Last week’s charity skip along took us past rows of bright, glossy, firm Asian cucumber-like gourd known to me today as Angled Luffas. I met some of the farmers working on their crops and it was sun down. Never have I seen such dedicated farmers in my years of living. The walk along the beach shores had a gorgeous view but it made us clamped our nose. I can bring to mind the smell that drifted through the air. It smelt like salty dead fish, seaweed and Joey’s cologne drenched in sweat.
What really hit me hard in that week’s skip along was the slide show projected in the woods of the Rapier Range. The commitment of two expat English teachers in Brunei that I had newly acquainted with spoke to me about the Penan children of Sarawak, part of their Borneo Project. The Penans have one of the lowest rates of education in Malaysia with 40% never attended primary school and 90% never made it to secondary school. L&M had dedicated their off-hours offering assistance to the Penan of Sarawak. The stories made my heart weep and I sponsored a Penan child for a year that night, this would help in his/her medical and educational needs. I was amazed with L’s accomplishments. She has written a set of story books in native Penan language and had distributed them to indigenous preschools. This would help the children to slowly make a transition to public schools taught in English and Malay, languages they are unfamiliar with.
The Penan are the last surviving hunter-gatherer tribe in South-East Asia, they have received more international attention than the other tribes of Sarawak. There are about 10,000 Penan in all, around 350-500 are nomadic but due to the impact of logging on their lands, less than sixty families are now able to continue the traditional way of life . The rest are either semi-nomadic or live in settlements. Life for the Penan is now extremely difficult because of the destruction of their forests.
What really hit me hard in that week’s skip along was the slide show projected in the woods of the Rapier Range. The commitment of two expat English teachers in Brunei that I had newly acquainted with spoke to me about the Penan children of Sarawak, part of their Borneo Project. The Penans have one of the lowest rates of education in Malaysia with 40% never attended primary school and 90% never made it to secondary school. L&M had dedicated their off-hours offering assistance to the Penan of Sarawak. The stories made my heart weep and I sponsored a Penan child for a year that night, this would help in his/her medical and educational needs. I was amazed with L’s accomplishments. She has written a set of story books in native Penan language and had distributed them to indigenous preschools. This would help the children to slowly make a transition to public schools taught in English and Malay, languages they are unfamiliar with. 
The Penan are the last surviving hunter-gatherer tribe in South-East Asia, they have received more international attention than the other tribes of Sarawak. There are about 10,000 Penan in all, around 350-500 are nomadic but due to the impact of logging on their lands, less than sixty families are now able to continue the traditional way of life . The rest are either semi-nomadic or live in settlements. Life for the Penan is now extremely difficult because of the destruction of their forests.
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FOR HOW LONG SHALL THIS CONTINUE?..FOR HOW LONG?
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