Jarod Yong

There will come a time in your life when you meet like-minded people who get you & share your ideals. When you meet people like these, the only natural thing to do is collaborate & see where it takes you. It usually leads to surprisingly amazing moments which touches the hearts of those who experience it first hand & even those who hear the stories. From there, the possibilities are infinite. This is merely the beginning of more great things to come. Earlier this month, a team of 5 amazing individuals arrived at our school. They called themselves the #missionKatibas team. They came with big hearts, lots of smiles, gave a lot of love & encouragement to my students, shared their lives, & they left a deep impression on my students. Many of my students expressed a clearer idea of what they wanted to achieve in life. They even expressed a greater desire to study hard & do better in SPM & PMR. It's amazing how much I have learned from them. I respect them fo...

   My school is deep in the interiors of Sarawak & one of the drawbacks of such a setting is a young teaching staff without much experience. Take myself for an example. This is only my 5th year as a teacher & yet I'm regarded as a grandpa here.    Due to our location, no experienced teachers, Guru Pakar, or Guru Cemerlang would want to make the long journey here to speak to our high-need students. Even the lauded ETAs have found it implausible to base themselves in the primary schools of our area. Honestly, they could get the same brownie points by just doing what they do at more accessible schools. There is a high demand for such talks all over Sarawak & our school is not able to offer comparable incentive to attract these specialists.    Which brings me to ask, WHAT IS THE NEXT BEST THING?    If nobody wants to come, we will GO .    We, the teachers, will pay our own way to GO, LEARN & BRING BACK all the speciali...

Going gong ho in the jungle. These were the people who made it happen. During the weekend right after the school holidays, a group of adventurous top students & a teacher from SMK Kapit paid a visit to my school. I wanted to give my students quality role models. They wanted a jungle adventure to remember. I think we've got ourselves a fair exchange, don't we? And after wading through a whole bunch of bureaucracy, we made it happen. The biggest challenge in materialising this program was not bureaucracy. It was overcoming people's preconceived perceptions of my ulu school & the benefits of travelling to such a secluded place. Let's not talk about inviting Guru Cemerlangs or students from Sibu or Kuching or anywhere else further away. Even the people in nearby Kapit were reluctant to allow their children to travel to Katibas. They were afraid of deadly boat rides where non-existent crocodiles infest the waters. They did not think that travelling to suc...