KUALA LUMPUR - Being small-sized and only 157 centimetres tall are no hindrance for 25-year-old Nur Sabrina Mohmad Fuad to become a professional scuba diving instructor.
What is more, the profession is considered challenging as well as dominated by men and foreigners even though the sport has been popular in Malaysia for a while.
Sharing her success with Bernama, Nur Sabrina, who hails from Perak, said she first became a diving instructor in 2017 when she was merely 19 years old after she obtained a Divemaster-level diving licence.
"My journey was not planned, but while I was waiting for my Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) results, my parents offered me the chance to go to Pulau Perhentian to follow the Divemaster-level diving course.
"After a year of gaining experience as a Divemaster, I went on to take the Instructor Development Course (IDC) and Instructor Examination (IE) before qualifying as a scuba diving instructor recognised by the Professional Association of Diving (PADI)," said Nur Sabrina, a diving operator in Perhentian Island.
When asked about her choice of career which women rarely pursue, Nur Sabrina said she became interested in it because she noticed that many scuba diving instructors in Malaysia were foreigners.
"Many scuba diving instructors are foreigners, and they are professionals such as engineers and bank employees, but willing to quit just to stay on the island to work, and this made me think...
"So, I felt this is my chance to open the public's eyes, especially for Malay women and those wearing the hijab, that we are capable of being involved in this career thus encouraging more to venture into it," she said.
The eldest of three siblings also shared her experience teaching scuba diving to participants until they obtained a (diving) licence, and this brought her immense satisfaction and happiness.
"There have been students who had a phobia, and panicked when in the water. Some almost gave up but I coaxed them and they managed to overcome their fears until they completed the course,” she said.
Meanwhile, Nur Sabrina's mother Noorazizah Yusof said besides Nur Sabrina, both she and her husband as well as two other children hold scuba diving licences and actively dive in the waters around Pulau Perhentian, Sipadan, Pulau Mabul, Phuket, Similan islands, Aceh, Lombok, Bali, Gili Asahan and the Maldives.
"In the past during each school holidays, we take our children on holidays to the islands, and in 2013, we took the beginner's licence for scuba diving on Pulau Perhentian as we were attracted to this activity.
"It (scuba diving) was just for fun but now it has become a hobby for our family and we will dive together every time we vacation on the island until now," she said.
Noorazizah, a housewife, said she she proud of Nur Sabrina's achievement of becoming a scuba diving instructor which is rarely pursued by today's younger generation.
"We always support whatever Nur Sabrina does because this is her interest. In this way (her career), she can show the beauty of Islam, even though she still wears the hijab and has to keep the boundaries as a Muslim, but she is still able to do challenging tasks," she added. - BERNAMA