A Road too Far

A memorable journey

By AV Latinggam

Kampung Sonsogon Magandai Kota Marudu

Kampung Sonsogon Magandai is sited 30 kilometres away from Kota Marudu Township. It is a remote village that is made more remote by the road condition to that place. It not too far considering kilometres, but the road situation makes it feel like one is travelling so far and long into the village. Beauty in nature surrounding it may be a plus for visitors,  but for the people there the road condition is their grief and their grievance.

For those who are driving and their passengers, they will be rolled, rattled and trundled through rough terrain. The road is really bad, its screams ‘bad’.

On a recent journey there on an assignment, a group of people and I were stuck in mud seven times and had to be dug up and pulled by an accompanying truck; raced through 15 very deep muddy patch of road, slide down muddy road and  zigzagged crazily up and down the muddy path. As if that’s not enough we crossed a river! We travelled five hours to reach the village and another four out.

No wonder the villagers are grumbling.

Village headman Majan Sampun, 69, says he and his fellow villagers have longed for a good road for a long time.

Beauty in the forest

He recalls a better road there when timber was still in abundance. It was never sealed but at least the road was accessible, they could walk out to town or maybe get a lift from lorries or four wheel drive driving back and forth the village.

“And then the road was left unattended for years. The log bridge over the river broke and then we cannot walk across anymore. We waded through the river on a shallow part. If we had lifts from four wheel drives, we may be able to cross over in comfort.”

“After that we will walk until we get too tired and then we will rest. We usually make it to town in two days if we walked. If we are lucky we can get lifts and get there in a day.”

He shares that he did not mind walking if he really had to, but not everyone wanted to do that.

“The sick cannot make it to town, the vehicle bumping and trundling will make them worse. We have brought a few sick villagers on the road, some died on the way. We had to turn back half way to town,” he shares.

According to him, the village does receive flying doctor service  every month, but at times they would not be able to do so, especially when it’s windy and rainy.

Stuck in the mud!

We've only just begun!

“Sick people can’t pick a fair-weather day to be ill. If bad weather continues for a week, he would either be too sick to care about getting well by then or he would be dead,” he shares.

“We need a clinic here, with at least a nurse in attendance. There may be only 81 houses here with 312 people, but we are also entitled to basic health facilities. I hope the relevant authorities can build us a clinic, and accord us a nurse to attend to us.  There are mothers who need medical facilities to give birth, children sick and the elderly too,” the father of five children shares.

On the economy, he says they are all sustenance farmers. They plant yam and tapioca for food, while some have paddy fields.  Others plant vegetables for their own consumption.

“It would be good if we can market some of our goods in Kota Marudu, so we can earn some money. We need money for our children’s schooling and for our salt and other type of food that we cannot grow on our own.”

A Friendly Hand...Pull!!

The River Crossing

“If we have a good road, we can market our wares. As it is now, if we carried our produce on our back for 30 kilometres and with a very bad road, at that, it will not be worth our while. By the time we reach town, our vegetable will have been mushed and the price we acquire from our yams and tapioca will not even be able to cover our fare back, if someone is good enough to ferry us back to the village.”

According to him, there are also rubber tappers among them who need access to buyers to sell their ware.

“Therefore I stress once again, please do something about our road. I hope that the relevant authorities will hear our plea. Don’t allow our suffering to continue for the next five years.”

Basil Imal, 41, echoed Majan saying that he is very sad about the lack of clinic and communications in the village.

He shares that they needed more than just periodic visits by flying doctors and government representatives.

“We need a good road, we need electricity, we need communications facilities like telephone and other media. We are so left behind in development. I hope the relevant authorities will listen to us and hear our plea,” he shares.

The authority should look into this problem.