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Malaysian teen stays in tree for exams because of poor Internet

This article is more than 12 months old

KOTA KINABALU : Undergraduate Veveonah Mosibin's village in Malaysia has poor Internet connection.

So she spent 24 hours on top of a tree in the jungle to get the best connection to write chemistry and Malaysian studies examinations that day.

The Universiti Malaysia Sabah student, 18, had to hike up a hill to get there.

She uploaded a video of her effort on YouTube on Saturday and it has since gone viral.

A week earlier she had built a makeshift hut on the hill to have a place to take the exams without fear of a loss of connection.

But heavy rains destroyed it, she said.

So she devised a new plan and climbed to the top of a tree armed with a mosquito net, her mobile phone, a power bank, food and water and stationery to take her exams, the Malay Mail reported.

"While studying off-campus as a result of Covid-19 and the movement control order, Internet access is not readily available," she said.

In remote Kampung Sabana-lang Pitas, some 200km from the state capital, Miss Veveonah considers herself lucky if she can log in to her social media accounts or surf the Internet.

"I needed a strong and uninterrupted connection.

"That was why I chose to hike up a hill to study and later on, challenged myself to stay and sleep on a tree for 24 hours to prepare for my exams," she said.

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With three packets of leaf-wrapped rice (known as linopod), water, some study tools and a mosquito net, the youngest of five siblings set out to carry out her challenge, The Star reported.

Miss Veveonah shared how easy it was for her to climb the tree, find a sturdy, suitable branch to spend the day and night, place her supplies on top and then put up a mosquito net, The Star reported.

She took one exam in the morning and another in the afternoon.

All was well except for a moment when a hornet got caught inside her net and she had to chase it out.

Her lunch and dinner, followed by breakfast the next day, consisted of just the three packs of linopod and water.

After spending the night, she went home to a fuming mother (as seen in the video), who was worried sick.

"All is good as she knows I can take care of myself," she said.

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