Project: Bus stop for school-going students in Kg Kuang Toop
Date: June 2015
Number of people benefited: School children from 5 villagers (Kg Menjau, Kg Patung, Kg Kuang Toop, Kg Pulau Kandis, Kg Tabuan Rabak)
In the six villages of Kg Kromboi, Kg Patung, Kg Menjau, Kg Kuang Toop, Kg Pulau Kandis and Kg Tabuan Rabak of Mambong, Sarawak, students perspiring under the scorching sun or getting drenched by a downpour were almost daily occurrences as they wait for their ride to and from school. The area’s one primary school, called SK Patung, is located along this road which serves the children from aforementioned villages.
Meanwhile, secondary school children will attend the SMK Tunku Abdul Razak, a distance of 14 km from Kg Kuang Toop which takes an average 20 minutes on four-wheels. Between 6am and 11am every morning, students will gather at Kuang Toop’s Tjunction road, which has become the meeting point for them to get on and off the school bus or van.
Parents from the other villages will thus send and pick their children up at Kuang Toop. In the event that there is rain, students will have no choice but to carry an umbrella, though their shoes and socks would still be inadvertently wet. If it’s a hot sunny day, students of afternoon classes will sweat profusely, causing them to smell as soon as they reach.
But these uncomfortable weather woes are now a thing of the past!
This is because Impian Sarawak has helped construct a little hut-cum-bus shelter for them when they had none of this basic facility to seek refuge against. The request was made by the villagers of Kg Kuang, and together with the community at large, the gotong-royong works started on May 10 together with the local DAP Mambong members. For four Sunday afternoons, the team toiled diligently until the shelter was finally completed and launched on June 14. The project cost at over RM5,000 was fully borne by Impian Sarawak.
It’s encouraging to note that the villagers themselves had taken the proactive measure of drawing a sketch of the hut of how it could look like for the Impian team before construction commenced. The villagers’ fervent hope for the shelter is also underscored by how they would do the needful legwork to convince Impian of their case, like submitting photos that show their children having to wait for the school bus early in the mornings without any cover for protection.
Padungan state assemblyman YB Wong King Wei launched the pondok in a festive ceremony that was also attended by DAP Mambong secretary Sanjan Daik and branch members as well as the locals.