Kampung Tinangol

 

Overview:

 

Kampung (Kg) Tinangol sits in the north western corner of Sabah, very close to the Northern tip of Borneo. It is a traditional Rungus ethnic group community not far from the town of Kudat. This area of northern Sabah is extremely poor with villagers surviving through subsistence farming and selling some of their produce at local markets. The community is home to approximately 93 households with a population of 460 people. Originally these communities would live in one large “long house”, eating, sleeping and living in each others pockets making the community bond a very strong and special one.

 

Camps International has teamed up with PACOS Trust to work in a number of communities across Sabah. The community of Tinangol is one such community in which PACOS has been working for a number of years. Northern Sabah is one of the poorest regions in the state and as such communities struggle to survive and provide amenities which we would generally take for granted. Northern Sabah was one of the first areas of Borneo to be logged heavily and as such the environmental degradation many years on is still clear for all to see. It has left communities with land which has been eroded and less fertile. The clearance of large tracts of forest have altered the water table considerably affecting the fertility and productivity of the land. Hence locals have had to resort to more hardy crops and are denied the ability to fell large and profitable timber. These crops include coconuts and hill padi’s for rice as well as more traditional fruits such as mango, papaya, bananas and tapioca. Since the forests are greatly reduced the communities’ traditional hunting grounds are either non existent or hugely depleted of sources of meat such as wild boar or deer. Some communities in the area sit on the coast and are therefore able to fish as an additional source of food and income.

 

 

PACOS Trust Background:

PACOS TRUST (Partners of Community Organisations) is a community based voluntary organisation set up to help raise the quality of life of indigenous communities. Its vision is "to create peaceful and united indigenous communities equipped with knowledge and skills to manage resources and opportunities to support a comfortable life." PACOS strives to empower indigenous communities through:

 

• Systematic building and strengthening of community organisations,
• Strengthening of indigenous knowledge systems on natural resource management,
• Strengthening of positive indigenous values as well as improving early child care and development.

 

Financial contributions from members, individuals and international funding agencies, sustain most of PACOS' activities. Currently they work in approximately 25 communities across Sabah, generally in rural and remote locations. Part of their work is to help with provision of general amenities in the communities such as pre-school education, medical support and mini hydro electric projects. In addition they work hard with communities to establish their rights over community land. Many of these communities were once nomadic and hence had no historic ownership of land. With the establishment of forest reserves and government owned lands for logging, these communities were re-settled into small areas away from their hunting grounds. Some communities are even within reserves and are therefore restricted in what they can do on their own land such as logging or hunting. This has led to conflict and PACOS help communities to stand up for and fight their cause.

 

PACOS also try to help communities to hold onto their traditional ways of life and ensure that these are passed onto the next generation and not lost. For example knowledge of the trees and plants within the forest is dying as the younger generations move away to the city to find work and a career. In Tinangol a small medicine and herb garden has been established to try to ensure that this knowledge is passed on. PACOS also try to encourage the villages to create their own mini economic projects in order to earn extra income for the community. These range from growing a specific cash crop such as mushrooms in the cooler mountain ranges, making and selling traditional beads and necklaces or perhaps running mini agro-tourism projects.

 

Camps International have teamed up with PACOS in order to help them accomplish their aims as well as to provide assistance with larger projects, through both funding and volunteers. In addition to helping PACOS volunteers at Tinangol will get the opportunity to experience Sabahan hospitality and life at first hand. Sabahans are extremely welcoming and friendly people and would share their last grain of rice with a visitor. Living amongst them will provide visitors with a truly memorable and humbling experience. You will also get dragged into local celebrations and parties, play sport with them every evening and learn to dance like a local!

 

 

Forthcoming Projects at Tinangol:

 

 

 

• Construction of a pilot project bio-gas collector. This collects human and animal waste (similar to a cess pit) and with some additional fancy brickwork and piping, the gas which is a bi-product of the biodegrading process, is piped off to be used for cooking and lighting. It is hoped to construct one of these on the Tinangol camp itself to use as a pilot and help to illustrate the model to future teams of volunteers and local tradesmen. It is then hoped that these can be installed throughout the community and surrounding villages in order to reduce their reliance on bottled gas and firewood, with obvious environmental and economical benefits.
• Pre-school construction - Currently children under 6 go to a small community run pre-school in a run down building owned by the local church.  The church want to reclaim this building and it is proposed that we build a brand new Community Learning Centre.  This will ultimately have 2 classrooms for the under 6 children to have supervised play and learning whilst their mothers are working in the fields.  In addition it is hoped to add an extra room which will be a focus for the women’s group activities within the village. 
• Assisting with teaching pre-school children at the local kindergarten.
• Assisting with teaching English to school children and community members.
• Refurbishment and development of the traditional medicine and herb garden. A very small trail and minimal signing already exists but this could be greatly increased to make the garden a real attraction to both visitors and the community as a whole. This would include research and educational material to maximise the learning for all visitors.