News: Sepilok as Top Rainforest Centre

The Star - Nation News
Thursday August 9, 2007

Sepilok set to become top rainforest centre

KOTA KINABALU: Sepilok, known worldwide as a premier orang utan conservation area, will consolidate its place in the world map once Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi opens the nearby Rainforest Discovery Centre.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to open the centre, some 30km from Sabah's coastal town of Sandakan, on the first day of his two-day visit to the state from tomorrow.

Located within the 4,500ha Sepilok-Kabili forest reserve, the RM6.7mil centre would, among others, enable visitors to experience a walk within a rainforest and its canopy.

Its director, Datuk Sam Mannan, said the centre demonstrated the importance of the department’s efforts in managing forests for society's benefits.

“It also showcases the department’s continued relevance despite declining timber production from natural forests,” he said yesterday.

Mannan said visitors to the centre would experience the diversity of plants in the rainforest through its Discovery Garden.

He said those arriving at the centre would go through the visitor building which will house an exhibition focusing on forest biology interpretation and biodiversity.

Serendipity

I was out with a bunch of friends whom almost all I met for the first time. Just so happening one of them, L was running for tomorrow Flora London marathon. And I related to him now I was planning to run the New York end of the year and it is also an effort to raise fund for the Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary. He was totally gig for it!! He's from Sandakan that's why! That's as close as home can be for him. Guess he was amazing for the fact I am affliated with something so close to home.

But I did express my sceptism about raising the entire amount: volunteering fees and the trip to New York. He quickly replied, I can always include the cost of the trip to the amount needed to be raised. He doesn't mind doing the New York marathon with me and raise the fund needed!! He has all the corporate network that are willing to throw in $$! I was OVERJOYED. I just announced to everyone (mind me I just met them for like a couple of hours) L is my next BEST Friend. It is like a dream come true! Run in New York with a buddy and raise enough fund for Sepilok!!

Hahaha... that mean I won't really have to set up booth at Covent Garden, holding a banner saying 'Save the Orang Utan!' and wait hopefully for people to donate. Come to think about it, it might just be fun ya!

I will keep up with the progress on this. Let's hope that he is still keen on it. Do come back and find out ya!

Reply for Change of Date for Placement

So I got the reply from Travellers.com about the change. Unfortuately, they have a £15 charge to any date alteration. (Damn it! I should have thought of it earlier!)

The dates they have for around the period I want to go in 2009 are (these dates haven’t been confirmed yet and may change slightly):

16th January 2009 - 8th March 2009

20th March 2009- 17th May 2009

I need to let them know asap. I have not decided yet, so I'll only reply on next Monday.

Change of placement date to early 2009

I have just wrote to Vicky from Travellers.co.uk to change my placement date with Sepilok.

I figured I would like to get an internship at any biotech companies, or consultancies or even banks (someone was urging me to try that as well!) during summer next year. So being away from June to August and then September to November would be too strain on the project. I thought I would spread then out.

Let's see what she say! Wish me luck!

Deposit for Sepilok Volunteer

I have just paid for £90 (and then end of next month another £100) as the deposit for Sepilok Volunteering Program.

So now I am assured a place for the September 2008 program.

I am really looking forward to it, but now I need to decide which marathon do I wan to run for to raise the fund. I really want to go to New York Marathon, it is just a buzz thinking of going there. It would so exciting, my 1st marathon in New York. But I need to be sensible.

I'll try for another month to see if I can do it with NY marathon. If it is not possible, I would just need to do it in London next April.

Wish me luck! Hmm ... Where do these charity people network? I should try to bump into them.

Maybe through Rainforest Foundation ...

Today I found a website that support runners to New York Marathon.

http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/s-International%20Marathons%202007
---on the webpage----
International Marathons 2007

With our travel partners, The Rainforest Foundation is able to offer you the chance to run a Marathon in almost any major city across the World. A small sample of courses is on offer on the left but if there is a marathon that you want to enter and raise money for The Rainforest Foundation then drop us a line.

We’ll pay for your flight, accommodation and entry if you raise our minimum sponsorship. We’ll also offer you any training or nutritional advice you might need along with fundraising tips so that you can hit your fundraising total.

The New York Marathon has for some years been our most popular so if you see that times or dates aren’t confirmed on this or any others, still get in contact so we can look to reserve you your place.

Berlin
Boston
New York
Rome
Tokyo
Please contact Nick Tuchband on 020 7485 0193 for further information or to see what other International Marathons are available

They are located in Central London, I'll go visit them this week. Meeting is much impressionistic than just talking on the phone. Less see if I can do it this way.

Reply from the Chairperson of Sepilok Appeal UK.

It was sad that they won't be able to help me in getting a slot with NY marathon. Maybe I should switch to another marathon, maybe next year's London Marathon. It would just expensive to go to NY on my own £££.

She replied today evening. Here's the email correspondence.

Dear Ulugange,

Thank you for your email regarding the NY Marathon. I regret to inform you that we will be unable to assist you in this matter for you to be able to fund your placement at Sepilok. We take pride in informing our supporters that 84% of the money which is donated to the Appeal actually goes towards plight of the orangutan. This money goes towards projects which the Appeal and Sepilok centre identify. The volunteering project is expensive and a substantial amount of the money goes towards the cost of your flights, accomodation and upkeep.
We wish you luck in raising funds and hope you enjoy your experience at Sepilok.

Kind regards,
Kristina Maurice-Jones
Sepilok Orangutan Appeal UK


----- Original Message -----
From:
To:
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 6:16 PM
Subject: HELP: New York Marathon - Fund Raising for Sepilok VolunteeringProgram with
Travellers

Hey Ms Chairperson,

I am Ulugange, a PhD student with University College London, London UK. I have got a slot with Travellers.com on their Orang Utan Project in Malaysia for September 2008. A long awaited aspiration I have been dreaming to fulfil!

As I am half marathon runner, I set out a challenge for myself to run a full marathon this year. After given it much thoughts, I thought it would be a great idea to raise the fund needed for me to volunteer in this marathon.

I am approaching you with great help in need. As you may know, one of the way (other than paying exorbitant price) to get into NY marathon is joining a charity and raise the target fund they set for you, and then the charity will give you a slot to run. (from what I gathered on the internet, this is my 1st fund-raising run, my previous runs don't require me to raise fund, but pay to run.) So, I was hoping that Sepilok Orang Utan Appeal UK, now a registered charity, would be able to help me to get a run slot in NY marathon so that I can raise fund for the project.

I know that NY marathon UK has their own set of (UK) local charities that runners from UK can sign up for. But the list of charities didn't appeal to me, as I am really passionate about orang utan. The world got to know about
these primates!

Of course, if Chairperson is willing to embark on this, I will be more than grateful to build awareness of this charity organization during the run, like carrying Sepilok Orang Utan Appeal UK flag, wear its t-shirt or pants, carry a recording, broadcasting the effort, or even wear a monkey suit to create impact... throughout the entire 26.2 miles! The return for your organization would be enormous! Just by sheer number, NY marathon is the most grand running event in the world, attracting a 30,000 strong international participants, tens of thousands of volunteers and not forgetting the home crowd of New York city that comes out every year to support runners on that day. The advertising is ubiquitous.

To show my commitment to this fund raising and also as a personal log and commitment, I have set up an official blog to act a medium to communicate with my friends, family and of course sponsors about both my running and later volunteering project in Sepilok. It is a public blog. Blog address is http://pushinglimit.blogspot.com

As you might already know, the fund raised is not solely for my logging and food during the program, but also serves to fund the operation of the sanctuary.

I really hope for your favorable reply. If it is not the case, I hope you would be able to guide me to any organizations that I can seek help from for my purpose. But of course it is my deepest wish that Sepilok Orang Utan Appeal UK would be able to assist me in this.

Hope to hear from you as your soonest. Thank you.

with personal regards,
Ulugange

--------------------------
Ulugange
PhD Student
Institute of Neurology
University College London
Queen Square
London WC1N 3BG

Tel XXXXXXXXXXX
Email xxxxx@ucl.ac.uk
---------------------------

I found that Sepilok Orang Utan is a registered charity in UK!

They are called Sepilok Orang Utan Appeal UK. They have one in Denmark as well.

There's their website: http://www.orangutan-appeal.org.uk/

I'll write to the chairperson tomorrow about getting a place in NY Marathon. Just have to convince my way through!!

Too tired from 3 consecutive days in London. But I am happy today. Now I can increase my network! More chance to raise more $$!! (actually pounds!)

I got a Date fixed for Sepilok! But Problem ...

I called Travellers' Vicky today. I GOT a date: September to November 2008. that's the earliest they can slot me in, as the program is very very popular. To secure a place, I need to pay £90.00.

But they don't have any tie-up with New York Marathon or any charity organizations, as they are independent volunteering facilitator.

I was like, DAMN! What am I gonna do now? But I'll figure something.

The thing is you can only run with a charity. But I did found this travel agent that do let runners to get a place without fund raising, but they need to buy the whole package (travel and logging) from them. It's around £900.00.

If I were included that in, I need to raise close to £3700.00. That's more than double the normal fund need to be raised to get slot in the marathon. It may be pushing too much of the limit. I need to figure another way to do this.

Travellers called!!

But I was in class. I will try to call her again tomorrow, see she work only till one in the afternoon.

Here's her correspondance:

-------------------------------------
Thanks Ulugange, I've been trying to get hold of you to have a chat about the project. If you can give me a call back on 02081443087 that would be great I'm available anytime before 1pm Monday to Friday. I look forward to speaking to you soon.

With kind regards
Vicky

PS: Please include the text of this email in your reply because it helps us
tremendously. Also, if we have attached a PDF document that you cannot access, please let us know and we shall resend it as a word doc - thanks!

Vicky Boughton - Manager
Travellers Worldwide - voluntary placements overseas
7 Mulberry Close, Ferring, West Sussex, BN12 5HY
Tel: +44 (0)1903 502595
Fax: +44 (0)1903 500364
Email: vicky@travellersworldwide.com
Website: www.travellersworldwide.com


Travellers are very proud to introduce their new company, TEFL Time! Get qualified to teach English as a Foreign Language. TEFL Time runs professional UK based weekend courses - see www.tefltime.com for details.

Travellers is a founder member of the Year Out Group

---------end----------


Tomorrow is my run again, I need to get home early from london. 3 mile and i found a tarred route that I can run on.

Signed Up with Travellers.

So I have signed up for Travellers.com yesterday.

Just checked my email this morning, nothing from them yet. will wait for their reply.

I did indicate to them that I would like to run the NY marathon to raise fund, but don't know how to go about it.

Next Up: Sign up with Traveller's for the Orang Utan Volunteering Program

Now that I am starting with my marathon training, I would need to sign up for the Sepilok V program. Just hope that they have slots for me for 2008.

Let's see.