It's All About The Experience
Posts tagged travel
Charity: Rural Service: Epilogue
Jun 7th
We ended our rural service on the 18th of July 2007. Packed with enriching experience and bountiful of tropical fruits, we went our separate ways to spend the remaining of our holidays before the next semester reopens. Few weeks into our new semester, some old buddies came to visit our enchanted UTP. Maybe they’ll enrol into UTP next time.
We promised them we would go back for visits whenever we can. From now on, it’s up to us to maintain the life-long relationship with our foster family, especially with our own bothers and sisters. It’s one of our objectives to guide them throughout. I believe many of us are trying to do that, despite our own busy life =P. I really hope they keep all the memories we had together and one day in the future, perhaps we can hear a saying like:-
“I am what I am today, partly because of my brothers and sisters”
Charity: Rural Service: Chapter 10
Jun 6th
Chapter 10: Departure
Today I woke up with mixed feelings. Partly wanting to go back after having gone through several consecutive tiring days and partly wanting to stay for the sake of these kids. The night before, Bo Ann asked me whether I really had to leave tomorrow. He suggested I stay for one more day. Haiyo…. how to answer that? – I’d love to stay but tomorrow Sri Maju bus it’s going to come and take me away back to UTP. Yea..that’s what.
Goodbye to the lush green village
Ian kindly fetched me down to the village as I had given back my 2 wheeled-machine to the neighbour. We all packed and gathered in the village centre that morning to wait for our bus. The kids (and teachers), right after school time, came to join their parents to bid us off. We took the chance to take our last round of pictures.
Picture with the teachers
Yuih Yee famous finger linkin’ good photo
Yours truly signing off
We brought with us tropical fruits, rambutan mostly, and few with mangosteen, bananas and even durians! We wish we could carry more, but that’s all the mouth-watering delicacies we could haul together with our heavy luggage.
Posing with our hairy-ball harvest
Finally the bus came. We exchanged goodbyes and hugs, and promise to come back for visits. When we started loading and boarding the bus, tears can be seen swelling in the eyes of these kids, who looked at us from below, with heavy hearts. Some were visibly sobbing. That’s when we knew we’ve made an impact in their lives during our one week service there. I hope the kids were motivated by us as much as they have inspired us. I would say our affection for them at the time were pretty much mutual, but alas all good things must come to an end.
Bye kids
I wish to tell you more but I’m overwhelmed by tons of things to say till I don’t know where to start. There are so many different experiences and stories to share. Imagine if 26 of us would write 10 chapters each. We would end up with 260 chapter-worth of stories that can match a good 1-inch thick illustrated textbook. All I can say is that what we have gained and learned and shared was invaluable, and what we have given and taught and passed-on was inestimable.
“Bye Liman Kati”
humbly yours,
the UTP rural service team
Coming up next:- Epilogue
Charity: Rural Service: Chapter 9
Jun 3rd
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
Charity: Rural Service: Chapter 8
May 31st
Chapter 8: Day Six
Until now, we had done service for the folks, for the bigger kids and so for today morning, we did one for the smaller kids. We paid a visit to the kindergarten which is also attached to the primary school. That little classroom is very well decorated and warm.
We invited ourselves in. The little kids all look very cute, so small and innocent. They were shy at first and so we wasted no time and went mixing around trying to bring out the little kid in us. The teacher at that time gladly let us spend sometime with them
We gave them the very same pictures as the ones to the primary kids to colour. Slowly, we warmed up and they accepted us as their friends
Not long after that, we did this.
I think this little girl is soooo adorable (Suet Yeng is also cute…). And she can colour well too. She was absolutely delighted to receive a prize for her effort. A little appreciation goes a long way to build up self-esteem of these kids. Fantastic!
We just played with the kindergarten kids for a while before we proceeded to prepare for the sports day that ran for the whole evening.
Today I have a lot of clips to share. Have a look at the clips below before continuing the story. I find them funny.
Sometimes we got so tired, we’d sleep anywhere
The primary kids had earlier registered for the sports day event. They formed their own groups and signed up for whichever games they were applicable for. May the best team wins!!!
Nope, not for water balloon fight…
But for this! Doink doink doink. Very simple game. I think you can pretty much make out how it was played
There’s one clip for this game but it’s over the limit. I lazy to split!! If you got it uploaded somewhere, please tell me
Liman Kati has a very nice sheltered basketball court. These kids grew up playing basketball there and as a result they are pretty good at it, boys and girls alike.
They even can play well wearing just slippers. I remember, my brother Bo Ann sulked because he was not allowed to play by his own team members. Being a big brother, I had no choice but to take action. So I discussed with the referees so that everyone shall have the chance to play. Fuh…
Dodgeball. Can get rough at times. This time, Bo Ann cried because he did not get a chance to play. He squatted in the middle of the badminton court, feeling rejected and Shu Ping, being a good sister came and complaint to me. So again, I had no choice but to take action. At last he got a chance to play and I was relieved. Fuh…Towards the end, some of us joined in and played just for the fun of it. I must admit, it was kind of exciting whacking opponents with the inflated beach ball. It reminds me of a comedy movie “Dodgeball” that I watched few years back
Typical pingpong game. jia you jia you
Transfer water through straws
Aunties doing line-dancing. Don’t play play. They were quite good. I’ll show you more pictures in Chapter 9
Oh? What are these? Guess which one is mine…
At the end of the day, we’d had already finished our wall painting – one day ahead of schedule. Sports day was just for fun but each team really went all out to win. Kampung kids have got the fighting spirit. If I remember correctly, that evening, they had a mini pasar malam (night market). I bought some fried stuff and drinks for my bro and sis since they liked it so much and was always saying this hou hou sek that hou hou sek. I didn’t mind at all. Those were the least I could do and I was glad to buy them something in return for their hospitality. During dinner, Shu Ping would always scoop large amount of rice for me since she knew I eat a lot. haha.. then she would set them on the table, and also bring in the fork and the spoon and switch on the fan getting ready for everyone to sit down.
So it was nearing the end of our service. Only 1 and a half more days to go. We all of course had in mind what to get as a thank you note to our foster family. I wrote a letter and requested the ever helpful Pei Chie to translate it to Chinese. I also bought some colouring materials and nice little note books for the kids. During this time, I suppose we all felt more or less reluctant to leave because of the nice people that we’ve connected with so well. The villagers treated us so warmly and never once they made us felt like strangers. The kids, needless to say, were just marvellous. Naughty or not, they all had a place in our hearts. We wish we could make much more impact but that was all that we could do in one week’s time. Anyhow, one more day to go. That last few days, we tried to spend as much time as possible with our respective family particularly our own foster brothers and sisters.
Coming up next:- Chapter 9: Day Seven
Charity: Rural Service: Chapter 7
May 29th
Chapter 7: Day Five
Sunday was indeed family day. It was very welcoming to have a rest day after a tiring day the day before. Today, we had a relatively relaxing morning. We had allocated a session for health campaign that involved a health talk, and free check-ups for the rural folks. Unfortunately many did not turn up. I heard that it was a taboo for people who gamble to step into the school compound (gambling is a common culture in Liman Kati). One told me that school is a place for studies and so shall be respected. Another said that school in Cantonese is pronounced as “shue koon” and the word “shue” means lose! Yea.. the latter makes more sense to me. So, that morning superstitious had our health programme dampened as only a handful came. Nevertheless, the talk went on, followed by health check done by qualified medical officers.
Talk given in the hallteen by a doctor
These are some of the brochures and posters that Look and I salvaged from a government building (I forgot the name) near Greentown Mall, Ipoh during our preparation period back then
blood pressure check and blood test
I don’t know whether they felt like kids or not being ‘measured’ like that
This medicine is supposed to kill worms in the stomach. I myself took a few boxes yet I’m still so thin!
Oh no..this is the session I should not have missed..Haih..why you guys didn’t tell me??
I was in front of the school compound working on the wall painting with other friends. For some time during that gloomy morning, it rained but that did not stop us from being Picassos. It was fun painting and chatting at the same time under the cool weather.
I’ll let you see how our masterpiece turn out in the last few chapters
That morning was still breezy after the rain stopped and it made me feel like singing Natasha’s “Unwritten” and dance under the rain with someone. So I hauled this innocent Pikachu on my back and spun around so fast till her eyes became permanently elongated!
She got so disfigured, she wouldn’t want to remove her Pikachu hood!
aaaaa…!!! I want to do plastic surgery d…..
After the morning session ended, we spent the rest of our Sunday with family. I remember Grandma Chew and the kids brought me to Kuala Kangsar for ‘jalan jalan ‘. On the way back, I feel asleep on the bus and had to be woken up by the kids when we reached home. I guess I was really tired.
But at night it was fun and party. The villagers had generously pooled their hard earned money to organized us a bbq party, held in Melvin’s house. We thanked them by partying to the max! And of course the kids joined us too.
BBQers. I remember once we had a durian feast in Ian’s house but I guess nobody took pictures because of our durian infested fingers
When I said generous, I mean it. Look at that holy shit crab!
Celebrated Xi Yi’s birthday too
Below are some random exclusive pictures.
I think Ian drew this
Unless you were there, I bet you have never seen Pei Chie riding a motor before – sans the helmet! It would be weird if you wore a helmet while riding a motor in the village. Everyone would look at you as if you are from the outerspace. So to blend with the ‘crowd’ you’ve got to learn their way too
Some kids were just so adorable you start to get jealous of them. hahaha…PC I want pou pou also
Coming up next:- Chapter 8: Day Six
