Outward Bound School Sabah - 28th Meeting of the Board of Trustees

1.  The 28th The Outward Bound Trust of Sabah (OBS) was held on June 19, 2012 and attended by members of the Board and the staff.  The highlights of the meeting was the Chairman's Report, which covered the activities being undertaken by the OBS throughout the year of 2011.  The Chairman, YBhg Dato' Seri Tengku Zainal Adlin considers 2011 an exciting and successful year for OBS as it has conducted a record number of courses (120)  yielding a corresponding highest amount of course fees ever achieved at RM 1.3 million.  What was more remarkable was the fact that this was achieved with limited resources and the small manpower manning it.
2.  Out of the total 3 602 participants, 1 590 attended the professional programmes, 1 234 were local students, 551 were foreign,  principally from Singapore and Brunei and 227  participated with the specialised training modules.
3.  The Management team under the committed and dedicated leadership of Y Bhg Datuk Victor Gabriel William, the Executive Director, provided opportunities for the members of the staff to be exposed and developed in terms of skills, knowledge and competencies.  All the members of the staff had the opportunity of attending the OB International Staff Symposium held in Singapore, followed by an educational trip to Johor Bahru and Melaka.  The contributions of the staff were also recognised through the many awards which include the Best Employee, Most Exemplary Staff, Most Potential Staff and Most Improved Staff.
4.  The facilities at the Kinarut OB continues to be improved and upgraded.
5.  Other activities of note which took place in 2011 include the launching of the GPS Park, OBS Nursery, the Annual Dinner and the Rotary Youth Leadership Award conducted in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Kinabalu Sutera.
6.  Members of the Board of Trustee congratulated the Excutive Director for having brought tremendous results to the OBS during the year and also in getting the staff to work together as a team to bring about the excellent results.
7.  The OB Movement was conceptualized by Kurt Hahn, who, together with two colleagues, established the first OB Centre in Wales in 1941 that provided experiential training targeted for youths 'to practice active citizenship within a self-governing community, to taste vital health as a result of athletic training; to gain self-respect through their suprise of what they can do; to experience (through the seas, the forests, the plains, the rivers or the air) the brotherhood of adventure.'  Hahn's inspiration to develop training programmes for youths to experience the outdoors and work towards personal development was primarily motivated in the effort to overcome the many weaknesses pervasive among them which include decline in fitness due to modern amenities, lack of initiative, decline in care and skill as a result of weakened traditions and craftmanship, erosion of self-discipline contributed by the dependency on drugs, and finally the declining compassion due to the fast pace of modern living.  The OB Movement spread its wings to around 35 countries.  Malaysia established its first OB Centre at Lumut in 1954.  Outward Bound Sabah was incorporated in 1985.  Tengku Adlin has been with OBS since its inception.  Datuk Gariel William joined it in April 1999.