As always there were never enough time .Met Jis students and teachers and they did a great job .Welldone !
I just want to ask if anyone have advice in this matter as I cannot decide myself

1. we normally gave the students 30rm each month for the bus fare.We have 8 students. I just discovered the distance from their place to school is only 2.4 km and there is a safe walking path from their house to the school apart from crossing 2 small roundabout.

The school is situated away from the Limbang town so the traffic is less compared to going to town.In my opinion this students can walks to school. We can buy them umbrella and hat if the afternoon sun is too hot for them.We still get the student sponser but the money can be use for other things like food for them and books and not the bus driver? Please advice!

2.Ida , one of the young mother needs glasses.She ask the optician and it cost 180 rm.She used to wear one but got broken at the rumah sakai .She said without one her eyes will be uncomfortable and watery .Do you think we should help getting her the glasses? We help with school,milk for kids,medical and food and necessarry thing and I need to hear what others said about this.

Visit to Limbang Jun 08












Dear All,
Very fruitful day and humbling experience for us all today. Managed to see the students and deliver the books and more request for school supplies. I will concentrate on this as education is their only way to break the vicious cycle of poverty. Will make another trip to Miri to buy the books.

Erika (SM Limbang) and Samantha (SM Mendamit) are 2 Penan girls taking their SPM (O Level) this year. We will be monitoring the two girls' progress. We hope they both will follow in the footsteps of Olivia and Haini who had just started (on Monday)their diploma courses in Nursing and IT respectively. Great job by Tan Boon Foo and gang in KL.

To JIS Students,Well done and I am very impressed! The kids (big and small) worked really hard this morning. They behaved so well. After you left, Molly taught the children hopscotch and you could have seen the kids happily played on their new `playground' !

Plumbing :We managed to find a plumber (Mr Lim) who came to Rumah Sakai and assess the job. The estimate is RM800. He is recommended by a friend I know in Limbang and we can trust him. He will email me the actual quotation after a more extensive survey. However, we have to get permission from the Town council first and I had asked Juga and Yung to follow up. We also met Jimmy Ang and he has been most helpful.

Glasses :Yes, this is a genuine need, I would agree with it.

Bus fare :We took a drive to the school and find that it's `walkable'. My concern is not to `spoil' the kids who are actually very used to roaming in the jungle in the past. This is long term and we could use the money on other more urgent needs. Let's see how everyone feel about that.

Thank you, and Thank you to all concerned.

Thursday, June 19, 2008



Asik Nyelit "The Poison Man of Ba Ubong

Saturday "Agong Birthday" and Sunday, Dominic and me exchanges sms just because of a sms from Susan Dawat about Asik Nyelit."Kalau mauh jumpa Asyik, kita pergi Ba Ubong lah. Turun Long Seridan dulu. then jalan kaki lah ke sana. Asyik sakit sekarang ini. Dia kebas seluruh badan di Ba Ubong".
The following are Dominic sms:In May 2006, I brought him for treatment in Miri and Kuching and Doctor said heart problem. That Doctor told me last night that he will arrange and ask me to see another Doc to get the medicine. Asik son will go on Thursday with the medicine and he is hoping for assistance from you for the flight. If the condition is very serious he will call from Ba Ubong.Another sms;I think you got wrong info. His son said the msg we got from Haini was his condition in March. His son was there in March and now they don't know his condition. To clarify this, his son will call his brother ( who is suppose to be back in Seridan today). in Seridan tonite. He suggest to hold on till he confirm with him.( Asik's son is in Std 4 in Seridan, He got 8 children).
A sms from Haini in Mulu too.Dia mula sakit pada bulan Mac sampai sekarang ini. Sekarang ini dia masih sakit lagi. Dia penah pergi Hosp. Kuching tapi sembuh skjp saja ni sakit lagi.
Posted by tanboonfoo at 9:14 AM 0 comments

Friday, June 13, 2008

Getting Haini and Olivia to College.



Hi All,

I was just on "high" today after "SUCESSFULLY" getting the 2 girls to College.

After 2 months of understanding the minimum credits required for the courses and also understanding how to deal with Sarawakians, we came out with what we targetted after the initial opinions on the forum.

Here is what we got for the girls;

1. Haini Yahaya - Diploma in Nursing in Kuching.

2. Olivia Andrew - Diploma in IT in Kuching. This is the hardest negotiation as Olivia failed in her Maths and only qualify for a Certificate. The good thing about Diploma is she is eligible for a Yayasan Sarawak Loan and Penans are given special preference.

It was because of the good offce of PPKS Officers namely Boni Face and Mr. Sim that we were able to get her into Diploma in IT.

Also a special thanks to Catherine Pero, the head of Nursing School who say that getting a Penan girl into Nursing will be the historic first in PPKS/ICAT.

Another special thanks to Dominic Langat who did the Miri part of the whole project by fetching Haini from the Airport to Million Inn, running errant like bringing her to BSN to withdraw money and printing the MAS tickets booked online to Haini. And the next day, sending her to the Airport to catch the flight to Kuching at 840am.

On arriving in Kuching, she go straight into the Interview and also signing the Offer Letter straight away. And at 2.30pm she has to go to the Airport to catch a flight back to Miri.

Next day, that is today, she has to go for a medical check in Miri hospital again with the help of Dominic. For Hepatatis check, it takes 2 weeks to confirm the result so they went to a Polyclinic and was charged RM280.

If that is not enough, she got to miss her flight at 12pm to Mulu as she completed her checks at 11.30am, rush to the Hotel and give up. Too late and rebook tomorow flight with a consolation that the penalty is RM79.

She is flying at 940am on Saturday and has to report in ICATS, Kuching on the 23th June 2008. Also Olivia will be her mate in Kuching. 2 Penan girls walking in a single file in the street of Kuching is probably unheard of in the past. Let there be more next year. Susan Dawat and Octavius will follow Haini's footsteps.

I don't think there is any jobs more satisfying than this...

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Along Sega- Adopted Father of Lakei Penan

Along Sega picture was taken in Lawas on the 11 May 2008 sitting by the 5 foot way in Lawas market.

Our Forest


This blog was created to replace the earlier blog tongtana. It create a better impression of Penan, which is what it is all about.

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