Archive for May, 2008

Chapter 5: Day Three

That July was not only the durian season but also mangosteen and rambutan season. During our one week in Liman Kati, all of us were offered these fruits practically wherever we went. When we went for visiting in each others’ house, durians and rambutans will always be there. I remember once I was ‘forced’ to eat durian by Grandma Chew at 10 pm. Not that I don’t like it, it just that I have had too many. Anyway I took 2 pieces and kept the rest for next day =P

One thing I must also point out is that the rural folks, kids especially – they like to go for a ride on motorcycles. So when those few of us who had access to this mode of transport, the kids will ask you to take them for a ride around Liman Kati. First few times it was okay, kind of fun to explore the area but after a while you’ll get tired of it since the place is not very big. Sometimes we declined and gave excuses but at the same time we don’t want to be such an ass. At times I told them that petrol is expensive and we should cut down on fuel consumption yada yada yada…..and they would plea saying that it will be just a while (not true because they would stop at friends’ house for a visit and since everyone knew everyone in the village they sure have a lot of friends to visit), or they might even offer to pay for the petrol or they will give you one sad look. You tell me how? Most of time, we relented to these kids and ended up riding pillion sometimes up to 3 persons on a motorcycle without helmets touring the village as if it was a brand new place. In a couple of days I can say that I have already seen most of the places including a shortcut through a rubber plantation and it was the same ol’ same ol to me. Now they have been there all their lives but still they can get so excited rounding the same place again and again. I just couldn’t understand why. Perhaps it was the fun riding ko ko and je je or perhaps they like to show us their place or perhaps they like the wind caressing their face, or perhaps they just have nothing much better to do.

Usually in the morning around 7am after the kids were at school, Grandma Chew and I will go to a kopihouse (a house operating noodle stall) nearby and have a plate of noodle and a cup of milo for breakfast before my turn to go to the village. Sometimes in the evening (we usually have a few hours or so spare time before the next agenda) Shu Ping and Bo Ann will insist on bringing me for a bowl of laksa this time in a different kopihouse nearby. They claimed the laksa as ‘hou hou sek’ (very very delicious) and apparently it was quite popular among the people there (you can see there’s always people eating). If you want, next time I bring you there and you can judge it for yourself. Sometimes if we didn’t go for laksa we would go for a ride around Liman Kati. Sometimes we (the facilitators) would play basketball together with the kids in a basketball court which is situated near the entrance of the village. Mind you they have a very nice sheltered basketball court there. Sometimes we would just go visiting and have a chat and listen to whatever stories the kids might have. One story was that the bigger kids pop in ecstasy pills on ‘kun yam tan’ (god of mercy celebration day). I was like what the heck??! They get high on ‘kun yam tan’ instead of in the pub or disco?? Geez..But I guess that’s because they do not have such places there and that celebration was perhaps the closest thing they have to a lively night atmosphere. So I always ask the kids whether they’ve tried it or not but they all answered no which was a relieve to me. Anyhow this is a bad influence and I hope they won’t screw their life up just because of celebrating the ‘kun yam tan’ in a wrong way.

There are a lots of things that we do with these kids during our free time (evening and night time mostly). Too bad I don’t have pictures for them. I should have gotten a camera then. Anyway, let’s move on to our day-three activities.

In the morning we had some sort of a motivational talk held in the hallteen – this time it was for the upper primary kids who will be taking the UPSR soon. The speaker was again Mr. Tang (the funny man). I’m not sure what he talked to them or whether he managed to really inspire any of these kids to work harder but one thing I’m sure was that he made them laugh with his jokes and funny antics.

Kids and teachers listened intently

He even taught them how to sing this:- (see video)

While the talk was on, I and few others worked on the mural painting.

Not sure whether you can see anything but the trace is there. What we did was we taped the mahjong paper on this piece of wall, use blades to cut the outlines, and use chalk to trace while slowly peeling of the outlines.

We got the paints and tools from a hardware shop nearby. On and off we bought things for the activities from the shops nearby and the tab will be settled by the village committee.

We tried out best to match the original colours of our intended painting

The morning talk ended about noon and we had our lunch break.

‘Mum mum ‘ time. While some were inside eating, some were outside playing

Time to vandalize this playground!! yea…. These swings and play house were meant for kindergarten kids but these big kids couldn’t care less

I guess we were all feeling like little kids after spending the whole day with them

Some took a short nap. Xi Yi you are seriously obese. Please exercise. Xi Yi is very likable among the kids.

After lunch we moved on to the next agenda – a visit to the secondary school in Kuala Kangsar. The objective was to give an insight of various paths after secondary school.

We prepared some sort of personality test but according to feedback, some of the students weren’t interested and asked ridiculous questions. Some did not follow instructions upon completion of the personality test and proceeded to whichever booth they felt like and did not seem serious in listening to what the facilitators had to say. They all agreed that handling smaller kids were better and more fun.

Some were cooperative

See their faces also know they are up to something mischievous

I don’t know what actually happened there as me and few others were doing the painting at the school. The kids will always come and check on our painting and give their comments. Some we nice some weren’t. I’ll tell more about it in later chapters.

Now we apply the paints on the wall. Not bad eh?

The 16 facilitators came back some time before 3pm for the next activity – recycling campaign which involves going around the village collecting recyclable materials. The kids were as usual excited about collecting rubbish..haha. In fact they were excited just about anything we threw at them. Awesome! Students were break into groups and then went around from house to house guided by respective facilitators collecting recyclable materials.

These kids were so obedient

Let’s move out!! There was a lorry to carry our collectibles

We practically knocked into peoples’ home to ask for recyclable materials. Most of them gave newspapers. We taught them how to ask politely. Good kids.

Yea hu…..The sky is getting dark though..

We collected rubbish from bushes as well

And load them all in the lorry

We were almost done with our rounds when it started to rain. Everyone rushed back to the school’s hallteen. We all gathered there for a while, gave ourselves a pat at the back for having done it well. Despite a little drenched the kids were still energetic. By now all the kids were familiar with the chant-and-clap (some sort of like motivational clap) – some were cool enough to initiate them. They’ve seen us doing it on day one and they’ve also been doing it since day one too. Marvelous! I hope they remember all the lessons that they’ve learned today.

We all dispersed back to our respective home and have an evening break and of course the evening activities like the ones I’ve related above ensued.

The kids helped out in stacking up the chairs before going back

After dinner, we all went back to the school for some preparation for the night. My siblings followed me there although it was not time yet. The screen (a lengthy white cloth actually) and the projector was set up for the movie night. The movie ‘I Not Stupid II’ was a good pick as many people (kids as well as parents) came to watch despite many have watched before. Bo Ann now enjoyed following me and was always asking where I would sit during the movie. Since he really wanted me to sit with him I gladly did so. He has a close pal. I call him Ah Kit Chai and the three of us sat together during the movie. It was kinda nice to have a younger brother and I would love to teach him everything that I know. On the other hand Shu Ping as usual were with her close chi muis all the time until the movie ended. Sorry that I don’t have pictures for movie night. I suppose everyone was concentrating on the movie. As the hallteen was turned into a cinema and the surrounding was dark, no one bothered to take any pictures.

Let me digress here to relate something about Shu Ping. Sometimes me, William and Fook Yong would disturb Shu Ping, chasing her around, teasing her (play play only la ). Sometimes she would play along and sometimes she would look at us through the corner of her eyes and any smart guys would know that this is the sign where teasing is not welcomed. But one night (I forgot which night) we overplayed and resulted in Shu Ping crying. We were so afraid particularly for me because she is my foster sister. I was afraid she would tell Grandma Chew that I bully her. Then naturally we tried to console her only to be scolded and given those sharp stares. It was scary! So we seek help from the girls because Shu Ping is a little anti-male so to speak – that’s what I felt anyway and Pei Chie said it was normal for a girl at her age. Of course the girls helped out, chided us along the way to gain her alliance. The three of us even kao towed to Shu Ping asking for forgiveness but we did it with giggles and so gave an impression we weren’t sincere. Then began the girls-only conference in a room in Ngai Yoong’s ‘house’. I don’t know what they talked about inside because guys weren’t allowed to join. I wish I had photos for the whole incident – it was funny and scary at the same time but all was good after that. Shu Ping, Bo Ann and I went back home by motorcycle and she didn’t tell Grandma Chew about it – phew!

Shu Ping and I in happier days. She’s a smart gal and quite pretty too (Pei Chie said that but I too agree)

Sorry for the detour, let’s come back to the movie night. When CD1 ended there was a quiz session in which participants who answered the questions based on the movie correctly got stationeries as prizes. Similar session was held after the end of the show but was cut short as it was getting late. I hoped those questions were more towards morality instead of trivial questions. The purpose was to learn the lessons from the movie. Anyway, the movie night ended at about 10.30pm. Everyone went home after that although some hung around in the village for a yum cha session. I did not join as it was getting late and tomorrow will be a tiring day for these kids and us.

Big kids playing with small kids. This is what the school compound looks like

Coming up next:- Chapter 6: Day Four