Chapter 9: Day Seven

Today we had no activities lined up except to play with the kids, putting finishing touches on the mural and clearing up our command centre. I woke up as usual minus the rush to head to the school. I rode to the village on my motor (after or before breakfast I can’t remember). Sometimes, we would gather in the morning in one of the ‘kopihouse’ to have breakfast before going to the school. Maybe this is one of such mornings. Some of the primary kids were having PJ aka physical exercise (PE) period that morning in the basketball court. So we joined them, playing basketball and badminton.

This is how the beautiful basketball court looks like

I wouldn’t want to play basketball with the kids because I knew I would lose..kekeke

Instead, I challenged them on badminton! Actually we weren’t expecting to sweat that morning as the plan was to go the school to clean up our stuff and to put the finishing touches on our beloved mural

But we got so hooked up, we continued playing basketball among ourselves. Some (who really should exercise such as Xi Yi) didn’t join us though. Maybe they were still sleeping nicely

It was a normal school day for the kids today. After we had played and sweated enough, we headed back to the school to clear up our things and took photos with our masterpiece!

Tada! It wasn’t big, but it’s our painting for the kids!

A closer look at our cute mural

Before we packed all the painting materials, a teacher suggested that we include the date as well. So William, Ian and myself (Teik) complied and hence the mark of ‘W i T’ at the bottom .Hehehe… It was just a benign act that by no means we claim all the credit to ourselves as all of us had contributed to the completion this piece of mural

Basically we just hung around, preparing for the closing ceremony and completing our souvenirs for our respective family. In the evening, the selected kids and a few facilitators practised for the closing act. The rest of the evening were spent with our brothers and sisters, and foster families.

The closing ceremony started around 8 pm. Most of the villagers came this time – hah! talking about taboo. There were almost not enough seats to accommodate everyone. The kids were as usual hyperactive, making hell a lot of noise and running about. Of course we didn’t mind or care to control much except when the speeches were on. Some of us grabbed the chance to take pictures around the school compound while waiting for the closing ceremony to start.

Young and old in the hallteen… Fullhouse

After the speech, prizes were given out to the winners of the colouring competition and the sport’s day (if I’ve not mistaken).

Then we proceeded to present our little appreciation gifts to our foster families one by one. Although each of them has the same template, we decorated them as we wished and finally put the picture that we had taken on the opening ceremony in first day.

Yup. This is mine among the 25 others as mentioned in Chapter 8. Yes those are chopsticks and 2 dangling grapes by the side. I don’t know what was I thinking. It was a spur at the moment thing

My first picture taken with my foster family that night

Oh yea..we also get in return certificates for our service. It was a surprise to me as I didn’t know about it. It was like a mark saying “Teik Teik was here in Liman Kati” whuahahaha…Cool!

The atmosphere got more and more excited as the night went along. Some closing performances followed.

Told you the aunties were good. They were doing some sort of like a ‘kiap kiap ‘ dance

‘kiap kiap ‘ also include kick kick

Performance by the kids, Jia Lin, Jun Jia and Ching Shearn based on a ‘wash toilet’ song (no kidding)

Must watch! Solid karaoke performance by Kha Loon and Ngai Yoong. All the aunties including apos (…and a few uncles) wanted Kha Loon’s autograph and can be seen eager to take pictures with their new Liman Kati idol.

That night was explosive. To me, we really let our hair down. The decibel in the hallteen was climaxing by the minute during the performances. Some of us were already playing with the kids and contribute to making more noise. I was one of them. When we all went up to the stage spontaneously we were not holding back anything anymore. I felt the oomph – seriously, though it sounded cliché. I love the way we put a closure to our service.

Much amusement followed after the closing performances. We had a scrumptious feast. The villagers were very generous indeed. There were assortments of pau, noodles, red bean soup and my favourite fruit – watermelons!!! But the best thing was not the food, though it may sound superficial coming from me, it was the vigorous photo takings. Everyone just went crazy trying to fit into the frame no matter how impossible it may seemed.

Feast!!! Help yourself

Xi Yi never stop eating, even when taking photographs

Pei Chie was never seen without the little boy. Might as well just pack him along tomorrow

Mr. G and that yellow shirt girl who’s wearing spectacle were almost in every picture that night. Phenomenal!

Peace was the most flashed sign

Me second time grabbing innocent Pikachu and spun her around. She never learned her lesson. Actually, I was dancing with her along the songs. My lovely partner that night

aaa..my cute Rabbit! He’s got his own style of posing. I love this picture man…

Ching Shearn the chick magnet

My second picture taken with my foster family that night with a new addition – Ah Kit Chai, Bo Ann’s good friend. I think I was holding a Ramli burger

We played, we chatted, we made jokes, we fooled around, we carried the kids, we tried as much as possible to capture the last moments of our presence with the people here in Liman Kati. Tomorrow we will be going back. We and the kids knew that perfectly, but we kept that in our hearts hoping that we wouldn’t have to say goodbye too soon.

I can now proudly say that I can write my own name in Chinese! This particular orange heart on the left was ripped off the wall by Bo Ann and kept in his room. I don’t just love them, I love the way they love me =)

I could not possible describe the way I felt. I thing for sure, there’s hope in them that I wish to see to fuition in many years to come. They are the future generations and may Malaysia be proud to have them in the community for I have seen racial segregation and hatred in them at such young age. I believe what has become of this, is not their fault but ours. This is not a good sign but there’s hope to unity for the betterment of these kids.

Spread the message. Attach this in your site and take a step to a world without borders

visit Malaysian Artistes For Unity for more.

ps: reading the FAQ is recommended.

Coming up next:- Chapter 10: Departure