Farewell and Terima Kasih Banyak Ranau

Ranau Town

    Over the last two years the people of Ranau and their shops and market stalls have become very dear to me. My Malay and Dusun is pitiful but we muddle along together in Manglish and have somehow have become friends. They have always shown nothing but friendliness, courtesy and lots of patience when they haven't a clue what I'm trying to say to them. The covered market is on every day and sells to the people of Ranau as well as wholesale to other rural areas. The Saturday morning market is when the local people come and sell their produce and is a social outing  as well as a way of earning some cash. I love the Saturday market and if I am in Ranau I will never miss it and then I treat myself to a roti cannai and a mango juice in my favourite local restaurant, Siri Hasanah , which has become like my "local".
  I have always felt very safe and comfortable amongst the Dusun  people which when you are on your own is so important. Over the last week I have been overwhelmed by their warmth, generosity, gratitude and love towards me which seems quite odd coming from a European culture.. I have had to make several short speeches in the last week and I have told them all that it is me that should be expressing and thanking them for showing me that there are people in this world who can get along without religious or racial hatred and show genuine kindness and love for their fellowmen. It has been so sad to say goodbye and I'm sorry if I didn't manage to see everyone before I went. Even on the last morning in between cleaning and packing I attended a parents''workshop and had a wonderful send off from Ranau with children and parents waving farewell from the car park. I am feeling emotionally drained and would just like to say to the people of Ranau that you will always hold a very special place in my heart and I hope that one day we will meet again. Saya tidak akan lupa orang Ranau selamanya. Saya sayang kamu semua.

The covered market

The sewing shop

The ladies selling beetle nut

The owner and son of my local

A waiter

A Farewell Party to Remember

This time I thought I was prepared for my farewell party at S.K. St Benedict. I had managed two in last two days and had said my speech and a few words in Malay without crying. How wrong can you be. This was the Farewell Party that I will never experience again in my life. I arrived by the back gate, wearing black as requested and before I got out of my car I was in tears. All the staff were out to meet me and the 400 children of the school had lined up, making a corridor, all holding flowers. I was immediately attired in a Dusun skirt and told that there was more to come and started the very long walk through all the children, trying not to cry. I had my own private Dusun girl, holding a basket to collect the flowers and I really did feel like the Queen, except I bet she doesn't have her own basket carrier.

The Queen

Oh my goodness!

   Before I entered the hall I was given the top of my Dusun costume and the gongs played and a few men on the staff did a sumasau dance. By that time all the children had gone into the hall and when I entered they all clapped and cheered.  The group of children who had represented Sabah in the folklorique competition then did their amazing dance. I was brought up to the front and sat on the cane sofa and served coffee and cake while the show commenced - there was even a programme! Every year group went up and sang a song with the Year 1's ending with their version of the Hello Song - Fiona, Fiona, we love you, please take care, please take care, we'll miss you!

The welcoming gongs

The dancers

The year 6's then came on and unfurled a banner featuring me "Farewell Party for Fiona Wright" with the grammatically incorrect words (after all my efforts!) of "We gonna miss you!"
  Before the speeches began we had a slide show with lots of photos featuring me over the last 2 years with some sentimental music. Then the speeches..... First up were the English teachers and my dear mentees, Asmah and Sister Caroline. Asmah broke down and got everyone crying which wasn't the best start, then the Guru Besar, Winnie helped us to regain some decorum.

Asmah!

My English teachers

 Then after that it was me and I think I had cried myself out by then because I managed to deliver it without crying and even sing a song. Surely that was it now - but no, there was more to come- the final bits of the costume including the hood and the sash, with sequinned words of farewell embroidered on.

Not so sure about the hood!

The finale must be close now - all the staff had come onto the stage and we cut the cake and Auld Lang Syne was being played but there was one more event to go through which was perhaps the most touching and difficult. All of the pupils filed onto to the stage with presents and cards for me and so many of them spontaneously gave me hugs and told me they loved me ....and started me off again! Finally the pupils went home and the staff and I had a lovely lunch in the canteen. I returned home with my car absolutely laden with presents and drained of all emotion. Thank you so much all the staff and pupils of SK St. Benedict - that was a day that I will always remember and treasure. " I gonna miss you too!"

The Graduation Ceremony

The first mistake was not writing down a speech. I thought that I could just wing it and say a few words about hard work and professionalism in the classroom and thank everyone and sit down again. However, there are times when emotion just creeps up behind when you aren't expecting it and turns you into a blubbering heap! Everyone was there, including the head of the academic department and a few Guru Besars, and just to see the faces that I have got to know and love over the last two years was too much for me.

Looks like I said something funny in between the tears!

 Was it really that long since we had first entered that same meeting room to participate in a KSSR workshop and the chairs and microphones had both scared and given me a thrill?! Here we were at the end of the project celebrating the teachers who had had these strange white people from other continents forced upon them by their government. There were no doubt lots of disgruntled words were said about the unfairness of it all behind our backs but over the last two years we have shared the ups and downs of life and become colleagues and close friends. The people of Sabah are a wonderful example of how people of every race and belief can get on with one another and their warmness and friendship will always have a special place in my heart.

Sister Caroline

Nurliah

Faridah

Harianeh

 Emily and I had gathered up some of our photos of the last 2 years and put together a slideshow to the music of Green Day "Time of your Life" and I think if we had gone for an even more soppier one like "You Raise me up" I would have been finished. However I managed to pull myself together for the award of the certificates and as always we had to pose for the camera which I still find very difficult. Everyone else has their practised pose and even Emily seems to have one now! I broke the tradition of shaking hands and ended up giving everyone a hug much to the panic of my one male mentee! 

Asmah, Ruwaida, me and baby

Scared David!

Proper pose of Emelansia

After that it was chocolate cake time which was amazing - not only to look at but to taste as well. I can honestly say that the best cakes that I have ever tasted in my life have been in Sabah - yes better than France and UK. No one had thought to organise plates, serviettes or even a knife but we muddled through in a very unmalay fashion that they have more or less accepted is a part of us. After a few more photos, lots more tears (not only from me) and lots more hugs we all parted from a very emotional , undignified but I feel very memorable graduation ceremony.

50 th Anniversary of Sabah joining Malaysia

Yes today is yet another public holiday but a rather special milestone in the history of Sarawak and Sabah as it is 50 years since they joined the Federation of Malaysia. Tonight in Kota Kinabalu there is going to be a huge celebration, concert, speeches etc.... and a visit from the Prime Minister of Malaysia and many other VIP's. There certainly have been incredible changes in the last fifty years and let's hope that in the next ten years that Sabah will have the same roads, electricity, schools and educational opportunities as peninsula Malaysia. On Friday I went on my last parade around Ranau with SK St Benedict and seemed to get tagged far too much on a social network! Anyway it was fun and I'm still amazed by all the wonderful costumes that the pupils and teachers turn up in. I was in my silk kabia feeling very overdressed but even that I'm getting used to.

 At the moment I am visiting places for "the last time" and had a visit to " the Tip" yet again and saw a spectacular sunset and then last weekend I went back to Manana which is another favourite of mine. This week there are a few farewell parties and a "graduation" ceremony for our mentees which will be quite emotional I imagine.

Food Glorious Food

Tuhau flower

Mixed vegetables with tuhau 

I've just realised that time is running out on my blog and I still haven't written anything about the food like normal travel blogs do. The food in Malaysia is a fusion (cookery word! ) of flavours with all the influences of Indian, Chinese, Malay cuisine not to mention Western and local produce. In Sabah the cuisine is relatively bland and not very spicy although the little white and red chillis can be very hot. The Dusun cooking is different than the Bajau and that is different from the Rungus and so on. So I will talk a little about the Dusun cooking as I don't know that much except that I have grown to love it. The kampong rice is the most commonly used,  which is pink and is often cooked in leaves mixed with another vegetable such as pumpkin. They also cook the rice inside bamboo but nowadays nearly everyone seems to have rice cookers. They grow and use tapioca as another form of carbohydrates but if they don't eat rice at least once a day they will have withdrawal symptoms! They eat lots of vegetables and also collect many different green leaves from the jungle and use leaves in the cooking process such as wrapping fish in banana leaves to cook slowly. The ginger flower of tuhau is the most distinctive taste in dusun cooking. They use the petals to flavour many things as well as chopping the stem and eating it. Tuhau can be fried, steamed, boiled and added to anything and it changes the taste completely. I really love it and will miss it.

augergine, sambal and ikan bilis

Chicken curry

Spicy fish and vegetables

 The main source of protein are eggs and ikan bilis - small dried fish - which you find in many different piles in the market. These are sprinkled and added to dishes as they are easily kept and are cheap. Chicken, beef, goat and pork (for Christians) are of course eaten but not on a daily basis for most people. Soups with noodles and vegetables, nasi lemak, nasi goring and mee goring (fried rice and noodles) are eaten daily and the seafood near the coast is amazing but in the mountain areas it is not eaten as often.

Ikan bilis

Nasi lemak

  I treated the whole of my base school to a meal last week and Irene kindly cooked all of my favourite things which are - mixed jungle vegetables with tuhau, chicken curry, fish in spicy tomato sauce and aubergine and ikan bilis in a sambal sauce. Sambal is a sauce made with tomato, chillies and onions. Last but not least I am addicted to roti canai which is a flat bread served with a curry sauce and is very indian but is a very Malaysian start to the day.

Roti canai

Seafood laksa

A Frustrating Day at work!

A Lovely lady on her way to work

  Last Thursday I went out to one of my village schools and arrived at about 7.30. My first stop was the Preschool where the twenty three children ranging from 5-6 year old's were just playing around in the class. Where is your teacher? I said and they turned their hands in a twisting gesture which means "I don't know" I went into the kitchen where the canteen lady was hacking the chicken with her cleaver knife. "Where is the teacher ?" I asked. "Canteen" she replied. So I left her in charge of all the children and went off to find him. There he was sitting down tucking into his mee goring and after he had finished his leisurely breakfast he eventually wandered back to class. After Preschool I set off to the Primary 1.2.3 classes where I was going to observe and help the two teachers. I walked past year 1- no teacher, then year 2 - no teacher and finally Year 3 -no teacher. There were no teachers in the staff room and you can probably guess where they were - yes the canteen! They had given all the children a Malaysian flag to colour in and left them. I have to say that the children were all being very good and seemed happy enough doing their colouring task. So I went to the canteen again and asked the other teachers where were the English teachers. They thought one was on holiday and the other was doing a course in KK. but there was the news that another English teacher had joined the school this week. We have been waiting for months for this teacher so I went off in great anticipation to meet her. I greeted her and asked her how she was and the first thing she said was I'm sorry my English is very bad. Oh dear I thought......

The wonderful view from the school

  Eventually I decided I would go to another school as nothing much was going on at this one. As I was driving along I recognised one of the English teachers feeding his fish along the roadside." I thought you were supposed to be in KK at a course! " "Oh"  he said " Yes I'm going.  I'm just taking my time. I'll be there for the afternoon."

 So that about sums it up - everyone just takes their time and I'm afraid it is the children who suffer. I would like to say that this is not a typical day but it is not that unusual in the rural schools and I feel that the children are not given an equal chance from the beginning.

Brother Ben

Brother Ben

The road to Bundu Tuhan

I received an sms message from Sister Caroline on Friday evening just before going to bed. "Do you want to meet Brother Ben tomorrow?" "Of course!" I texted back and quickly changed my plans and was ready at 9.30 am to set off to Bundu Tuhan, which is a small village tucked under the shadows of Mount Kinabalu. Our first stop was to look at the house that Sister Caroline and her 10 brothers and sisters were born and brought up in, which has a view that feels like you are on top of the world. She has a brother who still lives there and she pointed out the wood behind where they were sent as children to collect firewood and were always scared of being attacked by lions and tigers!

Sister Caroline's family home

The next stop was the orphanage where Brother Ben was waiting for us in the kitchen. I was expecting an elderly man and I was met by this tall, upright, sprightly man who was obviously very much in charge of the whole operation at the orphanage. This legend of a man kindly recounted part of his story.He told me he had entered studies for the Roman Catholic Church when he was 16 years old in Holland, went to England for some time and when he was 26 years old he was sent to Sabah and never came back - he is now 83 years old.

Chatting in the kitchen

 There were three brothers that arrived first in this small village and in those days the only way to get up the mountain was to walk - which took several days and it was only in the late 1950's that the first jeep managed to reach the village and a track/road was made. One of the other brothers had been a farmer and they had all done a short agricultural course with their aim being to introduce tobacco farming but they had brought vegetable seeds as well. To cut a very long and interesting story short they taught the villagers about fertilisers and the vegetable growing took off and became what it is today. One of the main problems in the early days was marketing and the challenge of getting the vegetables down the mountain, however that is another chapter. Brother Ben's expertise was in carpentry and after building a church he set about building a mission school. They were joined by some sisters early on and when one of the woman in the village died in childbirth and her husband couldn't look after the baby, the sisters offered to take care of it. This was the beginning of the orphanage which now has 80 children in it.

Rice for the orphanage!

It must be so tedious for Brother Ben to recount his life story all the time to strange people like me and he was saved by a group of people who had driven from Sandakan with a car loaded full of rice, eggs and fruit to give to the children. He explained that this happens all the time and that they never have to ask for help from the Church as the people of Sabah provide them with everything they need. He was occupied with photos and so we left him but what I was struck by was how happy the children seemed and what a lovely atmosphere there was despite many of their tragic stories. There were so many interesting details he told me but I don't think a blog is the place for all of them - I believe he is writing a book!

The laundry