FEATURE The forest path was muddy and it was bumpy, making the ride in the four-wheel drive (4WD) I was in seem like a journey on a boat being tossed by the violent fury of waves on a stormy sea.

I’d imagined it would be almost impossible to make the trip in a regular car.

This was the sensation I felt, driven down the jungle path, as the convoy of 12 4WD finally approached the secluded Semai village, one of the most remote in the Kuala Lipis area.

We were told about this when we visited the Gospel to the Poor mission earlier on our way, a church in Cheroh overseen by Pastor Moses Soo, who serves the Orang Asli communities in Kuala Lipis and Gua Musang.

Pastor Moses briefed us about the living conditions and remoteness of the Semai village in Kuala Lipis, and how he is currently assisting their brethren in Gua Musang who are menaced by floods.

But it was only after our short picnic lunch at a local camping site by the river, and the subsequent ride on the path into the jungle, that all 38 of the volunteers in the group saw, and felt for ourselves how difficult it was to reach the remote Semai villages.

More so, along the highway and forest paths that we took, we saw large tracts of land, formerly forests now turned oil palm plantations, which could only bode ill for the Orang Asli and Semai who depend on the forest for their livelihood.

As the jolting of the 4WD vehicle thankfully slowed down, I started to look around, realising that we were finally there.

The first things that caught my eye were several brick and cement houses which stood out like a sore thumb in the forest clearing.

We were told that these were part of the government rural transformation programme initiative, and while they do have running water, they do not have access to electricity.

Several small bamboo huts inexplicably stood beside the brick houses.

As our 4WD vehicles came to a halt, we got out of the cars, to be greeted by the welcoming smiles on the faces of the Semai children, who shyly waved at us as they ran around barefoot, and some, half-naked.

Some of the children had blonde streaks in their hair, which some may find trendy, but the truth may speak of something else that underscored their plight.

Signs of malnutrition

According to research published in the British Journal of Nutrition, blonde streaks may be a sign of malnutrition, caused by reduction of melanin.

As I explored the village, it became clear to me that the Semai here mostly live in the bamboo houses, unlike the others in settlements 10 minutes away from the village, who have moved into the brick houses that the government provided them..

When I asked Lightup Borneo founder Ong Boon Keong why they chose to live in bamboo houses, he said the Semai are proud of the cosy homes they built themselves and disliked the brick houses as it can get hot as the cement structures traps heat.