Village Adoption Programme in Orang Asli settlements a big help to the community

IPOH: The village adoption programme for villages in Orang Asli settlements is an effective effort to improve the economic standards and education awareness of the community.

Federal Territories Department of Labor (JTK) director Rahmat Ismail who is also a board member of Emkay Foundation and former Perak JTK director, said the village adoption concept, where villagers are adopted by state government-linked companies (GLC) have managed to increase the livelihood of Orang Asli community.

“What the Perak state government is doing right now via this programme is a noble move as the involvement of GLCs will give the villages a chance to receive assistance and guidance directly.

“Focus should be placed on education among the children of Orang Asli as well as to improve the family economic standard besides providing infrastructure.

“However, this effort could not be done alone and as such, it is paramount to have cooperation with other quarters such as the private sector, non-governmental organisations (NGO) and higher education institutions.

“The state government has taken the right approach when it instructed the GLCs to kick off the effort and this would definitely bring impact to other quarters such as the private sector, to lend their support to carry out the programme,” he said.

Sharing his experience, Rahmat said he was with the Perak JTK and Emkay Foundation was involved in the village adoption programme of Orang Asli settlements in Temenggor and Royal Belum forest since 2011.

Rahmat said the programme was carried out in four villages, namely Kampung Desa Damai and Kampung Semelor in Temengor as well as Kampung Sungai Tiang and Kampung Sungai Kejar in the Royal Belum Forest and it was jointly carried out with private sectors and NGOs.

“Among the programmes and activities that we organised were building toy libraries using the i-play concept and teaching the Orang Asli children about reading, writing and counting. We also added another element into it, which was eat, play and music.

“This is crucial in order to prepare the children to enter primary school as we know that there are a high number of school dropouts among the Orang Asli community.

“The mothers of these Orang Asli children are also not left out as we know they are always curious about what their children are doing and would wait for them until they finish their classes. Following that, I have requested for sewing machines and they were taught how to sew by students from various institutions while waiting for their children,” he said.

Rahmat said once they have mastered the technique of sewing, they would be able to teach other women from their community to sew school uniforms.

“Emkay Foundation will buy the school uniforms and donate them to the Orang Asli’s children community. They received so many benefits and they can generate their own income through sewing at the same time,” he said.

Rahmat said as to date, a total of 50 people from the Orang Asli community have benefited from the programme and about 20 of them are undergoing training to receive Sijil Kemahiran Malaysia (SKM).

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