Helping to upgrade the lives of the Orang Asal

ROMPIN, Pahang: Members of BEC St Jude, from the Church of Our Lady of Fatima, had their fourth visit to the Orang Asal (OA) of Kampung Patah Pisau recently. They were accompanied by Archbishop Julian Leow.

Archbishop Leow assisted the BEC members to unload and distribute food to the residents. He also spoke to as many OA as he could, from the toddlers to the elder folks, advising the adults on the importance of education, listening and also advising them.

Archbishop Leow also inspected the surroundings, noted the murky river water that is used for drinking and bathing, and gamely traipsed across the shaky makeshift bridge to speak and deliver goods to other OA.

In between follow-up visits to Kampung Patah Pisau, members of St Jude’s BEC donated in cash or kind, via the Assumption Church Migrant and Orang Asal Ministry coordinator John Chin, towards the village’s infrastructural development.

The population of the village has grown from 10 families in 2014 to 26 families. Two new tanks have been mounted to contain larger volumes of water. The recently constructed headman’s concrete house has been painted a Marian blue. There is also a new concrete community hall.

The outreach effort by St Jude’s BEC has raised the living standards of Kampung Patah Pisau. They initially did not even have drinking water. Now, they have water filters for better quality water.

It is hoped that the OA will eventually be self-sustaining with an area to plant cash crops and not be overly dependent on handouts by visiting groups.

As outreach groups work to uplift the lives of the OA, it is our aspiration that their children will have some form of education, and remain in mainstream or vocational schools until Form V so that they have some skills to earn a regular income.

We are also happy to note that non-Christians too are coming together to clothe and feed the OA. Our BEC of St Jude’s determination to improve the lives of the residents of Kampung Patah Pisau is yielding positive results on countering malnourishment and, at a slower pace, ignorance.

Praise must be extended to the commitment of OA Ministry volunteers John Chin, Kenny Lee, Matthew Loke, Shaun Miranda, Katherine Boon and others who make very regular trips into the interiors to aid as many OAs as possible. So far, they have covered 80 settlements and counting. But more help from the public or corporate sector as part of their CSR would be most helpful.

As these settlements were recently discovered by John Chin and other volunteers from Assumption Church, efforts are being made to source for donations to construct wells there.–By Ivy Tan

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online