BARAM: Inability to attend school due to transportation problems — that’s the dilemma faced by most Penan children at Kampung Apau Nyaring here, said Hope Place founder Kelvin Wan.
In this regard, the St Paul Long San Church has taken the initiative to provide a barn called Amai Medai for these children to acquire knowledge assisted by three Form Five leavers.
“So far, there are 24 students studying at Amai Medai but they do not have desks, chairs and notice boards.
“Sadly, Kampung Apau Nyaring also has no electricity and clean water,” added Kelvin.
Kampung Apau Nyaring is home to 43 households fully inhabited by the Penan community.
Kelvin, together with Charity without Borders and the 4X4 Vehicle Club, brought food, medicine, toothpaste, solar lights and stationeries to be distributed to the villagers.
The Hope Place troupe embarked on the journey to the village on July 20 from Bintulu. It took them about 10 hours to reach the village via the Tinjar River.
After visiting Apau Nyaring, the troupe proceeded to nearby Kampung Long Liaw which took them two hours to reach by land and an hour and a half by river.
Long Liaw is home to 35 households and over 100 villagers, with no electricity and clean water.
Kelvin said village head Bitang Sakai acknowledged that about 10 percent of his people did not have an identity card.
“The villagers are also suffering from a lack of infrastructure such as schools. Now they are relying on the knowledge taught by my daughter, Angel Jeli, who has just completed Form Five.
“Angel wants to further her studies but is troubled with the thought of the children in her village who still need her services.”
While in Long Liaw, the volunteers donated food items such as rice, cooking oil, sugar, noodles, biscuits, bottled drinks, stationeries and a wheelchair to a resident suffering from stroke.
