The Kampung Munggu Kopi Women’s Bureau in Serian was established in 2014 with about 80 active members.
“Here, we highly encouraged married women in our village to join the women’s bureau so that their welfare and wellbeing will be taken care of,” said Chairman of Kampung Munggu Kopi Women’s Bureau, Angela Anak Peter Sundang.
Before the women’s bureau was established, Angela noted that the women in the village do not exhibit any spirit of unity as they are not involved in any activities together.
Chairman of Kampung Munggu Kopi Women’s Bureau, Angela Anak Peter Sundang, 44
In taking care of the women’s welfare, Angela said that that they would give the money to new mothers who have just gave birth to help them into entering motherhood.
“A week after any of our members give birth, we will visit her to give her the money and for those who are sick and got admitted to the hospital, we will also visit her,” she added.
She explained that they would use money from the annual membership fee of RM15 per person to generate funds that will then be used to organise various activities for the women’s bureau.
As most of the members of the women’s bureau are housewives and farmers, Angela hopes that through the activities organised by the women’s bureau will give them more exposure.
Member of the Kampung Munggu Kopi Women’s Bureau, Rosy Anak Peter Sundang, 47
Member of the Kampung Munggu Kopi Women’s Bureau, Rosy Anak Peter Sundang said that among the main activity is cooking demonstration.
“As of now, we mostly organised a cooking demonstration making kuih (cakes) at the community hall,”
“Sometimes, when we have guests coming over to our village, the members will get together to cook,” she said.
Apart from that, an allocation was given last year to the women’s bureau to build a store along with purchasing cooking equipment for the women to conduct their cooking activities.
Member of the Kampung Munggu Kopi Women’s Bureau, Ronie Anak Ganot, 52
Another member, Ronie Anak Ganot then added that the women’s bureau is hoping of inviting someone to their village for a cooking demonstration.
“In the near future, we hope to invite someone over to show these women how to cook some dishes that we do not get to cook often,” she said.
Apart from cooking demonstration, Angela said that she hopes the women will be involved in entrepreneurship.
“Some of the women here are weavers and among the crafts they produce includes bemban mats and tambuk (bag),” said Angela.
Kampung Munggu Kopi was formerly known to produce coffee beans where the local community is now trying to revive it back again
However, she lamented that while they do have the weaving skills, they women struggles in marketing their products to potential customers.
“We hope that the women can sell their products at the nearest town, but one of our problems now is that most of us do not have transportation,” she explained.
Soon, Angela added that perhaps the women through the Kampung Munggu Kopi Women’s Bureau can market their products using online marketing to generate extra income and be financially independent.
