Sekolah Harapan Bangsa (School of Hope)

Since the beginning...

I thought about all the places,

especially in Sabah,

where we could build Indonesian schools.

So why not, if we could build one Indonesian school in this area of Ulu Kimanis.

So we can teach children from nearby. Children of Indonesian citizens can learn here.

A school that is called Tunas Harapan Bangsa.

So in the beginning, I felt quite sad.

When I was traveling around and saw children that are still underaged and having to work.

Why do their parents keep bringing them to the work sites?

This has become a problem.

That was when I thought about how I could find a way to build a school in Ulu Kimanis.

In the early stages, we had no teachers at all.

Maybe the word had spread.

So many Indonesians who had teaching certificates

or some degree in education came and applied to become teachers.

In the beginning, two female teachers and one male teacher applied.

Meliati Toding, she is behind us at the moment.

She stayed until now.

She was one of our pioneers.

From the time we started this school, it was a private school.

So the responsibility to cover everything falls with the students' parents.

We pay RM 500 for this place every month.

The building's floor is made with 300 bags of cement.

All of it was donated by Chinese people.

The parents never had to fork out money, not even one cent, for this school.

From the foundation made of 300 bags of cement, and all of the wooden walls were sponsored by the Chinese.

The roof of the entire school was also sponsored by the Chinese.

It was all free.

We only waited for parents to send their children to this school.

They didn't have to lose anything to support this school.

Mr. Petrus is still trying to get Indonesian migrant workers in Sabah to send their kids to school instead of work.

There are many such schools in Sabah that still do not receive support from the Indonesian Government.

(Contact details of Sekolah Harapan Bangsa)