Borneo Malaysia

The schools are located on Melangking Estate, 15km from Sukau village.  Sukau
is a 2 hour drive from Sandakan Airport, Sabah, Malaysia

Minimum length of placement: 2 weeks 
Average length of placement: 2 months 
Preferred languages: English, Other 

TERM DATES 2012

2nd Jan til 9th March ; 19th March til 25th May ; 11th June til 17th Aug ; 20th Aug til 9th Nov

Teaching

School starts at 8am and finishes at midday. You will be responsible teaching a class of upto 30 students at anyone time. The children have text books but often they are hand-me-downs and have the answers in. Therefore it is important that you look at the books and then do something similar but not the same. For example if you have a comprehension text ask the children different questions from the ones in the text books. 

The best way to teach the children is to make the lessons as interactive as possible. Competitions and songs with actions are always a firm favourite with the children. You do have access to the internet and basic stationary to help you prepare for each of the sessions. 

Another good thing to do is for you to teach the children something that is educational and interests you. For example one volunteer in 2011 taught the children about the oceans as she loved to dived. She had photos of herself diving etc which she showed to the children.

WARNING

Sometimes due to low teacher numbers you may be expected to teach a whole morning on your own, ie english, maths and art to the kids with no teacher. PLEASE BE WARNED.

Informal Afternoon activities

The afternoon activities were introduced in January 2011 and have been a great success. The children always ask ’where are we meeting you at 3pm?’. We only do this at one of the schools in the estate due to the close proximity to your accommodation at Mr Chee’s home. The children love doing fun activities like sports, singing, arts and crafts and even reading. The afternoon sessions increase the contact time between you and the children which will not only help them to become more confident in English language but will also give them something to do during the afternoon, it is common for children as young as 3 to be left at home alone or taken to work on the plantation.

Possible weekend excursion

Borneo and in particular Sabah is blessed with several natural wonders which can only be seen on these shores. Within a 3 hour drive nearly all of these natural wonders can be seen. You can stay in lodges at Sukau or Tabin and if you are lucky enough you may see your cousins the orang utan swinging through the trees. However If you dont get to see one in the wild you can always go to the world famous Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre just a 30min drive away from the Sukau Junction. In the reserves you can also see two more endemic species the official third species of elephant (the Borneo Pgymy Elephant) and the oddest looking monkey of all, the large-nosed proboscis monkey.

The Melangking Palm Oil Estate is privately owned and is one of the best examples of good practice in Palm Oil Production.  The management, being led by Mr. Chee, believes in improving the lives of the workers and their families making this the perfect estate for the first Borneo Child Aid volunteer programme.

The estate is huge and it takes 20-30 minutes to drive from the main entrance to your accommodation.  The accommodation is twin-share with a shared balcony.  You have access to a fridge and kettle. The balcony overlooks a small lake that has 3 resident monitor lizards, the larger two are named Donna and Jody, and the baby one is Arsalan, all named after our pioneer volunteers.

The estate has three main schools and 1 smaller school.  Estate 1 school is the largest with 60+ children and just a short walk from your accommodation.  Estates 2 and 3 have approximately 40 children each.  The schools are very small and basic. They each have two main rooms which are separated by a thin wall.  One room is for the kindergarten while the other room is for the junior students.  You will teach mainly the Junior students.  The children are great but their concentration can be limited at times so the best way to teach them is through activities like games, art, dances and songs etc. 

The estate is located just 15km from the world famous Sukau Village which is on the Kinabatangan River.  At night you can arrange to go to Sukau for river cruises or at weekends you can spend your time relaxing in the local resorts and going on river cruises to see wild Orangutans, pygmy elephants, and proboscis monkeys.

Code of Conduct
This code has been designed by Ecoteer and Borneo Child Aid Society.  The code of conduct ensures all volunteers are aware of their obligations and responsibilities to the schools, teachers, children, estate employees and other volunteers.  By accepting the intent of the code and through complying with its provisions, Ecoteer volunteers acknowledge their privileged status as representatives of Ecoteer within the local community. Failure to comply with the code may lead to the withdrawal of a person from a project.

Before you volunteer

Before you come on this program you must research about travelling in Malaysia and the Malay culture, if you have any questions we are more than willing to talk with you

You must buy yourself suitable travel insurance

If you cannot join the programme, for whatever reason, please contact us as soon as possible

Whilst on the expedition

Listen to, and follow, the instructions of your facilitator and the Borneo Child Aid teachers

School starts at 8am – please always be on time, you need to set a good example to the children

You need to judge any activity from the point of view of the benefit to the Learning Centre and NOT to yourself or the organisation you are with. All too frequently, we hear of ‘good hearted’ intentions that end up causing more damage than good. Having a group visit where kids with all sorts of gadgets and toys visit the Learning Centres and expose the children there to the reality of what they are lacking is such an example. It emphasises what the children lack in the form of material things and can have a detrimental effect. So remember to focus on what they need rather than what you want.

VERY IMPORTANT - During the morning sessions, volunteers should never remain alone with the children.  The BCAS teacher must be present.  For informal afternoon activities, there is an open door policy.

Volunteers should not seek out opportunities to meet with the child(ren) outside programme activities / off-site.  Never invite or allow children into your accommodation

All children should be treated equally.  If you purchase any toys/materials, they should be for the entire group – not just for specific kids

Care must be taken when photographing the children as we have a responsibility to protect the children’s identities and to respect their dignity.  While we understand volunteers might take photographs for your own personal memories, volunteers are not permitted to publish the photos (in print or social media) without consent

When you volunteer with the Learning Centres, you will be privy to personal details not only of the children but also of the staff. You might also gain information of the Local Community.   All this information should be regarded as private and confidential and should not passed onto anyone else or made into ‘local’ gossip.  Do not get involved in discussions of any personal nature regarding people in the Learning Centres.  If forced to hear, do not offer opinions especially when you are only there for a short time and will have no way of determining the truth

You will be working in the tropics.  The temperature can exceed 40°C so when you are outside ensure you drink plenty of water, wear sun block and a hat

Dehydration and heat stroke is a serious risk and all precautions must be taken to prohibit them

The plantations have mosquitos so when you are outside please ensure you wear mosquito repellant.  A low concentration of Deat repellant is best.

VERY IMPORTANT - You will be working with mainly Muslim children so when teaching (inside or outside) all participants must wear conservative dress - t-shirts and not small vests. You must also ensure your knees are covered.  If you are playing sport then baggy sport shorts are fine but nothing tight.

Display respect and courtesy for the teachers, the children, other volunteers and the plantation workers

VERY IMPORTANT – Volunteers must understand some cultural differences may disturb them, but their feelings should be kept under control. Please respect our children’s religious beliefs – evangelizing is not permitted.  If volunteers have a significant problem they should discuss this with their facilitator, the Borneo Child Aid teachers, Mr. Chee or Mr. Wong who may help to explain more about the issue and act upon it suitably

If you are feel sick, notify staff and please take care of yourself to keep the illness from spreading. Consult with our staff members if you need to see a doctor or go to the hospital

Overnight visitors are not allowed in your rooms and visitors are not allowed on-site without prior authorisation

Volunteers and staff are not allowed to have intimate relationships

Respect the accommodation you are using and pay for any damage you may cause to the property

No smoking or drinking of alcoholic beverages is allowed in the presence of the children

Be aware that there will be no refunds for food/accommodation if you decide to go on trips or leave early

The fee is low but we do ask our volunteers to buy supplies for the schools for example paper, books, art materials, sports gear etc, etc. It is best to buy these once you have arrived so you know what is needed by the schools