Watching a critically ill young woman from the Borneo jungle receive treatment in a makeshift medical shed, Jacky McLaren promised herself she’d find a way to help the embattled Penan tribe.
The Motueka mother-of-two, then 49, was teaching in Brunei and discovered the tribe’s plight while hiking in the neighbouring Malaysian state of Sarawak during her time off.
“I went to a shed that had been set up for people from the rainforest to stay in while awaiting medical treatment,” recalls Jacky,