The village on the Sarawak River has always relied on fishing as its main economic activity, and the 400 villagers struggled to survive.

But now things are looking up for the Samarahan kampung.

NGO Yayasan Sejahtera’s mission is to eradicate poverty in rural communities by providing tools and training to help develop their potential income opportunities.

Three years ago they trained their sights on Kampung Pinggan Jaya’s fortunes.

Suheilah Abu Bakar, chief operating officer of Yayasan Sejahtera said, “We did a survey to see how we could help the community, and we found that some village families were producing gula apong in a small way.”

Gula apong, a natural sweetener made from the sap of nipah palm trees, is used as an alternative to white sugar in local cooking.

“Using firewood and traditional clay pots, they only managed to produce 10 kg a day which they sold at very low prices,” Suheilah explained.

“The nearest industrial gula apong producers are in Pusa, about 5 hours from Kuching,” she said.

“Since gula apong has commercial value, we saw development potential for Kampung Pinggan Jaya. We thought we could help them make a good living out of it.”

Together with Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) they ran a series of training courses to develop the villagers’ ability to produce, package and market their gula apong.

“Unimas also helped them design huge steel pots to produce the sweet stuff. Using these, they are now able to produce 30 kg every day.”

They also gave the village women industrial-sized ovens so they could use gula apong to bake cakes on a commercial scale.

Perhaps this is a sign that Kampung Pinggan Jaya may ultimately live up to its name as a place where gourmet foods are produced.

Meanwhile, Suheilah said the villagers have at least doubled their income.

“They used to earn around RM500 per month but some of them can now earn up to RM3,000.”

Some of the villagers have asked Yayasan Sejahtera to continue with the training but Suheilah said their project was planned to last for 36 months, ending in June this year.

However, that doesn’t mean the villagers are being left high and dry.

“We can try to continue here if we find donors but the most important thing is that now the villagers have realised the importance of education.

“Before, village children were often absent from school, and young people were struggling to find jobs. They were not interested in producing gula apong as nipah palm trees grow in swampy areas and collecting sap is not easy.”

Suheilah said they provided the youngsters with welding equipment and training so they could acquire useful skills instead of loafing around the jetty playing games on their phones.

They also enrolled them in Giatmara, which provides technical and vocational training to youths in rural areas.

She said it will take several more years before Kampung Pinggan Jaya becomes a gula apong hub as there is still a lot to be done.

One vital improvement already in place is that there’s now a better road linking the kampung to Kuching, greatly reducing travelling time.

Yayasan Sejahtera is currently looking for more projects and funding from corporations.

It focuses on households as well as communities, and always monitors the progress of those who receive its aid.

“Our approach is community development. To transform lives is not easy. You can’t just go there and give the community training and then leave,” said Suheilah.

“It doesn’t work that way.”