It was such a great feeling to be part of the volunteer team accomplishing a noble mission in restoring water supply to 500 villagers of Kampung Takulung, a remote village in Kota Belud.  Acknowledging the misery of having insufficient water supply to the households, Suria Capital Holdings Bhd involved itself as main sponsor for the project, in collaboration with HOPES Malaysia Welfare Association (HOPES), a local non-government organization. 

The mission was to build a new and sustainable water system to channel gravity water to the villagers comprising 44 families in Kg Takulung.  The villagers, who are mainly labourers and rubber-tappers, had suffered from a lack of clean water supply since 2014 due to the many leakages from the water pipes which needed replacement.

A group of 20 staff from Suria and subsidiary, SCHB Engineering took turns to join in as volunteers in the community project and got them driving down to Kota Belud in the early mornings of three consecutive Saturdays in March 2018 that took about two hours to the village to help complete the works.  

Together with the villagers and other volunteers, they assisted in the major tasks which began with building water tank foundation for new water tanks on the designated elevated areas at nearby hill, laying the poly-pipes which stretched for 3.5 km long and connecting them to the water tanks.

After the three weekend trips, on 14 April 2018, Suria team made a follow-up visit to the village to get the feedbacks for the completion of the project.  The Ketua Kampung, Tuan Haji Kiai Bin Gampeis expressed his gratitude to Suria, as the sponsor and HOPES as organizer for helping them to improve their daily lives by having better water supply to their houses and believed that it will improve further after the dry season is over in few months’ time.  The villagers had been depending on rain water collected in the tanks as water catchments and river for their daily necessities.  The new connection meant a lot to the villagers as their water woes was finally over.  The water pressure had improved after the replacement of water piping system with the more durable poly pipes. 

As for the staff of Suria and subsidiaries, this community project is a new and worth-while experience as it exposed them to the lives and woes of rural community and it is hoped this project can be extended to other rural areas in similar needs in line with company’s mission to care for the community through sustainable living.

HOPES Malaysia team was led by its President and founder, Mr Sam Lee while for Suria by Datin Mariam Mahmun, Senior Manager of Group Corporate Affairs and Communication.