The social divide between the rich and poor communities in Malaysia is very similar to other parts of the world.
Whilst the working and upper classes are both financially and emotionally secure, the lower classes and underprivileged often struggle in advancement, security and welfare.
In particular, disadvantaged children in the more rurally isolated areas of the country are those, which suffer the most, with no or little access to mainstream education or the other basic developmental needs of a child or young person.
At Borneo Divers, we recognize the importance of education; after all, our core business is that of education within the recreational scuba arena.
However, in this instance, as part of our ongoing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme we have reached out to give support once more to the disadvantaged and neglected young people of Sabah.
This time, we headed about 2 hours drive North from Kota Kinabalu, towards Kudat and into the township of Kota Marudu.
With a population of barely 60,000 people, Kota Marudu is both rurally isolated and culturally diverse with a vast amount of social advancement difficulties faced by the youth of the area.
There is however, one particular organisation, which began operations in 1995 whose mission it is to provide shelter, education and support for the young people facing such hardships.
Built in 1994 and opening its doors to the first group of young people in 1995, St. Theresa Hostel was the first of its kind in the area, being a project devised and initiated by Rev. Felix Chung.
Rev. Chung’s main objective was to provide special placement for those children from the most remote areas in the region who were facing such challenges as parent separation, orphans, abandonment and sever poverty with a focus on shelter, spiritual guidance, development and education.
Whilst the hostel was only originally opened for girls in the region, it soon became apparent that boys were as equally affected by such hardships as girls, so in 2005, the De La Salle Hostel for boys was opened adjacent to St. Theresa’s, an initiative by another forward thinking advocate, Brother Lawrence Spitzig, a La Salle brother and member of the Lawyers Association. Thus, La Salle Hostel was born.
These days, both hostels are developing countless young people into upstanding young people of the community. At the time of writing, an unbelievable 47 girls and 23 boys (aged between 5 and 20 years old) are present at the hostels, learning all of the necessary life skills required to develop to their full potential.
One of the key challenges however faced by the hostels is funding. There is no government sector funding, so the future of the hostels is held together by grateful public donation from NGO’s, individuals, families and the community that have a sense of ownership for this vital piece of work.
So when Borneo Divers first learnt about the amazing work that is being done by the two hostels, we enquired on how we could assist to provide support for the great work being carried out.
It was at this time that we discovered that there was one particular student who was looking to secure sponsorship to study medicine at Lincoln University College at Petaling Jaya.
Twenty-one year old Neylia Petrus, an orphaned young girl who came to St. Theresa’s in 2014 had quickly taken on a youth leadership role in the hostel where her natural talents were realized.
She had played an intrinsic part in mentoring her younger sisters in the hostel to cook and was their own clothing (from the age of 4 years old), as well as maintaining the grounds of the hostel, boosting self-discipline and personal hygiene.
In addition to this, Neylia had also proven herself to be academically in-tune also, having achieved solid examination results in for major subjects including Science and Economy.
So therefore, when the opportunity arose for Neylia to partake in a course on medicine, the mission was to secure funding for her future.
With both the hostel and Borneo Divers recognizing the potential in this young lady, we were honored to be able to sponsor her scholarship for her Diploma as a Medical Assistant.
From all of us at the company we wish Neylia lots of luck in her studies and look forward to hearing her stories of university when she returns to town.
May she succeed well and continue to act as a mentor and glowing example to her siblings that anything is possible when you pout your mind to it.
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