COVID-19 Humanitarian Relief

  • 97,030

    PPE Garments

  • 70%

    Donated to Sarawak General Hospital

  • 156

    Volunteers

  • RM329,988.09

    Financial Donations

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We sought to equip every frontliner within our reach with sufficient and adequate PPE protection. Every PPE garment delivered was donated, so that they would not have any requirement for purchase.

When COVID-19 crippled the world, Sarawak was not spared. A pressing issue in the advent of the pandemic was that PPE supplies in designated COVID-19 hospitals fell to critically low levels with very little visibility of replenishment due to the immediate slowdown in flights. On the second week of lockdown, Tanoti had mobilised a group of sewists to produce PPE for distribution to COVID-19 frontline facilities. During the peak of this emergency, Tanoti supplied 1000 pieces of PPE per day to the Sarawak General Hospital alone.

As the pandemic prolonged, Tanoti’s network of sewists and list of beneficiaries grew In tandem. The PPE project continued for 15 months, and eventually closed in June 2021 with a total of 97,030 PPE garments and 20,035 face shields supplied to frontliners across Sabah and Sarawak.

A total of 190 donors contributed to this project, totalling RM329,988.09 in cash and many others in kind. We also welcomed more than 20 volunteers who came in to help – designing, packing, delivering and organising supplies.

We are most grateful to all the kind souls who supported the PPE project – through their own personal efforts or via their organisations, because it was through them that we found the drive to persist.

Longhouse Fire Relief

  • 2

    Remote Villages

  • 29

    Families

  • 70

    Donors

  • 7

    Corporate Partners

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Long Balau

Long Balau, a Penan village nestled In the rainforests of Magoh River, Ulu Baram, is home to a beautiful community of rattan weavers. Their main structure, a 12-room longhouse, was the epicentre of activities within the village. In November 2020, the longhouse suffered a devastating fire and the entire longhouse structure was burned to the ground. Tanoti commenced an intensive fund-raising exercise towards the two objectives : immediately, for fire relief; and subsequently, for the rebuilding of the longhouse.

A total of RM58,836.78 was raised in this campaign. These funds have allowed us to purchase critical building materials which were transported to site and handed over to start rebuilding. By April 2021, using principally the materials donated by Tanoti, an entire back section of the longhouse had been completed, allowing the longhouse residents to enjoy permanent shelters.


A total of 28 donors contributed to this project, comprising local and international institutions and private individuals. The local contractor in that area, Lee Ling Construction, provided critical transportation of the materials. We thank the kind donors who extended support to this beautiful community, such that they were able rebuild their homes and their lives within such a short amount of time.

Long Kerangan

The longhouse of Long Kerangan in the Apoh region of Ulu Baram houses 17 families and 70 inhabitants. In the evening of 6 March 2024, an electrical spark caused a fire which razed the entire longhouse to the ground. The displaced fire victims have taken shelter in different locations : at the village church; at the village market (modified with partition); and in the homes of surrounding houses which were spared from fire.

Tanoti again initiated a call for donations to provide them immediate relief as well as to provide them with critical tools and equipments to build temporary shelters.

A total of RM12,808 cash was raised in this campaign, allowing us to fund aid logistics, two chainsaws and critical household items for this project. In addition, we amassed very encouraging support from corporate and community donors towards providing fire relief to the people of Long Kerangan.

We are indebted to the kindness and quick actions of the following organisations for offering contributions in your respective fields : Petros, Maybank Foundation, UNIQLO, Kuching CSSC, Mr DIY, Safewater Asia, Rotary Club Kuching Central and Weida Berhad.

Production Supply of Fabric Face Mask

  • 89

    Sewists

  • 60

    Schools

  • 28,456

    Students

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In August 2020, when schools first reopened after the initial COVID-19 lockdowns, there was anxiety amongst parents and teachers of the inherent risk of virus spreading.

The district of Kota Samarahan was marked a Red Zone, recording very high COVID-19 casualties in the height of the pandemic. Tanoti had embarked on a project to produce fabric face masks to be distributed to all the public school students in Kota Samarahan.

In this project, Tanoti’s prototype fabric mask was tested at the dust mask laboratory of National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and cleared for use. We engaged 89 home sewists to produce the masks and distributed two pieces each, to 60 schools in Kota Samarahan, totalling 28,458 students.

This project has received funding from Yayasan Hasanah and support from private individual donors. We acknowledge all those who supported this effort, which had effectively allowed school students to be protected from harm when the contagion continued to exist.

Production and Supply of Reusable Cloth Diapers

  • 87

    Home Sewists

  • 5000

    Recipients

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In 2022/2023, the increase in oil price following geopolitical tensions have led to sharp increases in the price of non-price controlled household goods.

For many households with babies and toddlers, disposable diapers have become an essential good. This product has also seen severe price hikes, and coupled with the cost of logistics, diapers are on the verge of becoming unaffordable for many rural and remotely located families.

We observed this issue in various non-urban regions and instituted a project to produce cloth diapers which are safe, convenient and sustainable. Tanoti is midway through this project which targets 5000 recipients of reusable cloth diaper packs throughout Sarawak.

This project has received funding from Yayasan Hasanah and support from Rotary Club Kuching Central as well as from private individual donors. Together with our donors, we hope that this project will catalyse a switch towards cloth diapers and plant seeds for Malaysians to lead a more sustainable way of life.