A group of Year 3 and 4 students embarked on a Humanities & Social Sciences Enrichment Trip to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah from 12-15 March 2016, during which they immersed themselves in experiential learning in the areas of anthropology, economics, geography and history.

The first stop was the Sabah State Museum and Heritage Village, where students were able to contextualise their learning experiences by understanding the fascinating history of Sabah. Next, they visited Mari Mari Cultural Village, which was set up to preserve and present tribal ways of life. Students were taken into the houses of various tribes and they discovered each tribe’s distinctive customs. They also learnt how to use traditional hunting weapons, such as the blowpipe, and how to make fire from a piece of bamboo.

The cultural immersion continued the next day when the SOTA team stayed overnight at a longhouse run by a Rungus family. The students learned how to make traditional bead bracelets and were amazed by the sight of a stunning sunset at the Northern tip of Borneo, where the South China Sea meets the Sulu Sea. It was an opportunity for an outdoor lesson on coastal geography, where students witnessed the power of wave erosion and landforms such as cliffs and wave-cut platforms. In the evening, students were treated to cultural performances by members of the tribe.

The family took the students to their padi field the next day, where they were taught to harvest, collect and winnow grains of hill padi. The process was simple but strenuous, as they used a blade recycled from tin cans to cut the rice stalks and a hand-crafted basket to collect the winnowed grains.

The SOTA team left Sabah substantially enriched with an experience of a lifestyle that was different from urban Singapore. The students learned to be more sensitive and aware of the historical, geographical, cultural and economic contexts of different communities, and how, in spite of the differences, we are all very much part of this same fragile and complex world.