File photo show Wan (left) receiving Youth Icon Award from then-Minister of Youth, Sports and Solidarity Dato Sri Michael Manyin. At centre is the present Minister for Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
Prof Cecilia A Essau
IT was only recently that Sarawakians, together with all Malaysians, celebrated National Day – now comes Malaysia Day.
Still, there are those who confuse one with the other.
The Aug 31 celebration marks the date in 1957, when the Federation of Malaya was offi cially declared independent from the British Empire; the Sept 16 occasion commemorates the day in 1963 when North Borneo (Sabah), Sarawak, Singapore and Malaya came together to form Malaysia.
The latter, however, was only gazetted as a public holiday in 2010.
For Prof Cecilia A Essau, Malaysia Day appears more relevant to Sarawakians than National Day, on the basis that the independence declaration of Malaya on Aug 31, 1957 happened before the formation of Malaysia.
The academician is the first Iban woman to have obtained a PhD – she is now a professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Roehampton in London, the UK where she is also the director of Centre for Applied Research and Assessment in Child and Adolescent Wellbeing (Caracaw).
It is touted that she is the only Iban-speaking academic psychologist in the world.
On her view of Malaysia after having been in overseas for so long, she remarks: “Although I have been living abroad for many years, I make it a point to always keep tabs on what’s going on in Malaysia and, of course, in my homeland Sarawak. In fact, I come home almost every year to visit my family and friends. That is a form of maintaining a cultural bond.
“I used to have nannies from Sarawak ti ll my daughter was 10 years old because I wanted her to continue having ti es with this beautiful ‘Land of the Hornbills’ – I got my daughter to learn the Iban language and culture.”
Cecilia even put the word ‘Kumang’ (princess) as her daughter’s middle name.
“It makes me proud to be known as ‘Indai Kumang’ (Kumang’s mother); my husband (a German) is known as ‘Apai Kumang’ (Kumang’s father).”
Proud to be ‘Anak Sarawak’ (‘Child of Sarawak’), Cecilia strives to be the ‘best ambassador’ of her home state, adding that many people in the UK are interested to know about her childhood days in the longhouse and also fellow members of her community.
Her peers and colleagues also respect and admire her determination in upholding and preserving the Iban culture and values.
Super skills for life On her career, Cecilia says her area of research is on youth mental health.
“I’ve written 220 scienti fi c articles and 20 books, which are widely used in universities throughout the world. During the last Research Excellence Framework in the UK, my research received the highest rating because it had the quality that was regarded as having ‘worldleading in originality, significance and rigour’, and also ‘outstanding impacts in terms of their reach and significance’.
“I feel that I could apply my research to the young people in Malaysia by giving them the skills they need to cope with stress, enhance self-confidence and build emotional resilience. This programme, called ‘Super Skills for Life’ that I’ve developed, is widely used in thousands of schools throughout the world,” said Cecilia.
According to her, the young people who participate in this programme have shown not only signifi cant improvements in managing emotional and behavioural problems, but also signifi cant improvements in their academic performance.
In this regard, she hopes to convince the education authorities in Sarawak to implement the ‘Super Skills for Life’ programme in all the schools across the state.
On the recognition of being the first Iban woman to obtain a PhD, Cecilia says this does not change how she feels and behaves.
“I still live a simple and humble life,” she points out. “I cycle or walk to the university, just like I did when I was at school in Sri Aman.
“I prefer a rucksack to a handbag.
I neither wear make-up, nor possess any highly complicated electronic gadget. I often do my own cooking at home rather that eating out at restaurants. I do my own gardening.”
Additionally, Cecilia strives to maintain her proficiency in the Iban language — last year, she set up a Facebook account solely for the purpose of communicating with her friends and relatives only in Iban.
Her message to the Iban community is this: “Believe in yourself, be realistic, have the humility to ask for help from those who are willing to help, and keep focusing on your goals in whatever you do.”
Cecilia received early education in Sarawak and after completing her O-Level, she went to Canada where she went to Hillcrest High School at Thunder Bay in Ontario.
She obtained her Bachelor of Arts in 1983, her Bachelor of Arts (Hons) a year after that and her Masters of Arts in 1985 from the Lakehead University (Canada).
She completed her PhD in 1992 at the University of Konstanz in Germany. Her post-doctoral Degree in Psychology in 2000 was from the University of Bremen, also in Germany.
In between, she had held several academic positions in Canada (Lakehead University), in Austrian (Karl-Franzens University Graz), and Germany (Konstanz and Bremen, as well as Max-Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Technical University Braunschweig and University of Muenster).
She joined Roehampton in May 2004. Apart from her professorship and directorship of Caracaw, she is also the Research Degrees Convener in the Department of Psychology at Roehampton.
In 2011, she was made Fellow of the British Psychological Society in recognition of her contribution to the field.
In 2013, she was given the Norman Munn Distinguished Visiting Scholar Award by Flinders University, Australia. In 2015, she was appointed the Florey Medical Research Foundation Mental Health Visiting Professor by the University of Adelaide – also in Australia.
Committed to volunteerism As Cecilia represents Sarawak pride in the academia, Kelvin Wan highlights the spirit of volunteerism.
The founder of Hope Place Kuching – a homegrown welfare non-governmental organisation (NGO) – observes that Malaysia has ‘travelled quite a distance down the path of nationhood’ since 1963.
Nevertheless, he believes that there are more that need to be accomplished in enhancing the well-being of all Malaysians, especially Sarawakians – both in the rural and urban areas.
His founding of Hope Place in 2012 was neither for any recognition, nor for the limelight.
“I never feel ‘enough’ – the more I do, the more I realise that lots of things need to be done to make the world a better place.”
Wan, who received the Youth Icon (Volunteer) Award from the state government last year, is hoping to secure a land for Hope Place’s own building as soon as possible – he has been applying for this from the Land and Survey Department since 2015.
Should his application is successful, he would want to set up three buildings – one to house the daycare for individuals with special needs (OKUs); one as a skills training centre for youths especially the school-leavers; and another for a clinic and a store. According to him, these facilities would be run by volunteers and fully financed by donations.
On the proposed daycare centre, Wan explains: “A OKU can either be a child or an adult with special needs, or a bedridden senior citizen. Now when it comes to caring for them, more oft en than not, family members are forced into many difficult positions – balancing their time between jobs and taking care of the OKUs, having to quit their jobs to become full-time caregivers because they cannot afford to hire any, or having to send the OKUs to private care service homes.
“This (proposed daycare for OKUs) should improve the quality of life of the OKUs – a way to help them and their families.”
On the training centre, Wan says getting skilled-up for work would put the young people on a pathway to a bright future.
“Skills development triggers a process of empowerment and self-esteem, strengthening the young people’s capacity in helping to address the many challenges in society.”
Wan is also hoping to set up ‘Adopt a Child’ or ‘Sponsor a Child’ programme to help children from poor households gain proper formal education – from primary school to secondary school.
He came up with this idea quite some time ago.
“Families entrapped in extreme poverty often see school as ‘an impossible cost’. The majority of them never had proper formal education and as such, they fail to realise the prospects that come with education. This ‘better to earn money than study’ mindset is forced onto their children; hence, the vicious cycle of poverty.”
Still, Wan realises that without the public support and commitment, it would be a challenge to turn this idea into a reality.
Currently, Hope Place is taking care of nearly 200 families. It runs on public donations to provide assistance to families caring for children and individuals with special needs.
“Hope Place couldn’t be what it is today without all the invaluable support from the public, including the awareness highlighted by the media. I want to say a big ‘thank you’ to all of them – there are many people out there who have big hearts.
“Hope Place has even received donations from foreign donors such as those from Japan, Australia, England, Singapore, the Philippines, Taiwan and China — they got to know about the NGO and its acti viti es via Facebook.”
On his message for Malaysia Day, Wan says everyone can play a role towards a better society.
“Every nation is unique, but in any country we live in, just be proactive in making the environment and community better than they were before.”