Phase 3 Update

Selamat Datang!


Welcome to the final instalment of news from Programme 07C at Raleigh International’s Malaysia branch. All our work is finished and many of the Participants will already be home by the time you read this. The Programme was a greatsuccess, thanks to the hard work of all who took part and we’ve received a great deal of positive feedback from the press out here, the people we helped in Sabah, the Ministry of Youth and Sport (who lend us some support financially and administratively), parents and of course the volunteers themselves. Well done one and all! Just to remind you what we accomplished, here’s a brief look at the work and play of all three Phases.


Community Projects


ALPHA ONE

Project Partners: Sabah Forestry Department
Gravity Water Feed System - Kg Serudong Laut, Tawau District


Kg Serudong Laut is a very small and isolated community south of the town of Tawau and only several kilometres from the Indonesian Kalimantan border. It is a 90 minute fast boat ride to reach the village from Tawau starting in the sea and heading up winding rivers past local fishermen and boats. he village has shrunk over the past 20 years with many occupants being resettled near Tawau in their own community called Serudong Baru (New Serudong). However a core of people have remained to tend their land and eek out an existence as generations of their predecessors have before them. The community are of Murut origin, who once were feared head hunters and warriors. They have now been settled for several generations in static communities predominantly agriculturally based. The village is on the edge of the Serudong Forest Management area which is managed by Sabah Forestry Department who have a large station there.

Previously the village collected their water from rain tanks and during the dry season had to resort to taking water from the polluted river. The project here was to install a gravity water feed system to supply water to the village. Kg Serudong Laut is spread out along the banks of the river and hence there were several technical problems to be overcome - in particular how to get the piping across the crocodile infested river and a track with about a 100 metre span!
The team progressed quickly with their gravity water feed, helped greatly by the support of the local community. This enabled them to get involved with other projects within the community. They built litter bins which they placed around the village to give the local community somewhere to dispose of their rubbish. They also built a roof for the jetty and had a very successful opening ceremony complete with cultural dancing!
During their time in the village the teams lived in a purpose built house and took part in homestays. The village really welcomed the Raleigh teams and there were more than a few tears shed when they had to leave.

ALPHA TWO

Project Partner: Marine Research Foundation
Project sponsor: HSBC
School Library - Mantanani Island, Kota Belud

Mantanani Island is approximately 2 - 3 hour boat ride from Kota Kinabalu, northwards or alternatively approximately 1 hour from Kota Belud. It is a very beautiful island which houses a small fishing community. The primary school on the island has just landed the unenviable title of the school with the worst results in the whole of Malaysia. This is not through lack of energy of the teachers but due to the lack of resources there. Since the only secondary school for older pupils is on the mainland, many children who do badly at primary school simply do not progress any further and simply remain at home.
Our library project here was a huge success. After a delayed start to the building during phase one the teams proceeded as planned and began to build the library within the school grounds funding for the project was provided by HSBC and the supply of books and educational material came from Marine Research Foundation.
In terms of the building, the teams cleared the site, bored holes for the foundations and installed the foundation posts, then put up joists, beams, flooring, stairs, walls and roof. The style of construction followed that of current buildings in the village, raised off the ground for keeping it clear of rain water during the flooding seasons. The finished library was filled with children’s books and the outside was decorated in a colourful sea inspired mural!

In addition to our building work, the Raleigh volunteers taught English to children aged from four to about twelve on a daily basis, and helped organise community activities such as a sports day for the village (which was exceedingly well-received), volleyball, football matches and swam in the sea.

ALPHA THREE
Project Sponsor: Coca Cola Malaysia
Gravity Water Feed - Kg Sosondoton & Kg Miruru


Working in partnership with the local parliamentary representative and sponsored by Coca Cola, the teams construct two new gravity water supply system. Many of the communities in the Ranau District are lacking any form of water supply - it is usually collected from rainfall into large tanks or drums or carried from distant water courses. Ranau is a large district which includes Mount Kinabalu and the market garden area of Kundasang.
The second gravity water feed that Alpha 3 were involved in was at Kg Miruru. The team faced the task of having to lay 4km of piping from the water source to the village as well as working out the logistics of the project and in particular how they were going to get the piping across a rather precarious bridge. Alpha 3’s days started early with breakfast at 6.30am, followed by an uphill 4km walk to their work site where they moved masses of huge stones to fill the gabions that were needed to dam the water source. The entire group of Alpha 3 became experts on the installation of a rural water-system.

When the group weren’t engaged in trekking or what some felt was manual labour they could be found playing volleyball and football with the locals or teaching the children in the local primary school. The team had an amazing experience working alongside the community and one of the highlights for them was sports day held on Easter Sunday.

Our gravity water feed project here was a real success, with a high degree of cooperation from locals and a strong rapport established between Raleigh Participants and villagers. The locals helped make up the construction team, and many of them joined the Raleigh team on the 4km walk to the water source each day to help build the dam gabions.

ALPHA FOUR

Project Partners: Yayasan Sabah
Danum Valley: Building a suspension bridge and environmental conservation

Danum Vallley is a highly protected world-renowned conservation and research area famous for its rich biodiversity and abundant wildlife. The 438 sq.km Danum Valley Conservation Area provides facilities for research, education and wilderness recreation in one of Sabah’s last strongholds of undisturbed lowland rainforest.

Sited besides the Segama River, the Research Centre is located 81km west of Lahad Datu and more than 40km from any other habitation - a truly remote setting. Research efforts have revealed a tremendous variety of plants and the full range of Sabah’s lowland fauna, including such rare and endangered species as the Sumatran rhino, banteng (tembadau), elephant, clouded leopard, orang-utan and proboscis monkey. Bird life is equally varied with some 275 species recorded to date in the area. The site is approximately one hour’s trek from the Danum Valley Field Centre and the group lived in a minimal impact jungle camp close to the work site.

The project group helped local rangers with the construction of a 200ft hanging suspension bridge successfully started by a Raleigh team in late 2005. The purpose of the bridge is to increase access into the conservation area for scientists, in order that they can carry out further research. We moved lorry-loads of cables to the site, once there it was cleaned and painted, we also built 4 huge gabions and moved rocks to the site. In addition, we attended environmental talks provided by some of the local scientists to enable the teams to learn more about with various conservation projects and small animal research on frogs, jungle rodents and the like, while learning about the rainforest.

Frustratingly the team were unable to fully complete the project on this Programme, but has contributed significantly to its progress. The enormous amount of effort the teams have put into the bridge has made a huge difference to the progress of the bridge and has saved the rangers many days of work.


ALPHA FIVE

Imbak Canyon: Environmental Conservation
Project Partner: Yayasan Sabah

Imbak Canyon is the last remaining untouched and relatively unexplored area of Sabah. Very few people have ever entered this virgin primary jungle area, and the last research team discovered a new tree species. The region is home to wildlife including elephants, orangutans and hundreds of rare bird species, and Yayasan Sabah now wants to reserve it as a natural gene bank, in order to protect the biodiversity of the whole region and has asked Raleigh International to play a major role in the development and management of this area.

In early 2004, a Raleigh International project team worked closely with government department Yayasan Sabah to plan the location and type of necessary infrastructure needed for protecting, and allowing access to the pristine Imbak Canyon area. The first stage included mapping it to determine points of interest, possible trail networks, sources of water and the best locations for a field centre. The second expedition in late 2004 started putting in place a basic infrastructure, including the Ranger’s camp, visitors’ accommodation and rudimentary trails.

During their time in Imbak Canyon the teams stayed at BBC camp. They made improvements to the camp and facilities there. The main project that the teams were involved in was helping the rangers prepare foundations for a suspension bridge. This involved days and days of moving rocks and sand from the river to the bridge site. They then began the task of digging huge holes in the jungle floor for the foundations. This was no easy task, made harder by having to use Raleigh tools! The teams also spent time with the rangers helping to conduct Gibbon surveys and generally improving the trail infrastructures.

ALPHA SIX

Project Partners: MESCOT
Batu Puteh - Eco Lodge

For a millennia the indigenous ”Sungai” (River) people of the Lower Kinabatangan River have been living off the rainforest for food, medicine, household commodities and products of trade. This world changed dramatically from the 1960's onwards, with the advent of mechanised extraction of the forest’s timber resources. The MESCOT (Model of Ecologically Sustainable Community Tourism) Initiative was started in 1996 by a group of about 30 visionary and dedicated individuals from the different villages of Batu Puteh to create an alternative medium of income generation for the people of the area, while in the process protecting the last remaining vestige of rainforest and traditional indigenous cultural heritage. Raleigh International have been working with the community since 2002 in developing this interesting and cutting edge project.
The key objectives of the MESCOT Initiative are to develop an alternative path of co-existence with the remaining rainforest resources and generate a sustainable long-term economic path for income generation; the core activity chosen by the MESCOT group was eco-tourism. It was hoped that this activity would be the key to raising income in this poor and remote rural community, increase the economic value of a depleted forest resource, and, in the process, raise funds to support the protection and restoration of the last remaining wetland forests and wildlife of the area.
The mainstay of the eco tourism project is a lodge, now semi finished, which sits on the edge of a large oxbow lake formed by the former course of the river.

During Phase one the group built an environmentally sound jungle camp on the edge of this small community, just 10 minutes up river from the main lodge/lake site. The team worked extremely hard during their first phase moving timber and supplies to the project site. They then proceeded to dig extremely large holes (something of a Raleigh tradition) for two septic tanks. It was quite a moment when the two tanks were dropped into place and gave the team a huge sense of satisfaction. The team also got handy with woodwork and helped build boardwalks around the eco lodge and helped construct the floors in some of the accommodation chalets.

Particularly impressive on this site, was the way in which the Participants involved the community in their non-work activities during their Phase, teaching English to the locals, taking part in celebrations and being invited to wedding ceremonies. The teams also learned cultural dancing and when they got a rare moment away from the work site they still found the energy to take part in volleyball tournaments with the local community.

Adventure Projects

ALPHAS SEVEN, EIGHT & NINE

Our trekking groups spent between 7 and 11 days in the Long Pa Sia region hiking through remote virgin rain forest and climbing to areas of stunning alpine forest before descending to visit magnificent waterfalls, wild orchid gardens and bat caves. A variety of camp craft skills were developed and participants were introduced to head hunters and invited to share their freshly-killed evening meals. As far as we know, we have the same number of heads as we had at the start …..

The teams were welcomed into the village and community of Long Pa Sia. During phase 3 all 3 trekking teams met up to attend a presentation ceremony to thank the village for all their help and generosity to the Raleigh teams that had visited. This helped to strengthen the relationship between Raleigh and the people of Long Pa Sia.

Alpha 9’s trail maintenance took place at Mahua Waterfall, cutting steps into what some have described as ‘Mount Everest’s Bigger Brother’. The steps now form part of a new trail for visitors to the area and will help keep the rest of the surroundings pristine.

As part of the same Phase, our teams also took part in a marine conservation program in Tungku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, a government-protected ocean ecosystem, in partnership with diving instructors Borneo Divers and with Sabah Parks. In order to take part, all volunteers had to gain a PADI Open Water diving qualification, undertaking training from the picturesque island of Mamutik. Some Participants gained their Open Water Diver badge so quickly that they were additionally able to qualify for an Advanced Diver qualification during the allotted time.

In reward for their hard work, the Participants climbed Mount Kinabalu, South East Asia’s highest peak, and watched the sunrise from the top. The journey was tough, but well worth the effort, according to Participants, who also honed their trekking and mountaineering skills in the process.


That’s it for this fourth and final update. We hope you enjoyed hearing our news along the way and would like to thank you once again for all your support. We also hope the participants had a safe journey home and enjoyed their time on the Programme.

Terimah Kasih!

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