Salvation Army carries out community projects in Kota Belud

KOTA BELUD: Singapore Salvation Army (SA), together with its Sabah counterpart, have kickstarted two community projects - rehabilitating abandoned paddy fields and planting of lemongrass - in Kota Belud.

Malaysia’s SA social and community service director, Judy Chun, said the organic paddy project in Kampung Gaur and the lemongrass project in Kampung Timbang Manggaris are in early phase and are expected to benefit more local natives once they matured.

She said this at a simple launching of rehabilitating a dirt road to the proposed lemongrass farm at Kg Timbang Manggaris, jointly done by local social activist Kanul Gindol, and Singapore SA central corps team leader Mark Hall near here yesterday.

In his speech, Kanul thanked Singapore Salvation Army for choosing Kota Belud for its community projects and called on the local natives to participate wholeheartedly in both decision making and implementation of these projects.

“We are grateful for your participation in realising the community’s dream to have a more productive life. To the community, let us use what we already have like the available lands and seek help from local agencies like the nearby Timbang Manggaris Agricultural Institute.

“I also encourage the community to be brave in following through new ideas in businesses without being too dependent on government agencies,” Kanul said.

Also present were Sabah SA church envoy, Anthony Simon, a local SA leader, Andrew Sogindal, as well as few philanthropists.