• Community relations in Khartoum

August 26, 2004

This is the rest area of the school which will be tiled by PAT members come Saturday	The school girls were very excited by the presence of the CR programme organisers	Likewise with the boys at the school

An essential part of the PETRONAS Adventure Team expedition is the Community Relations (CR) Programme. This programme brings the team and PETRONAS as a whole closer to the people and the country. Over the years, the team has distributed gifts, refurbished clinics, schools, entertained and conducted countless clinics in the countries they have visited.

This time the team will be going to the Al Tayeb Saeed Basic School in Khartoum North to work on a rest area for the kids. Joyce Simson will be conducting a science demonstration; she has been given some pointers from PETROSAINS in Kuala Lumpur and hopes to keep the children enthralled with her scientific tricks. The expedition doctor, will also be on hand to give the children a medical checkup.

This time, the CR Programme will be conducted together with all PETRONAS’ partners in Sudan and several Malaysian students.

But before any of this happens, there is a lot of background work and organisation to do. PETRONAS Corporate Affairs staff Farhani Abdul Aziz has been here since last week making sure everything is in place – getting press kits ready, checking on work at the school, rehearsing with the children on their presentation and making sure everyone knows their roles during the programme on Saturday. Today Farhani is joined by Norzita Abdul Samad and Khaleed Abdul Aziz of PETRONAS Motorsports.

Logistics Director Faruk Rahman, on the other hand, is busy meeting with customs officials trying to get the cars cleared by this weekend. According to his sources, the cars are already on the way to Soba inland port, near Khartoum. He hopes we will be able to collect the cars by tonight.

The heat is really getting to the team, most are trying to get used to it by going out as often as possible, not staying in the comfortable air-conditioned rooms. As for the food, we have been quite lucky; the hotel’s coffee house has a Malaysian chef who is ever willing to satisfy our stomachs with ‘roti canai’ for breakfast and a killer ‘nasi goreng’ for lunch.