Rotary Club awards trio for their service excellence
Published on: Wednesday, February 08, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: Three individuals, who have excelled in their vocation and gone beyond their limits, won the Rotary Vocational Service Excellence Award presented by the Rotary Club of Kota Kinabalu (RCKK), the oldest Rotary Club in Sabah, Monday.They were Toksin Toki, 58, a medical assistant with the Queen Elizabeth Hospital's (QEH) Department of Ophthalmology, Mary Anne K. Baltazar, 30, who is the Outreach Manager of Good Shepherd Services (GSS), Sabah, and Betty Leong, 48, the Principal of SM St Francis Xavier, Keningau.The trio received the prestigious award in the form of a certificate plus RM1,000 cash from the President of RCKK, Jeyan Marimuttu who commended them for having gone the extra mile in their respective professions.
ADVERTISEMENT
He said nominees have to meet certain criteria to qualify for this award."We didn't expect to receive the award. We were somewhat 'shocked' when told the news because we have not accomplished as much as what the Rotarians have done," said the recipients.Earlier, the club's Vocational Service Director, Edward Tan said the Award is designed to recognise an individual who surpasses expectations for exemplary vocational service."These are employees who demonstrate one or more of three attributes, namely Goes above and beyond to serve others with a positive and willing spirit; Demonstrated leadership or an ability to motivate others in pursuit of excellence; and Considered situations and problems from novel and diverse perspectives, as well as addressed challenges in an innovative manner," he explained.
ADVERTISEMENT
Paying tribute to Toksin, nominator Dr Ravi Mandalam said: "Why I identified him is because he goes beyond his line of duty to do his extraordinary bit to support humanity, especially the downtrodden or underprivileged. He has vast experience in Outpatient Department (OPD) services, and Emergency and Trauma setting.
ADVERTISEMENT
"A regular supporter of our club's Avoidable Blindness Outreach (ABO) Camp, he is now assisting us in our massive Cure Cataract Campaign (3C). We are hopeful that the Rotary Club of Likas Bay will join us through a global grant."A Rungus from Kg Barambangon Sikuati, Kudat, Toksin has spent 36 years of his prime life in the Medical and Health Service since 1981. He underwent Ophthalmology training at Chittagong, Bangladesh in 1990. After working in the Kudat District Hospital for about 20 years, he was transferred to QEH2 in 2013. Since April 2014, he has been placed in the QEH1 Department of Ophthalmology.Having more than seven years of experience reaching out to children, youth, women and community, especially in areas of community development, civil society movement and rights awareness, has paid off for Penampang's Mary Anne.In his introduction, nominator Mohd Iskandar said: "Mary Anne has in her own right excelled far beyond many, including some of us Rotarians. She manages the Outreach Programmes of Good Shepherd Services (GSS) in Sabah. She is passionate about human rights and the migrants, refugees and stateless communities."Her dream is that one day, all children in Malaysia, regardless of background, race or status, will be able to have equal opportunities to develop themselves to full potential through education."In 2012, Mary Anne co-founded the Borneo Youth Revolution, a youth civil society movement bringing together young people to raise awareness of the importance of the democratic process. The following year, she represented Malaysia to USA for the Community Solutions Programme, a professional development programme for the best and brightest young global community leaders, in which her project was selected as one of the Top Three in the Women and Gender thematic area.In 2014, she represented Good Shepherd Asia to present her paper for the Symposium of Young People against Slavery: The Greatest Violence against Women, in the presence of Pope Francis in the Vatican. And in 2015, she was selected as a youth leader representing Malaysia for the Young South East Asian Leadership Initiative training programme with an audience with then US President Barrack Obama during his official visit to Malaysia, where her team won first runner-up for the training exercise.Mary Anne, who was the winner of The Outstanding Young Person (TOYP) of Sabah Award 2016 in the Contribution to Children, World Peace or Human Rights Category, was featured in the Daily Express and Breeze Magazine. She is pursuing a Master's degree in Humanities, Arts & Heritage – International Relations at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) under the sponsorship of GSS.Keningau-born Betty, a mother of four, has been in the Education Service since 1988 when she became a teacher. Prior to her current appointment, she was the Principal of SMK Nabawan after serving as Nabawan District Education Officer for two and a half years. Her husband Osman Aganduk is the Principal of SMK Sepulot, Nabawan.Club Treasurer George Taitim Tulas, who nominated Betty, described her as a very passionate, dedicated and visionary educator."She went beyond the boundary of just educating the students by ensuring poor students' easy access to education by sourcing for funds from government agencies for the construction of amenities in the school."Her main target was to reduce student dropouts and to boost the academic achievement of the students," he said.According to Taitim, Betty successfully obtained funding from the Sabah Credit Corporation for the completion of two rural hostels at SK Bunga Raya, Keningau in 2010 and then at SK Ponontomon, Nabawan in 2013. "She worked tirelessly to open the 'Sekoleh Komprehensif 9 Tahun (K9)" in 2014 at SK Pekan Pensiangan towards minimising the school dropout rate at the secondary level in the district."Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
