Some of the volunteers who worked on the mission to restore water supply to Kampung Takulung.
KOTA BELUD: Suria Capital Holdings Bhd was part of the volunteer team that accomplished the noble mission of restoring water supply to 500 villagers in Kampung Takulung, a remote village in Kota Belud recently.
Acknowledging the misery of having insufficient water supply to the households, Suria Capital involved itself as main sponsor for the project, in collaboration with HOPES Malaysia Welfare Association (HOPES), a local non-governmental organization.
The mission was to build a new and sustainable water system to channel gravity water to the villagers comprising 44 families in Kampung 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 Capital and its 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 that took about two hours to reach the village to help complete the works.
Together with the villagers and other volunteers, they assisted in the major tasks which began with building a water tank foundation for the new water tanks on the designated elevated areas at a 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, the Suria Capital team made a follow-up visit to the village to get feedback for the completion of the project. The village chief, Haji Kiai Bin Gampeis expressed his gratitude to Suria Capital, as the sponsor and HOPES as organizer for helping them to improve their daily lives by providing better water supply to their houses and believed that it will improve further after the dry season is over in a few months’ time.
The villagers had been depending on rainwater collected in the tanks as water catchments and the 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 Capital and its subsidiaries, this community project is a new and worthwhile experience as it exposed them to the lives and woes of the rural community and it is hoped this project can be extended to other rural areas in similar needs in line with the company’s mission to care for the community through sustainable living.
The HOPES Malaysia team was led by its president and founder, Sam Lee while Suria was led by Datin Mariam Mahmun, senior manager of Group Corporate Affairs and Communication.