Kampung Kipouvo

 

Overview:

 

Kampung (Kg) Kipouvo  sits approximately 30 minutes outside of the state capital of Kota Kinabalu.  It is a traditional Kadazan Dusun ethnic group community sitting in the Ulu Moyog area, on the Moyog river.  This area of Sabah is in the foothills of the Crocker Range National Park and is set amongst lush forest and vegetation.  Although the village is not on the poverty line, villagers still rely predominantly on subsistence farming as a means of providing food for their families.  In addition some rubber is tapped from small local plantations and sold to be processed.

 

Camps International has teamed up with PACOS Trust to work in a number of communities across Sabah.  The mainstay of this partnership is helping PACOS to develop additional forms of income for these communities, assisting the village to development yet hold on to its traditional ways of life.

 

 

PACOS Trust Background:

PACOS TRUST (Partners of Community Organisations) is a community based voluntary organisation set up to help raise the quality of life of indigenous communities. Its vision is "to create peaceful and united indigenous communities equipped with knowledge and skills to manage resources and opportunities to support a comfortable life." PACOS strives to empower indigenous communities through:

 

• Systematic building and strengthening of community organisations,
• Strengthening of indigenous knowledge systems on natural resource management,
• Strengthening of positive indigenous values as well as improving early child care and development.

 

Financial contributions from members, individuals and international funding agencies, sustain most of PACOS' activities. Currently they work in approximately 25 communities across Sabah, generally in rural and remote locations. Part of their work is to help with provision of general amenities in the communities such as pre-school education, medical support and mini hydro electric projects. In addition they work hard with communities to establish their rights over community land. Many of these communities were once nomadic and hence had no historic ownership of land. With the establishment of forest reserves and government owned lands for logging, these communities were re-settled into small areas away from their hunting grounds. Some communities are even within reserves and are therefore restricted in what they can do on their own land such as logging or hunting. This has led to conflict and PACOS help communities to stand up for and fight their cause.

 

PACOS also try to help communities to hold onto their traditional ways of life and ensure that these are passed onto the next generation and not lost.  For example knowledge of the trees and plants within the forest is dying as the younger generations move away to the city to find work and a career.  In Kipouvo a small medicine and herb garden has been established to try to ensure that this knowledge is passed on.  The garden was built with aid from external funding and a local lady tends the garden as well as educates visitors and local children. PACOS also try to encourage the villages to create their own mini economic projects in order to earn extra income for the community.  These range from growing a specific cash crop such as mushrooms in the cooler mountain ranges, making and selling traditional beads and necklaces or perhaps running mini agro-tourism projects.

 

Camps International have teamed up with PACOS in order to help them accomplish their aims as well as to provide assistance with larger projects, through both funding and volunteers.  One new component of this relationship is the establishment of a number of homestay programmes within selected communities.  Not only does this provide the community with a source of income from individuals staying in the homestay, it provides employment for several people cleaning and cooking, as well as encouraging to show off their cultural heritage to visitors.  Sabahans are extremely welcoming and friendly people and would share their last grain of rice with a visitor.  Living amongst them will provide visitors with a truly memorable and humbling experience.  You will also get dragged into local celebrations and parties, play sport with them every evening and learn to dance like a local!