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HBB Sustainable Developmental Goal’s (SDGs) plans for the Orang Asli [Part 1]

March 22, 2017 (7 years ago)
Reading time: 2 minutes

As part of our plan to develop and execute an effective Sustainable Developmental Goal’s (SDGs) plans for the Orang Asli - Hospitals Beyond Boundaries (HBB) together with representatives from Malaysian International Youth Council (IYC), Malaysian Humanitarian Movement (MHM), MYCorp and BluBear Holdings Sdn Bhd. went on a short two-day trip to learn about the Semai community in Perak.

Our journey began on the early morning of March 08, 2017 as we drove north to visit the Semai community of Kg. Ampang Woh, Tapah. Located far away from modern civilization, we had to drove for 20 minutes through the winding and slippery road only to reach the end of the motor-pathway – from there, we had to cross a river rapid to enter Kg. Ampang Woh.

On this short visit, we had the opportunity to explore one of the resident’s hut built using only the local harvested bamboo, bertam and tepus leaves. The residential hut is made of one giant living/sleeping room with a small kitchen near the entrance. There are hardly any electrical appliances or any sitting room furniture in the hut, except for a small bamboo kitchen cabinet. The huts in this village is usually occupied by a nucleus family while the extended families reside in the surrounding huts. The close proximity creates a strong bond among the residents in Kg. Ampang Woh.

Another memorable experience in Kg. Ampang Woh was the pleasure of tasting few of their traditional dishes such as boiled ubi kayu, petai, pucuk ubi kayu, fried fish, rice and sambal cili padi. Although these dishes were simple and familiar to most Malaysian, the freshness of the ingredients, along with the company of fellow residents made the food more appetizing and memorable to us.

After the welcome feast, we had a casual dialogue to address the barriers that curbs the social and economic development of the local and neighboring community. The highlights from our discussion seems to match some of the other previous studies, viz., lack of self-esteem among the youths, limited employment opportunity, limited access to proper health care services, poor communication skills among young children, addiction to alcohol, tobacco and betel nut chewing, etc. It seems that limited access to public services is the dominant factor that isolates the local community from access to receive assistance. For instance, due to the location of Kg. Ampang Woh, it is hard for the health officers to make regular visits, and this cause the local to suffer prolong cough and cold. To address this health-related concern, HBB suggested to cultivate the local youths as a trained community health care worker to maintain the wellness of the local community.

Still in the early phases, we were glad that our discussion had brought forth sufficient information for us to develop the necessary steps forward. We left Kg. Ampang Woh late in the evening, and decided to have a good night rest in Kampar before continuing our trip up-north to Tronoh, Perak.

To know more about the progress of our Sustainable Developmental Goal’s (SDGs) plans for the Orang Asli, subscribe to HBB Facebook page: facebook.com/HospitalsBeyondBoundaries

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