Ben's Gap Year in Sabah, Malaysia

 I am about to start a new chapter in my life so I thought that I would give you some information about where I will be going. I will be based at 'San Damiano Boys' Hostel' in Sabah, the Malaysian part of Borneo. On the map I am about two hours from Kota Kinabalu.

 

 

 

 

 

                                 

San Damiano Boy' Hostel is situated in Kiulu approximately two hours from the city of Kota Kinabalu in the quiet foothills of Mount Kinabalu. We have superb views of the mountain as well as the Kiulu River from the hostel. The hostel had become run down when it was under state control. It was taken over by the French monastic order of Brother of St Gabriel who focused on rebuilding, renovating and equipping it. It is attached to a local secondary school and provides accommodation for 60 boys from the interior.  The work that I will do involves additional English and Maths tuition in the morning and afternoons to the boys as they work on a shift system.  I will also be responsible for setting up and running sports coaching as well as other extracurricular activities such as organising weekend expedition trips into the jungle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

PT is a small but experienced gap year organisation who has sent thousands of volunteers overseas over the past 35 years.  They are unique in that they send you abroad for a whole 12 months, so that you can properly appreciate and integrate into a different community from your own, by seeing it through an entire cycle of seasons.  In order to do this, PT asks every volunteer to raise £5,400. PT sends one pair of volunteer to each of its projects.  The projects are vetted to ensure that they do not take away jobs from the local people.  I will be in my project with one other person, Rory Weir.

 

How to contact me in Borneo:
 
The best way to contact me is by e-mail:    wilsbe2008@sky.com

 

My Skype address is:  benny.wils

 

(I have been told that a good time to Skype is 3 - 4 pm UK time. This is about 10- 11 pm in Borneo.)

 

My blog address is:   benwilsoninmalaysia.blogspot.com 

 

However, for those who prefer the good old ways of snail mail, or if you happened to feel like sending me a parcel my postal address is:

 

 Ben Wilson

Montfort Youth Training Centre

Jalan Lama Penampang-Papar

PO Box 612

89507 Penampang

Sabah

 You will note from the address above that it is not possible to write to me direct at the boys' hostel in Kiulu where I will be based but that I can collect post from one of the other projects based in Montfort which is a couple of hours away.

 

Wednesday 21^st August:

 

I depart for Kuala Lumpar, tomorrow, Thursday 22nd August flying Ethiad, via Abu Dhabi and will spend the first few days in KL with all the other PL vols before catching an Air Asia flight to Kota Kinabalu. I will be in KL until Tuesday 27th August  and will then spend a couple of days in Monfort with some other PT vols before heading to my project in Kiulu. This is where my real adventure will well and truly begin........