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Sapulot is a remote region in the south western interior in the Sabah region of Borneo, where villagers often resort to selling their land to palm oil and timber companies for an easy and quick return. The objective of this project is to facilitate improvements to local conditions and activate sustainable change within the community.

  • Education and awareness programme in the schools: working/teaching in the school to give exposure to the local children on subjects such as English, conservation and sustainability.
  • Infrastructure improvement: building projects that the village requires to improve conditions, for example, repairs to a longhouse, building water pumps in villages for fresh water supply and upgrading school facilities.
  • Upgrading homestay facilities: helping individuals upgrade their houses, such as the bathroom and kitchen.
  • Community garden: helping villagers build a local garden which is easily accessible to the village and where they can start to grow organic vegetables.

Populated by the Murut tribe - the last ethnic group in Sabah to renounce head hunting - Sapulot is one of the poorest districts in all of Malaysia. Before roads were introduced, the rivers where their thoroughfares, with communal longhouses on the riverbanks that housed entire communities. The local economy revolves around lumber and palm oil, which has led much of the rural population to sell off their land to corporations to be deforested and converted into plantations. However, the liquid assets they gain are spent within a couple of years. By providing alternatives such as eco-tourism, the region is opening doors to a more sustainable income for the villagers, whilst preserving its forests.

Gradually,  sustainable tourism initiatives have been introduced to the area, through projects, creating new jobs that boost the local economy, all the while promoting environmental awareness by encouraging the Murut to preserve their land as a commodity for eco-tourism. This project is designed to be an immersive program, to place school groups within the host communities, staying in a village’s communal longhouse and working on a range of projects, many of which focus on strengthening the eco-tourism infrastructure that is continuing to grow the local economy.

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