They came for different reasons, different goals and different dreams.
BASIC: Classrooms and dormitories at Saratok Secondary School.
As for the Canadian couple, they wanted a chance to teach, make a difference, and perhaps, have a bit of adventure.
Others came to learn, grow, and make a future for themselves. Together, they created a special place that would shape their characters and change their lives.
Charlie and Joanne Huskilson were that Canadian couple who came to join fellow Canadian Gordon Tederick at a fledgling secondary school in the jungles of Borneo.
They were volunteers of the Canadian University Service Overseas (CUSO), assigned to teach at Saratok Secondary School in Sarawak. They had never heard of the place.
Tederrick, who later became the principal, wrote to assure them: “The school’s buildings are not too attractive but they serve their purpose, and almost all the students are pleasant to work with and there is no disciplinary problem in the school. You will find it like teaching in Canada.”
Thus assured, the Huskilsons flew half-way round the world from Toronto to Kuching. From Kuching, they took a coastal vessel, probably the Pulau Kidjang, to Sarikei from where they travelled a few hours on gravel road to Saratok.
It was another 4 ½ miles by Landrover on a very muddy road, part of which was submerged in a stream, before they reached the school.
Hilary Giang was one of hundreds of young Sarawakians finding his way in post-independence Malaysia, when schools were few and far between in Sarawak and an education was a hard-earned privilege.
After passing the Sarawak Junior at St Augustine’s Secondary School in Betong, Hilary was excited at the prospect of studying Form 4 at Simanggang Secondary School. Every student aspired to study at Simanggang Secondary School, at that time, the top school in the Second Division.
With high expectations, Hilary and a few of his classmates reported at Simanggang Secondary School, only to be told they had to do their Form Four at Saratok Secondary School.
There was a feeling of dejection and indignation that they had not been informed earlier. They wanted so much to be in Simanggang Secondary instead of the as yet unknown school in Saratok. But they had no choice. They had to return to Betong and head towards Saratok, either travelling on foot by jungle trails for two days or take the river, also a two-day journey but less tiring.
With the help of the late Rev Father Marshall, then the principal of St Augustine’s Secondary School, Hilary, Zulwali Kifli Merawi (now Dr Zulwali), Yong Fan Yie and three others set off from Betong to Saratok by government launch, going “down” the Sungai Saribas, out to sea at Beting Maro, and on to the coastal village of Kabong.
The choppy sea had “knocked them out” so when they arrived at Kabong they were exhausted, hungry and a bit lost. They chanced upon an agricultural assistant, known by the name Chik, who had served in Spaoh, and who used to visit Betong, and so was kind of an acquaintance to them.
As Chik was staying alone in Kabong, Hilary and gang quickly (or desperately) invited themselves to his house for the night but in return, cooked him and themselves a good dinner comprising rice, salted fish and canned stuff. The next day, they made their way “up” the Batang Kalaka, and on to Saratok.
News of their arrival preceded them. They were received by a welcoming party of the school staff.
Like the Huskilsons, they were “huddled into a landrover for a bumpy and back-breaking ride to the school due to the rough and muddy road.”
They had to get out of the landrover from time to time to “enable the machine to get out of the ruts.” It took them one hour to cover that 4 ½-mile stretch.
Hilary and friends found the teachers and students friendly. They integrated well with the rest. As the first Form Four class and the most senior students, they found that “after all, this place was not so bad!”
Damn fit and seldom smiled
Hilary remembers the school principal as Major John Stuart, “a former officer in the British Army who turned to teaching after he retired from the army. He had the stature and charisma of an army officer – tall, well-built, moustached, damn fit and seldom smiled.”
John Stuart never caned a student but he introduced a “merit and demerit” system to enforce discipline. Students who had demerit for breaking rules would be detained over the weekend to do manual work or extra private study instead of going to town.