Moving mountains (of goods) in stilettos

A group photo at SK Matunggong in Kudat, Sabah, after the presentation of essential school items. (Below) Lily (second from left) is a great help to FOL in Sabah. With her are Yee (left) and teachers from SK Matunggong, Raffeah Mulanda (third from left) and Sabahiah Abd Karim.

WHEN poor pupils from rural schools in the state happily received items for their schooling needs, there were forces at work behind the scene.

Lily Sintum, 49, a school improvement specialist coach from the Kudat Education Department, was one of the silent workers who had indirectly brought joy to these children.

“Lily, the ‘Iron Lady in stilettos’, was the main contact for the Forces of Love (FOL) team for Educare 2019, our outreach work to help Sabah schoolchildren this year, ” said FOL communications director Yee Lai Lin.

FOL is a loose coalition of friends, supporters and volunteers who aspire to assist the marginalised and underprivileged.

Friendly, humble and cheerful, Lily, who is of Sino-Kadazan descent, worked tirelessly and coordinated with the schools for this project, sometimes beyond normal working hours.

In her stilettos, the multitasker has helped carry loads of goods for the schoolchildren with ease. She is also a ‘Speedy Gonzales’ who can shuttle FOL volunteers and goods in her 4x4 at 80km per hour!

Additionally, she has helped FOL identify needy pupils from the Rungus tribe who are often described as the poorest in Sabah. These households earn below RM400 per month.

Lily is also quick to respond.

“Phone calls to the FOL team after 11pm is a regular occurrence. If there are goods to pick up at 6am at the stations, Lily will be ready with her trusty 4x4 to ferry volunteers and goods.

“She is also instrumental in organising and coordinating with Peninsular Malaysia-based FOL to ensure the project is carried out without any hitches, ” said Yee.

With capable coordinators like Lily, FOL Educare 2019 mission was again a success, as essential school items were distributed to 2,402 schoolchildren from 13 schools in Sabah for the fifth consecutive year.

Late last month, 23 FOL volunteers flew from Kuala Lumpur and teamed up with volunteers in Sabah for the distribution exercise.

The pupils received uniforms, shoes, socks, bags, raincoats, books, stationery, toys, tumblers, food containers, snacks, goodie bags and packed lunches.

The main aim of the programme was to motivate the children and “plant” in them the seeds of love for the nation.

It was also to forge closer ties between urban volunteers and donors from Peninsular Malaysia and the rural needy children in Sabah.

After selecting the schools in Sabah, FOL held a crowdfunding to raise about RM250,000 for the project. Lodging, airfares and ground transportation expenses were fully borne by the volunteers.

In March this year, a special task force was headed by FOL nationwide project director Goh Chong Meng, operations director Daniel Kwan Kok Cheong and head of Sabah chapter Then Chun Tak.

Their tasks included getting the sizes of the uniforms and shoes for the children and making logistics arrangements to transport the school items to the rural schools.

Goh said, “Although the economy is slow, we managed to raise enough money for this year’s project with support from volunteers and business associates. We also faced logistics challenges in reaching schools without proper access (mostly dirt) roads.”

Kwan hoped for more sponsors for logistics in the future.

He said, “Sea and land freight charges have gone up tremendously by more than double this year.”

FOL’s Educare project was first launched in 2015 and has benefited 200 children from SK Moyog.

This time, Educare 2019 in September assisted pupils from households earning below RM400 per month in Kudat, Kota Belud and Pulau Banggi.

The parents of these pupils are rubber tappers, farmers, fishermen and odd-job workers.

At rural Penampang, 586 pupils from SK Moyog, SK Kipovo, SK Togudon and SK Putaton Inobong were given school essentials.

In Kudat, the programme involved 1,337 pupils from SK Sebayan, SK Garau, SK Panudahan, SK Lok Yuk, SK Lampaki and SK Matunggong.

In Kota Belud, 212 pupils from Kota Belud and 267 from Pulau Banggi were selected for the programme.

At the launch in Kampung Moyog School, a carnival-like atmosphere prevailed.

There were talks by government agencies and some parents even exhibited their farm produce.

Other than learning about crime prevention, the children also learnt about fire prevention in case of fires in schools.

They were also made aware of water safety measures during the monsoon season.

Husmi Hussin, a school improvement specialist coach from the Kudat Education Ministry said, “Children will benefit from safety precaution tips as the information will help them react appropriately in any kind of emergency.”