How a routine visa x-ray led to a life-saving, life-changing Chevening journey

When a culture’s language is lost, a part of its identity is forgotten, left to seep through the sands of time. 

UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) estimates that more than half of the world’s 6,000 languages may go extinct by the end of the century if nothing is done to preserve them, and has classified many as endangered languages. 

One such language is the Malaysian Kelabit, which originates from the Kelabit tribe of northeast Sarawak. As with other dying languages, the Kelabit language is gradually fading due to modernisation, cultural assimilation, and interracial marriage. 

But Malaysian film director and Kelabit author Sarah Lois Dorai is determined to keep her heritage alive through the power of film, books, and her Chevening journey. 

Sarah has directed brand content and commercials for years. Source: Sarah Lois Dorai

A passion for the arts from a young age

Sarah’s love for performance started at a young age.

Like many starry-eyed children, she dreamed of becoming an actress, an aspiration formed from seeing how movies made people feel a certain way and how they could inspire and touch the hearts of many.

But as she got older, she realised that actors were not the main storytellers. It was the film directors behind the scenes who could call the shots and had the power to make decisions.

So she pivoted her dreams to becoming a film director – and an award-winning one at that.

She directed many projects, including the Best Asia & Pacific Music Video “Warrior Spirit” by her cousin Alena Murang. It was also selected as Honourable Mention for Best Costume awards at the UK International Music Video Awards.

But when Covid-19 came about, Sarah found herself at a crossroads.

“The film industry wasn’t doing so well at that time,” says Sarah. “We were the first people to be put out of work and the last people to come back. We ended up questioning our life in general, and I felt there wasn’t much value in what I was doing.” 

But an answer came in the form of a sponsored Instagram post promoting the Chevening scholarship — a scholarship that allows individuals from all over the world to pursue one-year master’s degrees in the UK.

For Sarah, this was the answer she needed, and after a successful application, she began her Chevening journey shortly after.

Sarah enrolled in the Master of Arts, Film & Television Production with Directing at the University of York. Source: Sarah Lois Dorai

A series of unfortunate events hindered her fresh start 

As part of the visa application process to kickstart her Chevening journey, Sarah had to undergo a mandatory chest x-ray for tuberculosis screening.

What was supposed to be a quick in-and-out for the day then took an unexpected turn — one of the life-threatening sorts, in fact.

Sarah’s scans showed a tumour in her lung.

“I actually went through surgery to remove a lump in my breast when I was 19 years old, so finding the lump in my lung wasn’t that shocking to me,” says Sarah. “Going through surgery, getting it out; it wasn’t something that was particularly scary to me, because I had done something similar before. But I didn’t realise that this was so much more severe.”

Even though the removal was successful, the recovery was a difficult one.

After regaining consciousness, Sarah was constantly in pain – she had a tube inserted into her body to drain blood and fluid from her lungs, and had to rely on morphine to get by.

“It was really tough – it was particularly tough on my family because they thought I was going to die,” she says.

The pain didn’t stop her from pursuing her Chevening journey though.

“I initially planned to get to the UK a week earlier to settle in, but everything went out of the window,” says Sarah. “I missed freshers week, I missed the first week of class, and I even had to get onto the plane in a wheelchair.”

Still, despite the tough time she had to go through, Sarah decided to take an optimistic approach to her future, realising that she had been given another shot at life.

“If I had not gotten the award to study at the University of York, I would never have found the tumour, and had I not proceeded with surgery, I would perhaps have missed so much more than freshers week – I may not even be alive today,” wrote Sarah in a LinkedIn post. 

Unfortunately, her tumour wasn’t the only stone that life decided to throw at her.

After she got to the UK, Sarah was robbed – someone stole her credit cards and spent thousands of dollars. Right after she finished the police report, she received an email from her building manager claiming that it was closing down in a month. This meant she had to scramble to find a place amidst the UK’s ongoing housing crisis. 

“I was on a very tight timeline – not just to move in, but also because I had to come back to Malaysia in December to launch my book,” says Sarah. “It was very, very stressful, but I had my husband’s support and help with finances. It took a toll on our savings, of course, and the bank refused to reimburse us – I had to pay back the money that I didn’t even spend!”

Sarah’s husband initially planned to stay with her during her scholarship to support her, but decided to return to Malaysia to work. She then found herself alone in a foreign country, with no friends she knew.

“It took me a couple of months to really feel okay to go out of my house,” she says. “Luckily I had a cousin who was living in London at the time, and she even took a train up to York to stay with me for a weekend. I appreciated that a lot.”

Sarah always wanted to study abroad, but didn’t have the means to when she was younger, so her Chevening journey was a long-awaited opportunity. Source: Sarah Lois Dorai

Her Chevening journey changed her views

Even with a rocky start, Sarah loved her time overseas, and did not expect it to have such an impact on her life. 

“Studying abroad made me realise the capacity for my impact or influence in the world, and society goes beyond just filmmaking,” she says. “As much as it’s something I really love doing, one question I asked myself upon returning was, how can I expand my level of impact?”

“Just by doing one single thing – which was filmmaking – it was quite restricting, and there are so many other things and other skills that I have that can go into other areas. Living abroad and being exposed to all these people assured me that that form of thinking is the right way to go.”

Even after returning, Sarah found solace in the Malaysian Chevening alumni circle, which consisted of many like-minded people who shared similar creative passions. 

“It feels like I’m not alone anymore, and I love that the Chevening opportunity opened up a door I never knew existed,” she says. “If I just stayed in my film bubble, I would have just complained about how bad the industry was, and it’s such a depressive state to be in. So while I can’t change the industry yet, I can change the circle around me.”

Another great takeaway from her experience abroad was learning about the country’s ways of preserving history and culture, which was exactly what she yearned to do with her Kelabit heritage.

Sarah attended open talks, went to art galleries and museums, and connected with like-minded people with similar passions, all of which reinforced her determination to preserve her culture.

“Malaysia is rich with culture and history, but unfortunately, we’re unable to create that interest for people to engage accordingly,” says Sarah. “And when there’s no engagement, there’s no full appreciation, and there’s no willingness or a desire to carry it forward to the next generation.”

Perhaps it’s safe to say that the scholarship not only saved her life, but changed it for the better. And now, she’s using what she learned to change others’ lives as well. 

The first of many Kelabit-English books to come. Source: Sarah Lois Dorai

Making her mark on Indigenous cultures and history

While Sarah still freelances for videos, commercials, and related work, she is also a published author.

During her preparations for her Chevening journey, she also worked on creating a set of bilingual Kelabit-English children’s books – the first of its kind — aimed at documenting and teaching the language and culture of her community. Her wish was to create something physical, rather than write something that could be lost in the endless troves of the Internet.

“It is important to preserve our language. I don’t just mean for Kelabits, but for all cultures,” said Sarah in an interview with the New Sarawak Tribune. “If we do not work to preserve our languages, we risk losing not only our culture, but also our identity.”

In 2022, Sarah received a grant from the Sarawak Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Ministry (MTCP) to fund and publish 1,500 copies.

Her three books, which she co-authored with native Kelabit speakers David Lian Labang and Lillian Lipang Bulan, are aimed not just at children, but for those interested in learning more about the language as well. They launched right before she began her Chevening journey, and are available at select schools & libraries in Sarawak, Malaysia.

“It was so fulfilling, even though I earned no money from it,” she admitted. “Making a profit isn’t the main point anyway; whatever money we make from sales will just go into the next book project.”

“Anun Inih Lem Bubuh Tepu?” teaches children about numbers; “Doo’ Ribed Kijan!” teaches them about Kelabit words for facial features; and “Inih Lun Ruyung Kudih!” teaches them about words used to address immediate family members. 

Sarah also held a pop-up store in the 2024 Borneo Native Festival, where she met many other young indigenous people from mixed heritage backgrounds.

Like her, they were keen to reconnect with their native roots. Surprisingly, she also had international customers from Poland, China, Spain, and more who purchased the books to bring home to their countries. 

“There is a keen and global interest in indigenous narratives,” said Sarah in a LinkedIn post. “As indigenous creatives, we must take up the mantle of telling the stories of our people through whichever art form we best express it in. Not simply because we carry a very unique lens and perspective but because for far too long our narratives have been told by people from outside our communities, often times offering a misrepresentation, misinterpretation and homogenisation of our culture.”

Sarah intends to publish a full-fledged collection of 30 books to continue preserving the Kelabit language, and hopes that this project will spark an interest in other indigenous communities to write their own stories to preserve their heritage and culture.