The Quiet Heart of Sabah - Celebrating our Unpaid Family Carers

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The article shines a spotlight on unpaid family carers across Sabah, describing them as a quiet and essential workforce supporting the state's welfare and healthcare systems.

These carers include:

  • Spouses

  • Children

  • Grandchildren

  • Siblings

  • Friends

They provide ongoing care, time, energy and emotional support to people who need assistance.

2. The Value of Unpaid Carers

The article emphasises that although the economic value of unpaid care in Sabah would be significant, the real value cannot be measured financially.

Their contribution is reflected in the difference they make to the lives of the people they care for.

What carers commonly do

Family carers may:

  • Respond to midnight care needs

  • Manage complicated medication schedules

  • Attend specialist medical appointments

  • Navigate welfare and social healthcare systems

  • Advocate for their loved ones

  • Prepare meals

  • Assist with personal hygiene

  • Manage finances

  • Provide emotional reassurance and security

3. The Personal Sacrifice

The article highlights that caring can be:

  • Physically exhausting

  • Emotionally draining

  • A reason to pause or reduce a career

  • A reason to reduce social activities

  • A reason to place personal ambitions on hold

Despite these sacrifices, carers continue their responsibilities because of love, duty and family bonds.

The article describes them as ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

4. “I Am Just His Wife”

The Importance of Recognising Yourself as a Carer

One of the central messages is that many family members do not identify themselves as carers.

Examples given include:

“I am not a carer, I am just her daughter.”

And a husband caring for his wife may simply regard it as part of marriage.

However, not recognizing the caring role can make people less likely to:

  • Ask for help

  • Take adequate rest

  • Recognize their own exhaustion

  • Accept support

Identifying yourself as a carer does not diminish the family relationship. Instead, it acknowledges the additional responsibilities placed on the individual.

The article therefore presents “I am a carer” as an important first step towards self-care and maintaining one's own mental and physical wellbeing.

5. Launch of Persatuan Sokongan Penjagaan Sabah (PSPS)

Date

Friday, 6 November 2026

Location

Penampang, Sabah

The launch introduces Persatuan Sokongan Penjagaan Sabah (PSPS), a new Sabah association established to:

  • Recognise carers

  • Celebrate their contribution

  • Raise awareness about carers

  • Build organized support for carers across Sabah

The founders themselves have experience as family carers.

The article notes that Sabah currently has limited organized support for carers, and PSPS has been established to help address this gap.

6. Message to Sabah's Carers

The article closes with a strong message of recognition:

“I am a carer.”

It encourages unpaid family carers to acknowledge their role, seek assistance and allow others to support them.

The central message is that people who spend their lives caring for others also deserve to be cared for themselves.

7. PSPS Gala Dinner

The Gala Dinner is described as PSPS's first public event.

Theme

“LIVE FULLY. LOVE DEEPLY. TOGETHER.”

Entertainment

The evening features:

  • Evergreen Unlimited, country band

  • Rayner Pailus, known as “Borneo's Elvis”

  • Muazzam Aman, jazz and blues guitarist

8. Event Details

PSPS Gala Dinner

📅 Friday, 6 November 2026
🕕 6:00 PM
📍 ITCC Penampang, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Tables

  • Gold Table: RM3,000

  • Jade Table: RM2,000

  • 10 guests per table

Booking

Telephone: 088 715 885
WhatsApp: 011 1059 3389
Email: PSPSabah2025@gmail.com

9. About PSPS

Persatuan Sokongan Penjagaan Sabah (PSPS) is a Sabah-based NGO focused on:

  • Welfare of carers

  • Carer training

  • Career development

  • Public awareness of Sabah's ageing population

  • Accredited training

  • Career pathways

  • Long-term recognition for carers

The organisation aims to build the structured training, career opportunities and long-term recognition that carers in Sabah have historically lacked.

10. Media Contact

PSPS Media Contact:
Greg King
Tel / WhatsApp: 011 3791 8026

Core editorial message

The strongest message running through the two-page document is:

Sabah's unpaid family carers are an invisible but indispensable part of the community.

The launch of PSPS is positioned not merely as the creation of another NGO, but as a move towards recognition, organized support, training and long-term empowerment for the people who care for Sabah's families every day.

Location: Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

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