Tens of thousands of undocumented immigrant children in the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo Island are not being allowed to go to school. Efforts to change this are under way. Early this year, a community-built education center at a refugee village was inaugurated for 300 undocumented children who previously had never attended school. With support from UNICEF and the Malaysian government, officials hope to replicate this model in other deprived communities.

Traveling to the seaside refugee village of Kampung Numbak, north of Sabah’s capital, Kota Kinabalu, is a gut-churning experience.