Field Programs & Internships
Students and youths that intern with us have the opportunity to ground their academic studies into hands on, practical field experience.
Our Field Programs encourage you to get your feet in the mud, your hands in the dirt, and immerse yourself in the day-to-day goings on of Projek Padi and the lived realities of paddy farmers.
As you get to know the project and team, you will also get acquainted with the 4M's of traditonally processing paddy into rice: Menuai, Menumbuk, Mengasing and Menampi.
Located only an hour and a half away from Kota Kinabalu city, the paddy fields and communities in Tenghilan, Tuaran are highly accessible for visitors/students who are looking to get their feet in the ground to learn more paddy and rice in Sabah.
Since Projek Padi began in 2020, the initiative has had the joy of hosting of a range local vocational students and international university students from various study programs through Forever Sabah. As a hyper-local initiative, the project offers a small, but wholesome glimpse into community life of a sub-rural rice-farming society.
From seed selection, to planting paddy, making organic fertilizers/compost, weeding, harvesting paddy, processing and packaging (and in almost all cases, eating 😉!), sharing these step-by-step activities with students and visitors offers a fuller understanding of “farm-to-table”.
While some parts of the paddy processing process is now mechanized, communities still retain their traditional rice processing methods. Primarily the 4Ms: Mengogik, Menampi, Menirih, Menumbok.
These field immersions not only provide a grounded learning experience for students, the inter-generational and cross-cultural exchange between our local farmers/project team and (young) visiting internationals brings a sense of connection and encouragement that is simply invaluable.
Visiting in December through January will coincide with the harvesting period.
Weaving the grounded experience from the field and the bigger picture of why we do what we do, students learn more about Forever Sabah (FS) and the work it does from FS colleagues across various projects and Chief Executive Facilitator of Forever Sabah, Cynthia Ong.
Students Groups hosted:
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