Community projects

Borneo community projects are based in some of the remotest and poorest parts of Sabah. Volunteers work alongside the local community building a much needed kindergarten or maybe a gravity water feed system that will supply a community with a reliable source of fresh and clean water for the first time. However, it's not all about the projects; in the community phase it's about learning as much from each other as possible: language, traditions, cooking and many other skills.

Here are some examples of volunteer projects you may be working on. Please be aware that these may change and are just a guide to the types of community projects we work on during a Raleigh Borneo expedition.

Kindergarten - Kampung Minusoh, Tongod District
Education is a basic need which most western societies take for granted. In Malaysia the Government provides educational facilities for children aged 6 and above with primary and secondary schools. Often young children have to travel for several hours to reach their nearest primary school.

The main difficulty however is that before a child can be entered into school they must have a minimal standard of reading and writing. In the remote Kampungs where many of the elder generations did not attend school this is often not possible. Raleigh has worked for a number of years with a semi-government organisation called KEMAS. They report to the Ministry of Rural Development and are responsible for Kindergarten education. Their aim is to provide the basic level of education needed so that when a child reaches 6 years old they are able to start school, and not find themselves years behind their peers.

The Tongod region of Sabah is approximately four to five hours drive from Kota Kinabalu. The communities are predominantly of Sungai Makiang origin living in traditionally built housing of bamboo and leafed roofing. In some houses there are up to 2 families habiting. The kampongs have become increasingly isolated over the past few years due to the deterioration of the main track into the area. There are very few community facilities available and the area has been earmarked for assistance from various NGOs to improve the standard of living. PACOS our long standing project partner will be working with our volunteers on this project and will ensure that the Kindergarten is maintained and staffed in the future

Gravity Water Feed Systems - Many remote communities within Malaysia still do not have access to clean, drinkable water. Villages without a water source will collect their water in large tanks and barrels from rainfall. The rainfall in many areas is insufficient to meet their needs all year round so water is often taken from polluted rivers. This has obvious knock on effects of ill health through water borne diseases such as typhoid. Many communities use these rivers to wash in and there is additional contamination from chemicals used in agriculture, in particular from oil palm plantations.

Kampung Pinapak Gravity Water Feed System
Kampung Pinapak is approximately 4-5 hours drive from Kota Kinabalu. This is the first kampung of 54 that our new project partner Asian Forestry are looking to support by helping them with land rights issues and social infrastructure development. The community is from the Dusun Kimaragang ethnic background with a religious mix of Muslim, Christian and pagan. The majority of people live of subsistence farming, with a few crops sold to nearby markets. Typical crops grown are: paddy, vegetables, coconut, corn, banana, oil palm and also rubber.

Sources are generally several kilometres from the kampung and are hard to reach areas. They are usually springs or small streams which are free from pollution or human interference. Once a source has been identified, it is dammed using wire cages filled with rocks and/or cement. Piping is then laid to several reservoir tanks which enable a head of pressure to be established as well as to cope with periods of high demand. From these tanks, piping is then laid into the kampung; this will usually involve digging the pipe into shallow trenches to avoid it being damaged. Finally connectors and taps are installed as the system is established within the community to provide the most efficient supply. During the whole process the local community assist with the work and are educated on how to maintain their system in order to provide a sustainable solution to their water requirements.

Volunteers working on these gravity feed projects will be building dams and installing the piping to the villages so they can finally get fresh water into the village. By building these gravity fed water systems or repairing an existing one, volunteers are providing a simple and often inexpensive solution to getting fresh water into a community.

All of our volunteer projects are sustainable and genuinely needed by the communities we work in. Find out more about how we plan our projects and our project partners in Borneo