Founder and community leader of Penawan Waterfalls Eco Park and Kota Penawan Cooperative, a community collective of Penawan, Pengalih, and Pa’Putih villages in Lower Lawas; nature and water lover; swimming coach
Joseph Yusuf Tai
Like most rural children, I was exposed to farming and basic gardening by my grandmother Saban Balang since the age of 5 years old. She’s taught me about the importance and joy of growing our own foods. Thanks to her, my interest for farming and gardening remains strong even after many years of studying and working in big cities.
My grandfather, Baru Dawat was quite an entrepreneur, and left us quite some legacy in the forested lands around Penawan and Pengalih. Even though he’s passed away before I was born, I’ve inherited his love for nature and now dedicated to protect our reserves from unnecessary development.
Penawan Waterfalls Eco Park
When my father was very sick, I’ve decided to move back to Lawas from Kuala Lumpur. In late 2014, I’ve formed a cooperative together with the community of Penawan (also the descendants of Baru Dawat) for improving the lifelihood of our people. One of our first projects was the establishment of the Penawan Waterfalls Eco Park in the area of land belong to the descendants of Baru Dawat. It is our community effort to protect the forests in the catchment of Sungai Penawan Tuped and Sungai Penawan Telubid as water catchment and wildlife reserve. Through our community-owned eco-tourism programs and supporting economies like permaculture, we hope to bring sustainable income to our community and conservation of Penawan.
Permaculture for conservation
Despite that I couldn’t spend more time with my father before his passing, I am still glad that I’ve managed to move my family back to our village. I really want my children to experience the joy of living in the village, and to learn about the essential life skills in farming and gardening. We have started to farm in 2015, with the cultivation of wet paddy for self-consumption. Soon after, we planted fruits trees, vegetables, and some herbs, also for self-consumption. Lately, we have positioned our farming concept to permaculture practices and hope to promote it to our neighbors and also the whole community of Penawan.
(All photos by M.S. Khoo, unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved.)