A Loving Hands - Amar & Howard Stanton

I have received this mail some time ago from a friend of mine, Howard Stanton. He is an Operations Manager for the Kudat Riviera Resort and now living up in Kudat and enjoying his life up there.
He wrote this mail in regards to lend a hands to his friend Amar, a devoted heart to look after the orphanage somewhere in Kudat, Sabah or well-known as Borneo Island. I also would like to expand this mail with hope that the people out there will open their hearts to help and bless these kids.

Here is the mail..

".......In some more of my spare time I am helping to look after an orphanage with 50 kids, they all call me uncle, makes me feel 105 but I love it and they are great great kid's. They are some fantastic kid's, polite, courteous, well behaved, ambitious and highly motivated to achieve. I do find it hard sometimes watching these kid's who have nothing, struggling to get to where they want to without moaning or groaning and then I think back to some of the kid's in the UK who seemingly have everything and yet they seem to just loaf about , moan groan and complain about what they have....."

Below are the article that he wrote for an American Travel Company that specializes in holidays for the rich that want to give back to the community they are travelling to...


"Tucked away in the Most Northerly corner of Borneo, is a small historic trading town, Kudat, that is the indigenous home of the Rungus people. The Rungus people are a very quiet, friendly and simple group with their main source of industry being farming. The area of Kudat is the second poorest area in Malaysia and as such times are hard for the people trying to survive on a subsistence lifestyle and a small market economy. Throw into the mix alcohol and a high rate of Unemployment and then the ones who suffer are the ones that are truly the vulnerable, the kids. There is hope though, a local Teacher who has Indian origins, but hails from West Malaysia, has seen the need for these kids to succeed and thrive so that they can break out from the cycle of misery and poverty that faces their Mother's and Father's generations.

This teacher, who prefers to remain at a low key position, anonymous, due to possible recriminations, has recognised that these kid's (12 -18) should not be written off but rather embraced and nurtured. As a consequence of this recognition and forethought, forethought in that they will be the ones who can achieve and give back to their community once they have achieved their varied goals of ambition, the teacher has set up three houses to act as secure and safe sanctuary for those fortunate enough to be able to attend. The "scheme" has been running for three years, starting with 8 students, now heading into it's 4th year with 48. A lot of these students come from very broken and unhappy backgrounds quite a few are orphans, this you would never know from looking at their smiling and happy faces.To see these kid's, as happy as can be, in their new found sanctuary of learning and portal of hope is actually very humbling and at times very emotional.

Every child is taught the rights and wrongs, given good discipline, motivated to achieve, guided and nurtured as if they are the teachers own children (of which he has three of his own). When stepping into one of the three houses it is like stepping completely into another world far removed from the ones that they have all come from, there is order, cleanliness and a great feeling of pride as each one of the kid's embraces every visitor that arrives to view their house. The kid's are really motivated, they realise that with the opportunity that they have been given comes the key for them to escape to a better place and achieve, all over the walls are motivational sayings and charts showing the achievements of each individual and their ambitions ; doctor, graphic artist, astronomer, teacher, policeman ....... The houses that this teacher has set up offers a magnificent ray of hope to these children, this is all funded off the back of private donations, your money in this impoverished area would go further than you would ever imagine, you have the power to empower a whole generation of people that matter and are prepared and want to give back to their community so that better things may come for their people.

Howard and the Rungus during Harvest Festival.