Category: Tongod

A class of its own

I just want to share my experience conducting a lesson out of the classroom. I did it few weeks ago and it was not really planned carefully. It was one of the days when the attendance were just beyond acceptable, only 10 out of my 27 students turned up for class that day. I wasn’t really in the mood of giving another lecture on “the importance of going to school”… especially knowing that it was a ‘menugal’ season (sowing paddy), hence the lousy attendance as most of the students are out in the paddy field helping their family. To add on to my frustration,  it was one of the hottest days in Tongod. I knew at that moment that I would not be functioning well if I were to conduct my lesson in the class. Thus, I came up with the idea of conducting a lesson by the river… or what people in Tongod refer to as the ‘karangan’. So… of we went to the river….
 
It was a friday afternoon and the breezy environment under the shades of the trees… in short, it was just nice. A perfect spot to conduct a small class of students.

The students were also definitely enjoying themselves. They had fun conducting their discussion before presenting it in groups. We were not doing any heavy discussion though, it was more of an incentive for the students for being in school.

The scenery was definitely a bonus. And this will definitely not be the last time for me conducting a lesson here.

Generator Generating Fire

 
Wednesday, 2nd September – Tongod, one of the three generators supplying electricity to the villages around Tongod has burst into flame. At around 1.00 pm, there was a disruption in the power supply all around Tongod. Power shortage is not uncommon incidents, therefore it did not raised any alarm amongst the villagers. However, shortly after that, the disruption was followed by a loud bang, heard as far as 500 metres from the scene. Black clouds of smokes filled the sky. It was chaotic for a while. Motorcycles, cars and pickups all rushed towards the scene for close encounters. One of the Sabah ElectricSdn Bhd’s employee , Mr. Rufino, 28, who was currently on duty during the tragedy, suffered from 1st degree burn on his right arm. Apparently, he suffered the injury when he attempted to prevent the other two generators from catching fire as well. A very heroic act indeed. Due to the fire breakout, schooling session for the  day was resumed under a very uncomfortable environment; sweltering heat during fasting month. Fortunately, this problem was handled in a very professional and efficient manner by the District Officer, within 24 hours, the temporary mobile generator was brought in from Sandakan City and Tongod came back to life.

Another Adventurous Journey to Sandakan City

Remember my exciting journey to Sandakan last year where I have to ride in the bucket of a 4WD cabs? This year, I have just enjoyed another journey of a lifetime. As usual we depart early in the morning from Tongod… at about 5 a.m. The journey was smooth as expected during the first couple of hours. Suddenly, about 20 miles away from Sandakan town, traffic got very slow and we were curious. Because of the rainy season, we thought that there’s a flood ahead because we heard people saying “jalan putus”, so we just continued our journey to find out what had really happened. To our amazement, this is what we saw:
The road was literally “putus”, splitted into two and was connected only by what was remained of a fetilizer lorry. We have only one choice to get to the city. We have to walk across the back of the lorry to get to the other side of the road. So that was exactly what we did. And funny thing bout it was the fact that two of my colleagues we wearing high heels yet they braved it out and walked on “the thin ice”. It was also eerily funny when I climbed onto the lorry and suddenly the lorry moved downward and make a small thumping sound. At that moment, I was scared, embarrassed and also laughing at my “prosperous” physics. I managed to walked through the crowd nonchalantly and made it to the other side of the world.
The journey has not ended. We then have to walk on foot for about half a mile, under the drizzling rain, to find a bus to Sandakan. We were about to gave up when a good samaritan offered us a lift to the city. We made it in the end. But the end is just the beginning of another story. My briefing was postponed during the last minute. I’ll write bout it soon! That’s all for now, Thank you for reading.

What about a pictorial entry?

I love writing entries but I think it would be nice to let you guys have a taste of my life in Tongod so far through pictures. So, keep scrolling and I hope you guys will be entertained.


“A little bit about the scene, we are on a mid-size suspended bridge (jambatan gantung, am I right?). This bridge connects the Lilingkuon Village (where the school buildings are) and the Purutawoi Village (where I am currently residing). The murky river is the result of heavy rain upstream but the water got clearer quite fast. Usually, after a day without rain, you’ll be able to see children diving with small spears to catch fish and prawns. It’s a pretty exciting sight!”


Three teachers posing on a bridge

“This is one of the early pictures taken of me and my colleagues. To the left is Cikgu Ahmad from Sandakan, a Geography major and currently teaching Geo, History and Malay Literature. He’s also a new teacher. To the right in Man U jersey is Cikgu Nasron, Kelantanese, a Bio-Math major,currently teaching Science and P.E and have been serving for more than 2 years in Tongod”



Leisure fishing at weekends

“Can you see how clear the water is in the picture? This side of the river is just next to my house, about 40 metres away. What are we doing? Fishing for udang galah (freshwater prawns). I was the one taking the picture though. On a good day, we can catch up to three prawns per individu in a couple of hours. This is not really a fishing spot as all the fishermen in the village went downstream to the larger river in their boats.”


Work Hazard!

This is one of the few extraordinary experience of working amidst the nature. Yeah! this is not a camera trick, I did look a lil bit like Angelina Jolie rite? The tips; go and get yourself bitten by wasp. It hurts like hell! Embarrassing, and real funny at the same time. The story, I was in school ground at that time, a wasp (didnt know it was a wasp at that time) suddenly flew onto my not so luscious lips, I acted on reflect and shoo it away with my hand and this is what I got. So much for livin in the wilderness! Haha… laugh at me!