Our food distribution to Baram, Sarawak was the most challenging so far but Alhamdulillah, the volunteers got it done, against all odds.
Our Sarawak contact received a request from 3 remote longhouses in Baram, a Penan longhouse and two Orang Ulu longhouses. They are located about 4hrs frm Miri. They have run out of rice and have not received any aid frm the government. They suffered bad floods last Dec and lost their rice stock. There are a total of 161 families.
On the day of our distribution, the weather turned, the river swelled and there was flooding at the villages so the volunteers had to wait until the water subsided so they could use the bridge. Eventually, they managed to deliver the food aid to the Penan longhouse. The Ketua kampung met them at the roadblock as they are not allowed in because of Covid. They then made their way to the Orang Ulu Longhouses, but the weather was still very bad and flooding continued so the volunteers had to wait again. Then they lost phone reception which made it even more challenging as we could not receive updates until they return. But they took so long to return. When we got some phone reception, we found out the bridge collapsed because of the floods so they were forced to take a longer route. They persevered and got the food delivered to the Ketua Kampung of Long Tujang and Long Bujang. They were not able to go deep into the villages because of covid. Kudos to the volunteers.
