Horses and babies-volunteering in Singapore

I think that many people have the impression that I spent all my time "on holiday". It is true that I am not in paid work whilst being here in Singapore and although I need to spend time doing the usual chores i.e.cooking, cleaning, shopping etc I still have time to try new things like learning to play Mahjong, attend a walking group, visit museums and of course I am extremely lucky to be able to travel and visit many fabulous countries.

A few months after arriving in Singapore I realised that I wouldn't feel satisfied with a daily routine of housework, keeping fit and meeting friends and wanted to do something helpful and meaningful as well so looked for volunteering opportunities.

 I started volunteering with the Singapore Riding for the Disabled and have been helping out there for over 18months. (if interested please see the post I did in April 2015) or http://rdasingapore.org

I volunteer here 1 or 2 mornings a week and love it, I enjoy the contact with the horses and it is incredible to see how the therapy sessions benefit the riders. Above is Lucas, the therapy horse that I currently prepare for and then lead in the sessions. He is gorgeous looking but can be rather lazy and cheeky and I have to have me wits about me all the time. Although he is gentle and patient with his disabled riders he has a nasty habit of becoming a bucking bronco when exercised by the stable staff and none of them like to ride him now!

Then about a year ago I also began volunteering with another organisation called DaySpring which provides a "voluntary welfare service to women and youth-at-risk in Singapore".  http://dayspring.org.sg It is self funded and operates two centres, the first- a residential treatment centre for abused teenage girls and the second- DaySpring New Life Centre, a residential centre for unsupported pregnant women and mothers of newborn babies. I was so excited when I heard about the New Life Centre were looking for volunteers and completed their application form. I went for a meeting, the centre manager seemed quite pleased when I explained about my nursing and Health Visiting background and asked if I would set up a health education and parenting skills programme to suit the residents. 

Unsupported pregnant women can apply to come to the centre and if accepted may live here until their baby is 4 months old (unless they choose to have the baby adopted then they will leave straight after delivery).

I think that pregnant unmarried Singaporean women have a pretty tough time. Some are thought to bring shame upon their family and may be rejected unless they opt to have a termination or adopt the baby. Termination of pregnancy rates in Singapore are reported to be every 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 pregnancies. 

Unmarried women who choose to proceed with the pregnancy and are in work currently only qualify for eight weeks of paid maternity leave, instead of the 16 weeks received by married mothers. However this month the government announced that it is looking into changing this so all pregnant women will benefit from 16 weeks maternity leave. They also are not allowed to apply for an HDB (a housing development board apartment) until they are 35years old.

Every Thursday morning I visit the centre and spent time with the residents, discussing subjects such as preparing for labour & delivery, baby care, breast feeding, home safety, child development & mothers mental health. Sometimes they just want to chat and offload and this has given me an insight into some of the issues and difficulties that these young women face.
In a lot of ways it feels a bit like I'm Health Visiting again and by helping out even in a small way  helps me feel more settled here plus I have the pleasure of cuddling beautiful newborn babies!

There are many different volunteer opportunities in Singapore, I'm sure there is something to suit everyone whether their interest and skills are in teaching a foreign language, reading with young children, fostering, hospice care, training as a museum guide, selling handicrafts to fund the building of a women's hospital in Cambodian, the possibilities seem almost endless. I feel very happy with my current 'duties' and also lucky to have found a means of continuing with two of my interests i.e. horses and helping young mums with their babies

Out of the jungle and down the river- Borneo part 2

We left Tabin Wildlife Reserve after a wonderful three days. On the way to our next destination we stopped off to visit Gomantong Caves, made internationally famous by David Attenborough (who is referred to locally as "Sir David") who filmed here for the Planet Earth series. It is the largest cave in Sabah and the main source of edible bird's nests, thousands of Swiftlets and Wrinkle lipped bats live inside. As we approached the cave one of the nest collectors pointed out a 'visitor' who was making her nest in the trees near to the cave entrance 

We were thrilled to see another wild Orang Utan so close up

Once inside the cave we were advised to put something on our heads to protect us from falling bat or bird droppings, and a mask to filter the strong stench of ammonia from the large pile of guano in the centre. We were told the guano is left there as a 'cushion' in case any collectors fall from their ladders-the mind boggled with what it would be like falling into that pile of ....!

It wasn't harvesting time when we visited, the Sabah Government controls the harvesting of the nests, to help protect the birds and therefore the supply. Inspection is carried out before the twice yearly harvesting begins to ensure that 90% of the season's fledglings have flown. 

As well as the thousands of swiftlets and bats the cave is also home to several snakes, one of which we saw curled up on a ledge, our guide said it was a blind snake and eats any bats and birds that fall to the cave floor. There were also millions of cockroaches, we had to hold our nerves as we walked along the boardwalks, as the walls, railings and floor was covered in crawling cockroaches!

Outside we saw the longhouse where the collectors live and the wooden ladders and poles used to access the nests high up in the caves

 and high up above the cave entrance a small hut where a few men live to guard the caves from unlicensed nest collectors. The nests are made from swiftlet's saliva and fetch a very high price (apparently they are the most expensive animal product consumed by humans) particularly within the  Chinese community where they are regarded as highly nutritious and to have an exquisite flavour, bird's nest soup is commonly served at special occasions like Chinese New Year and banquets.

walking back to the car park we saw a group of Maroon Langurs

and this lovely prickly caterpillar

We drove on to a small village on the Kintabangan River where we waited for a boat to take us up river to Sukau Rainforest Lodge where we would be staying for the next two nights 

 Sukau lodge was used by 'Sir David' and his film crew and there was plenty of information and photographs around the premises chronicling the event

From the dining area we had a wonderful view of the setting sun and rising mists on the Kinabatangan River

 We were up very early the next morning for the first river safari, the guide that we had been introduced to had been re-allocated somewhere else so we were attached to another guide and her 4 guests. This guide was very young and sadly did not seem not that interested in informing us about the wildlife nor search very hard to spot anything

But we did spot several Oriental Darters, also called the Snake-bird. These birds like the Cormorant are sometimes used to catch fish, a ring is tied around their necks so they are unable to swallow the fish they catch

 and lots of Egrets,including Little, Great, Chinese and Cattle Egrets. I still am not sure which one is which!

 a good sized Water Monitor Lizard

 lots more hornbills- this is a pair of  Black Hornbills, confusingly the male has a white casque on top of it's bill only the female has a completely black bill

and these little cuties are Blue Eared Kingfishers

We headed back in time for breakfast, the cheerful cook agreed that he has a great kitchen overlooking the river although the monkeys can be annoying as they try and pinch food the moment he turns his back

 After refuelling we joined the guided trip along the boardwalk looking at the plant life including these lianas and fig trees

Tucked amongst the trees I spotted this bird, a Scarlet Rumped Trogon

We were really keen to try and find Pygmy Elephants which live in the area, but were told that they  had last been sighted far downriver. Determined to find them we arranged for their best guide to take us to where the elephants might be. This guide was brilliant, he was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and obviously loved his job and within moments of leaving the lodge he had spotted eagles, hornbills, lots of other birds and Proboscis Monkeys with their bizarre noses

Two hours later and many miles down river we were rewarded with the sight of several elephants bathing in the river

we sat and quietly watched them for a long while enjoying every moment

Even more were on the land, our guide counted 31 elephants and said that there were likely be even more out of sight 

Being in a boat our guide explained that the elephants would not feel threatened and we could get very close, actually very close!

Then a mum and baby arrived, the baby was only a few months old and his mum was very protective of him/her

As they left the river and walked back into the jungle out of sight we headed back to the lodge bu stopped to see this Macaque eating water hyacinth leaves

and then a few feet away from him I suddenly spied an enormous Estuarine Crocodile resting under the overhanging branches  

before I could get a good photo he quickly and silently slipped into the river and out of sight, quite unnerving when in a small boat knowing he was only a few feet away

Further on our guide became very excited when he heard a bird singing, he searched the bushes and  delightedly pointed out a rather plain looking bird, he said it was a Straw headed Bulbul and is now rarely seen due to people trapping them to sell on as caged singing birds.

As it was getting late animals were starting to find their beds for the night, below are some Siver Langurs (Grey Leaf Monkeys) and one Maroon Langur (Red Leaf Monkey) although different species they happily live together

it was getting dark and we had a stunning sunset as we made it back to the lodge

On our final morning we chatted with several other guests who had heard about our trip to find the elephants, they were very envious

we hoped that we might spot them again as our journey down river and to the town of Sandakan would pass very close by to where we had seen them.

On route we passed small villages

we persuaded the guide, who was initially very reluctant but with 12 people pleading with him he finally agreed to to take the detour to find the elephants and luckily they were still in the area-everyone was thrilled to see them

It's clear that elephants love water

We couldn't spend long watching them this time as we had a long boat journey ahead of us

out of the mouth of the Kinabatangan River and into the Sulu Sea

We landed at Sandakan jetty, Sandakan is on the north east coast of Borneo and is a major port for oil, tobacco and coffee and a convenient stepping stone over to the Philippine Islands only 26 kms away

We had one more wildlife event planned- a visit to the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre which had been founded in 1964, to rehabilitate orphan orang-utans. About 60 to 80 orang utans live free in the reserve, approximately 700 have been rehabilitated and returned to the wild since the centre opened

It was lovely to again have the opportunity to see these entertaining and endearing animals but Papa T, JN and I agreed that it wasn't quite as exciting as actually seeing them in the wild

Some orang utans and macaques arrive for feeding time. As the animals become more independent they feed in the surrounding jungle and stop coming to feeding time-then the staff know they are ready to be reintroduced to the wild at safe places such as Sukau and Tabin where we had just visited

Heading back down the track our guide pointed out a small green viper only a few feet away from us

Our jungle and river adventure was now nearly at an end, the whole experience had been wonderful but pretty 'full on' with early morning starts, night walks and drives, long walks and boat trips, it had also been quite tiring being on the alert all the time spotting whatever we could so I had arranged for us to spend the last 2 nights at Bunga Raya, the very beautiful and peaceful beach resort on Gaya island just off the coast of Kota Kinabalu.

Here we swam, snorkelled, relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful environment. It is only possible to get here by boat and the only transport on the island are golf buggy's or walking, everyday the boat brings in fresh food 

On Easter morning JN surprised me by giving us a chocolate easter egg she had bought a few days before in Sandakan, somehow she had managed to keep it cool and unbroken-not an easy task in the tropics

Happy Easter everyone