Sansarinaga is a happy boy, but he has no one to play with. The other children in the village all have a buffalo to ride on, only Sansarinaga doesn't. So he remains alone. But then he has an idea: using all his skill he carves a buffalo out of wood, and decorates it magnificently. Now he can set off on an expedition… This artistic picture book gives a rare glimpse of the world of the indigenous Rungus people from Borneo.

The Author and Illustrator

Jainal Amambing was born in northeastern Borneo, where he still lives with his family today. He is a member of the Rungus indigenous ethnic group and grew up in one of its traditional communities – a way of life that is becoming more and more marginalised. His pictures show the cultural traditions and the everyday life of the people of Sabah – and enable us to catch an all-too-rare glimpse of the world inhabited by the indigenous Rungus. The work of this self-taught artist, who also cultivates rice, has already been shown in numerous exhibitions in Malaysia, as well as at the 2013 Singapore Biennale. His unique children's books have received several awards.  »On the one hand Sansarinaga's story is based on a fairytale of the Rungus people, an indigenous ethnic group from the federal state of Sabah, in the Malaysian part of the island of Borneo. When I was writing and drawing the story I also remembered my own childhood, on the other hand. In those days we village children liked to play with wooden buffaloes we had made ourselves. Of course these buffaloes couldn't fly as high as the clouds, but because I liked my buffalo so much, I often dreamt that he could fly. That's what inspired me to create this picture book. In this story the wooden buffalo lives on to commemorate a traditional Rungus game. It's important that we don't forget our childhood. If I pack our stories up in books, then they won't get lost.« Jainal Amambing