A peaceful village situated in Kiulu district, where the villagers are friendly and never stingy with their smiles, no one would have thought that life is a struggle for them.
At 11.45 in a Friday morning, the children of Pukak Primary School could be heard screaming in joy at the weekend coming up.
“Are you ready to go home kids?” I said to a group of six students, waiting at the school gate. I heard a shout from one of them.
“Of course kakak! But I need to refill my water first. I get thirsty every ten minutes,” said Rayrin Ambroseh, 7 or as his friends call him, ‘Botak’.
At 12pm, with water bottle in one and a backpack full of books, the kids were ready to start their one and a half hours journey back home.
It was a very hot day and the journey was a bit tricky. Quite dangerous, according to one sweet Benney Christella, 10, who swore she had seen snakes along the way.
“Be careful, kakak. You’re not used to this road. Follow my steps, okay?” said Benney.
Felt as if I was jungle trekking after ten minutes of walking through the jungle of Kampung Pukak, the kids were already covered in sweats and as Rayrin mentioned earlier, he drank his water like a man who hasn’t had any for days.
“Where is the suspension bridge, Cenerlius? I thought there’s one?” I asked Cenerlius Lasin, 9. I was very exhausted climbing the hills.
“We’re almost there actually. And by the way, there are four suspension bridge, kakak. Be careful later on, okay, because it’s not in a good condition,” said Cenerlius.
Gulp. That sounds scary, I thought.
At the suspension bridge, the six friends looked so confident walking through it while I was already scared to death just looking at the height.
Sylvender Sitim, 11, laughed at my funny faces.
Right after the suspension bridge, the friends had to go through another ‘jungle trekking’. Walking by the hillside, it was too high that anyone would became an acrophobia.
Fortunately, there were fences along the way.
“An old drunk slipped down the hillside last year. That’s when we have these fences over here,” said the talkative Cenerlius.
“Have any of you fell down here ?” I asked, worried about their safety.
“Nah, we’re experts,” said Cenerlius, laughing.
I started to feel tired and thought that I should have enrolled into a gym before coming here. I asked them, “how long will it be before we arrive?”
A 12-year-old Vincent Komoniti said we have only been walking for 20 minutes.
“So we still have more than an hour to go?” I asked in disbelief.
They laughed at me saying that I need to work on my stamina. Very funny, kids!
I decided against walking all the way and that they deserved a treat. I tried calling Roger Ginsuab, 36, one of the teacher at the school.
“Kakak, there is no coverage here. You can’t call anyone until we’re out of this jungle,” said Cenerlius.
I thought to myself, this is not happening. No coverage at all?
“Where can I make a call then Cenerlius? Is there a way out of here to the main road?” I asked.
Yes, he said, but it was going to take another 15 minutes of walk. Fine then, I’ll walk.
At one point while walking, there’s a steep path where all of the six friends jumped as if they were athletes.
It had been 15 minutes and I still couldn’t see the main road Cenerlius mentioned earlier.
“That’s because you’re walking so slow, kakak!” Rayrin laughed at me.
After a while, we finally reached the main road.
I made a call to Cikgu Roger and asked him to drive us back to the students’ homes.
“Are you tired, kakak?” asked the shy and reserved Bennlye Densip, 12.
“She can’t even talk and still panting Ben,” the cheeky Cenerlius said when suddenly he turned his head to the left.
Cikgu Roger had arrived in just less than ten minutes when we had been walking for more than 30 minutes.
And so we continued our journey with Cikgu Roger’s four-wheel drive. Beautiful scenery could be seen along the way.
Beautiful Sabah.
The kids were laughing and talking about how excited they were and that they were very sure their parents would be surprised to see them arriving in a car.
“My little sister would be jealous, I’m sure!” said Cenerlius.
The drive took us about 25 minutes due to bad road condition.
“I wonder how long we have to walk if Cikgu Roger didn’t come to fetch us with your walking speed kakak,” said Rayrin.
“Is there any shops around here I can buy a drink at?” I asked them.
“Yes, yes! Come here. They have cold drinks!” said Vincent.
With three big gulps, I finished my drink.
“Now kids, go and buy anything you want. My treat. Go ahead and indulge yourself,” I said to them, feeling guilty for drinking before asking them if they want anything.
Cenerlius’ father, Lasin Losod joined us at the shop looking extremely happy to see his little boy got back home safely.
“I am worried about his safety since he’s walking back and forth to school every day you know,” he said.
“I thought they are staying at the hostel?” I asked.
Cenerlius said he couldn’t as the hostel could not accommodate everyone.
“Besides, I prefer to go home every day. I just want to go back and see my family although it is tiring,” said Cenerlius.
Apparently, out of the six, Cenerlius and Rayrin walked to school and back home every single day ever since pre-school. Sometimes they would walk with the secondary students whose school is near theirs.
“Sometimes they have extra classes, so we have no choice but to walk by ourselves. But it’s okay, I have Rayrin and I’m used to the route,” Cenerlius added while drinking his soda.
“How’s my boy? Did he get you into any trouble or talk a lot?” asked Lasin.
With his determination to go to school every day for three hours back and forth, I said I’m sure he would excel in his study.
“I hope he will follow his sister’s footstep and gets the chance to enter into a university. I’m worried about my children’s education. I want them to do better than me. I want them to have a better life so their children won’t have to walk for three hours to school daily,” said Lasin.
After sending Benney, Rayrin the ‘botak’ and Sylvender to their parents, I said my goodbyes.
“Bye, kakak!” all three of them said.
Thinking about those six happy faces, I feel encouraged.
Life was easy for most of us back in our school days. We had busses or parents sending us to school, and still we were too lazy to wake up in the morning.
Those determined children left me wondering about how at such a young age they had to struggle just to get education.
On that day, they had a treat. They got to save their sweats from walking one and a half hours.
But next week? Who’s going to send them home? I can only pray they would have a safe journey for the next years to come.
