Hajah Maimunah binti Abdullah spent her working life as a government school teacher. Ten years before her pension, she asked herself what she would do next, and the answer was to farm. Today her land grows rambutan, jackfruit, durian and vegetables such as sayur bagu and bayam nuhur, and when the fruit season ends she sells lemongrass, turmeric leaves and curry leaves.
Where the work began
She grew up an orphan, the second eldest, with eight younger siblings still in school. At college her allowance was $230. She kept $30 for herself and sent the other $200 back to the village to support them. From there, an interest in business, selling and farming grew on its own.
The land pays it back
For Brunei Fertilizer Industries and the International Year of the Woman Farmer 2026, we made a short documentary about her days on the farm, told in her own words with English and Malay subtitles. She believes there is nothing wrong with women farming. In fact, she thinks it is a good thing, and her advice is simple: if we take care of the land, the land will pay off our hard work.
Don't worry, don't be afraid. As long as we work hard.
Her story, in her element
This is the storytelling we do best: a real farmer, telling her own story in her own words. We followed Hajah Maimunah across her land and filmed her in her element, from the rambutan harvest under the trees to the quiet work of sorting fruit in her hut, and let her voice carry the film. Every line is subtitled in English and Malay, so her story reaches everyone it was made for.
Opening title over a rambutan tree, then Hajah Maimunah introduces herself as a former school teacher, by AICREATIVV, Creative Agency BruneiGloved hands holding freshly picked calamansi, by AICREATIVV, Creative Agency BruneiHajah Maimunah cutting banana leaves with a parang, by AICREATIVV, Creative Agency BruneiHajah Maimunah on a ladder, pruning a fruit tree, by AICREATIVV, Creative Agency BruneiRows of fruit trees in the orchard, by AICREATIVV, Creative Agency BruneiHajah Maimunah walking through her orchard, by AICREATIVV, Creative Agency BruneiA jackfruit ripening on the tree, by AICREATIVV, Creative Agency BruneiHer allowance was $230: she kept $30 and sent $200 home to her siblings, by AICREATIVV, Creative Agency BruneiSorting a fresh rambutan harvest, by AICREATIVV, Creative Agency BruneiThere is nothing wrong with women getting involved in farming, by AICREATIVV, Creative Agency BruneiWide shot of the farm and its red hut, by AICREATIVV, Creative Agency BruneiA farm worker at work among the trees, by AICREATIVV, Creative Agency BruneiYou don't need to go to the gym or do Zumba: farming is exercise too, by AICREATIVV, Creative Agency BruneiTreetops against a pale sky, by AICREATIVV, Creative Agency BruneiHajah Maimunah picking among the trees, by AICREATIVV, Creative Agency BruneiLooking out through the hut doorway to the orchard, by AICREATIVV, Creative Agency BruneiHajah Maimunah by the car at the edge of the farm, by AICREATIVV, Creative Agency BruneiA quiet moment inside the hut, by AICREATIVV, Creative Agency BruneiHajah Maimunah under the rambutan trees, by AICREATIVV, Creative Agency BruneiIf we take care of the land, the land will pay off our hard work, by AICREATIVV, Creative Agency BruneiBehind every harvest is a story of hard work, resilience and dedication, by AICREATIVV, Creative Agency Brunei
