By Dayangku Hidayatul
KUCHING, Aug 16: Charraine Sudin, 33, won first place in the Adult Category of DayakDaily’s writing competition with a tribute piece that also raised awareness about her mother’s longhouse in Sebal, Bintulu.
Originally from Bintulu and now residing in Miri, Charraine previously worked as a veterinary nurse and an immunisation nurse. Following her pregnancy, she had to resign, which then sparked her passion for writing.
“I started looking into writing in my free time after resigning. That was how I came across this competition,” she said when met at the DayakDaily ‘Homestay Odyssey’ Writing Competition Awards Ceremony at a hotel here today.
Despite the challenges she faced in her second trimester and struggling with ‘pregnancy brain’, she pushed through and was able to submit her entry.
As she prepares to welcome her first child this October, Charraine expressed her enthusiasm to embark on her writing journey after delivery, inspired by her win today.
In her entry, she highlighted the importance of preserving her culture and family legacy through the 33-year-old longhouse made from belian wood, which is now slowly disintegrating.
She expressed concern that if heavy rains persist, the longhouse could become submerged—a realisation she came to following previous floods.
Where 52 doors once bustled with life, only 11 remain occupied, while the rest stand abandoned as families moved away in search of greater convenience.
The mother-to-be hopes that efforts to restore and promote the longhouse will preserve its legacy for generations to come. — DayakDaily
