Baroness Warsi and the Duchess of Piasau

I hope none of you are thinking that I was welcoming Barack Obama last week at one of schools. I'm afraid it was a much lower key affair but an experience all the same! The mystery guest visiting Kampong Piasau last Monday was....(rolling drums)....Baroness Warsi! Who I hear you asking? Well I expect last week there were lots of people like me searching google to find out more about this lady. She is in the cabinet as the Minister for Faith and Communities and Senior Minister of State to Foreign Affairs. A Yorkshire Muslim lass from immigrant Pakistani parents.; right wing and a non-elected member of the cabinet. She was made Rt. Honourable Baroness Warsi in 2007. I could continue but you can look on Wikipedia too! Apparently she had asked to visit a project school which to me sounds unlikely but for whatever reason here we were in Kampong Piasau waiting for her arrival.. Piasau I hear you asking? Yes, the small kampong is a few kilometres from Kota Belud on the road that twists towards the mountains alongside the River Warin. It is a sleepy village  inhabited by wandering cows and water-buffaloes with an assortment of wooden houses on stilts and the amazing backdrop of Mount Kinabalu.

The Baroness

 







      
The school had been informed a week previously about “the visit” and during that week there had been a whirl of activity. The security guard shed had been painted; the toilets fixed; the grass watered, the satin curtains stapled; the plastic chairs hidden; the meeting room transformed ; the curry puffs made; the makan cooked and the invitations sent. The whole village was involved. “Why our school?” the headmistress, Betty, had asked. Which in reality was a combination of many factors. Firstly, Sk Piasau had been 3 years on the ELTDP and was happy to welcome David Kellaway to continue on the project for another 2 years.; It was rural and picturesque and secretly the real reason was because the Minister of Urban Wellbeing and Housing, who was accompanying the Baroness, was originally from Kota Belud.

The morning started early for all the teachers and helpers and despite a busy buzz of activity everyone seemed to be calm. The Sumazau dancers were keeping cool in the heat and the  Level 1 Action song performers were patiently waiting, having their make-up touched up as it melted in the sun. Parents from the kampong started arriving and more and more cars began filling up the padang.

Finally the siren of the police escort was heard and the Year 6 pupils lined up ready to welcome the Baroness to their school. The cars drove into the school and out stepped the Right Honourable Baroness Warsi, or Sayeeda to her friends, She wasn’t quite as we all imagined her to be. She was young, pretty and was wearing a pale pink punjabi. She charmingly talked to the pupils, doing her best to ignore the cameras clicking and made her way onto the stage followed by the Minister and deputy High Commissioner.

The welcoming show started with the Sumazau dancers followed by the Action Song performers. The children sang and danced beautifully and captivated the audience with the Baroness leading a spontaneous standing ovation. Then the speeches which by special request from Nigel were kept short - the Education Director, the minister and finally Baroness Warsi.She spoke firstly in Arabic and then talked about having several identities growing up as a Muslim with Pakistani immigrant parents in the United Kingdom. She appeared genuinely charmed by the warmth of her welcome and thanked the people and school of Piasau for giving her the wonderful experience of visiting their school.  Everyone warmed to her.

Next on the venue were the refreshments or "discussions"  in the school meeting room where satin and bows had transformed it into a palace. Being a little underling I was sat with Nigel and few other people from the foreign office and then suddenly the Baroness and company were off and I hastily texted a message to David the mentor , who was waiting in the class and before he got it, Baroness Warsi was in the class. 

She sat down, produced the collection of lovely books she had brought for the school and asked the pupils to choose a book for her to read. One of the girls was lifted onto the Baroness’s knee and the rest of the pupils listened intently while she read “How to catch a star”. We all sang “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and she talked for a short time with the mentee and then she was off and by the time I got round to the entrance again, the sirens had started and the Baroness and her entourage were on their way for lunch at the local restaurant of Mayang Sari.

The bemused parents!

It was all over and everything had been fine. We could all relax now and that is when the fun began! We all went and filled our plates with noodles and curry puffs, sat in the thrones pretending to be VIPs and I had endless photos taken with everyone in the village. They obviously decided to elect me as their royalty as no one else was left.  Fiona, Duchess of Piasau, yes, it has a sort of ring to it! Well I can honestly say that I would be very proud to have the title if it was on offer. Thank you everyone in Kampong Piasau – you were all wonderful.

..

 

Whatever Next!

Roast Lamb

Firstly a Happy Easter to you all wherever you are and whoever you are spending it with. I came across my 2011 photos of Easter in the garden at La Ferme des Vallots and it just looks wonderful. I remember it being beautiful weather and we were able to eat our smoked salmon, roast lamb, chocolate cake... outside on the deck. Today however our family is rather dispersed but it won't be long until we are reunited at La Ferme des Vallots for the wedding in July.

Where is Naomi?

Easter 2011

 Andrew left this afternoon to return to KL for a week's work and we had a lovely week together despite both working. Yesterday afternoon we decided to treat ourselves and we went for happy hour at the Rasa Ria, which is a 5 star hotel nearby. It is another world in 5 star hotel land and we did enjoy just people watching and seeing who has the sort of money to come here for Easter. There seemed to be a lot of British with young families which we found incredible as we never had any money to spare at that stage of our lives. There were a few more mature couples and  perhaps an odd honeymoon couple but families with young children both Asian and European, were in abundance. We had 2 very nice orang utan cocktails each and then felt that we should continue to enjoy the atmosphere and we stayed on for dinner. There was an amazing sunset and the most beautiful setting which made up for the bill at the end of the evening! The children around were all called names such as Oscar, Amelia, Rory, Olivia etc.. and I just hope that they appreciate how much their Mummies and Daddies are paying for their Easter holidays!

  Anyway this leads me onto my next bit of news that involves VVIPs. There is going to be a visit to one of the project schools by a British Cabinet minister tomorrow. I am going to be purposefully vague until it is all over and then I can reveal all the details. Last week I was involved with organising the venue , programme, seating arrangements etc... and then on Wednesday two representatives from the Foreign Office flew over to KK for a recce before the visit.  I felt I was in a David Mitchell sit-com and sure enough one was called Nigel and was wearing a pin-striped shirt and cavalry twills and was frightfully nice. There are going to be so many VIPs they don't know how they are going to fit them in one line without offending anyone! There is going to be a police escort for the 70km drive to the school and there is going to be TV media and journalists involved too. When it is all over I will be quite relieved and I just keep thinking to myself  "Whatever next!"

Proof that Andrew was here!

The posh place

A Husband in Tuaran!

It is 5 am and I'm listening to the Imam calling the faithful to prayers. He has not the best voice I've heard and even though they make up their own chants I would say he was definitely flat! There is about another hour before daybreak comes and although I would like to be sleeping, I do like this time of day when it is cool and quiet and apart from the odd cock crowing there is just the constant background insect noise. Anyway Andrew is with me and since I last saw him he has been to Sri Lanka, Haiti, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Myanmar and finally he is working in Malaysia before returning to France at the beginning of May. We have both been living strange lives out of suitcases since January and apart from getting the terminals mixed up, we found each other eventually and spent a relaxing weekend in Tuaran, trying very hard not to open our computers. 

We went to the local Pantai Dalit beach and had a lovely walk along coming across a mare and her young foal standing in the sea keeping cool. We then went and had barbequed mangrove clams and watched the amazing sunset. The Sunday Tuaran market kept us busy in the morning and we came back with some fresh fish and lots of fruit and vegetables and being very hot and sweaty. We had dinner with friends on Sunday evening and then yesterday we both went back to " work" in that Andrew is writing  reports in the sitting room and I was answering emails, doing interviews, having meetings etc.. which seems to be my job these days! After teaching for 35 years it seems very odd not to be going to a school every day and teaching seems so much more like a proper job than my present job which seems like I'm pretending to work! Anyway variety is good and we are on the road again up to the Tip of Borneo on Wednesday and then over the Easter weekend we haven't got any plans as yet. Happy Easter to you all.

An International Evening in Kota Belud

On Wednesday evening I was invited to join the welcoming dinner in Kota Belud for the new mentor, Wendy, from New Zealand. David, an Australian mentor married to a Japanese, had kindly invited all of the "foreigners" that he knew in the area and it was the most entertaining evening I have had in a long time. We consisted of three young American graduates on Fulbright scholarships, who are teaching in the secondary schools in the area, one of their girlfriends, and a couple and their 5 year old daughter. The husband was from Greece and his wife was from Sabah but has spent many years in the States and Greece. They have returned to Sabah to allow their daughter to learn the language and get to know her grandparents before they return to Greece eventually. So that was the international melting pot and there is of course me who really is not sure what to say and yet I ought to have a story ready as it is one of the questions that everyone asks here ! Yes, born in Northern Ireland and spent the first 18 years of my life there but since then I have never lived there and I've spent 23 years of my life in France although have never felt in the slightest bit French. I don't feel very British either when I'm in Britain,so what to say la !!

   So here we were, thrown together for an evening. Manos, had his shirt half undone to expose his hairy chest, was wearing very tight jeans and reminded me of Harry Enfield playing Stavros. He spoke English in a broken Greek way and was determined to let us know his opinion on world politics; homosexuality; terrorism ; growing cannabis in Sabah etc..just to name a few topics he touched. Most of his rant seemed to be against America and the USA got the blame for most things including the missing MH370. The interesting thing was that none of the 4 Americans present were brave enough to defend their own country. They sat there very politely listening and smiling and obviously not accustomed to outspoken attacks on America. Manos of course didn't feel he was being outspoken he was just being "Greek"and it was his wife Floria who remarked on the different body language around the table, Manos being the only one gesticulating extravagantly with arm and hand gestures and the rest of us hardly moving.

The former staff room

The former music room

 Eventually when they could get a word in, the young Fulbright graduates were able to tell us about their different life experiences growing up in the States. One was a wealthy white, one was Mexican and one was of Muslim Asian descent, born in the States and here they were sharing a house together for a year. They have obviously all excelled academically but Joel and Ibrahim  had a more difficult path than their white colleague. They were able to tell us about the subtle discrimination at schools and the blatant discrimination by the US customs every time they enter the States. However what they are able to appreciate in Sabah is how politically incorrect everyone is, meaning people are very straightforward and honest and don't seem to know that it isn't regarded as PC to make comments about your colour, age and size. Anyway, it was an interesting and fun evening which we all decided we would repeat and I do marvel at the ability of us humans thrown together for an evening from many different backgrounds and finding common threads.

A wandering calf beside my car