When I was 5 years old, I attended a pre-school kinda near to my home. About 5 minutes drive maybe? When I turned 6, my mother started her job as a pre-school teacher very near my home. Just a 5 minutes walk away. She moved me to her kindergarten. To be honest, I don't remember what I learned there except how much I loved doing crafts with egg cartons and colour pencil shavings. But I did remember my first week in Standard 1 because when my teacher asked me, "Why didn't you bring your PJ clothes?". My answer? "I didn't bring bring my kettle". You see, even with two full years of pre-school education, I had no idea how to answer my teacher's question even though I understood fully what she was asking me.  For most of us, education is something we expect to be given. We went through Primary school knowing how to read, write and count. Maybe not very good at it but we sorta know our ways around it. We cannot say the same for our Orang Asli children. Many of them entered Primary school not knowing their ABCs and 123s. This puts them in a significant disadvantage and as they progresses on into Secondary school, more than 80% of the children would have dropped out before they complete Form 5. And the cycle will continue unless we do something about it.

Here's where SUKA Society plugs in the gap. We believe that creating access to pre-school education in their villages by empowering Orang Asli teachers to teach will equip their children with the basic knowledge of writing, reading and counting. This enables the children to enter Primary school with the necessary skillsets. At this juncture, I would like to introduce Haini to you.

Haini is a shy Temiar teacher from the interior of Gua Musang. When I first met her, she barely spoke to me. She attended her first training with us and started teaching in her village. She faced many setbacks and challenges. She even had to move her school to another village due to some complications but she persevered on. She is resilient and determined in her mission to educate her students. 

We invited Haini to join SUKA Society Charity Climb. It will be her first time scaling the great Mount Kinabalu. The purpose of the climb is to raise awareness as well as funds for the Orang Asli pre-school. So here I am! While she's doing the physically demanding task of reaching the peak, I am going to raise fund on her behalf. Any help is truly appreciated! Haini and I thank you in advance.