Table Of Contents:
- An exciting opportunity in Sabah
- Off we go to Sabah!
- Off to another town in Sabah!
- Off to a kampong in Sabah!
- First steps for a literacy center in Sabah!
- Setbacks in Sabah!
- God provides in Sabah
- Preparations for literacy center in Sabah
- Opening day at the literacy center in Sabah
- Literacy centers all over Sabah!
- New schoolhouse in Sabah
My Filipino official friend promised to bring me to Sabah and show me the plight of the undocumented aliens.
He told me that besides not having a chance to go to school, they were also often harassed by the local authorities because they were illegals who had no legal rights.
Furthermore, though there were so many Filipinos in Sabah, there was no Philippines Consulate in Sabah to represent the Filipinos. This unusual situation was the result of history. Sabah had been part of the Sulu Sultanate until the British colonised it. Sulu is in southern Philippines and the present Sultan of Sulu still lives in southern Philippines. If the Philippine government had a Philippine Consulate in Sabah, it would then be accepting that Sabah was a foreign territory – and thereby end their claims to it.
The Filipino official backed out of the trip just two days before we were to go to Sabah (maybe he thought that it would not be wise for him to make the trip and cause diplomatic waves with the Malaysians. So here were we – myself a Singaporean, with two American friends and a Filipino friend – setting off for Sabah without knowing anyone there, and with no clue how to find these illegals.
We landed in Kota Kinabalu the capital of Sabah and rented a car. We prayed and then drove off looking for a lead help find these mysterious illegals. After a short ride, we saw a large church and decided that maybe they would be able to help us. After introducing ourselves and asking the church clerk if she knew where the Filipinos were, she introduced us to a Filipina church worker who led us to a large dilapidated house at the outskirts of the city.
When we arrived there were a few Filipino adults and many children at the house. We chatted with the them and found out that the adults were looking for work and the children (aged from babies to teenagers) were just hanging around because they had no opportunity to go to school.
These children would grow up illegal and illiterate.
What future would they have? Would the girls end up as bar girls? and the boys as gangsters?
The shock of everything is now starting to sink in and the dust is starting to settle some.
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