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Charity: Rural Service: Chapter 6
May 23rd
Chapter 6: Day Four
By now, we had already scored 3 days of service. Today, Saturday the 14th of July 2007 was a very hectic day from morning till the evening. We had “One Day Camp” – though it was not actually a camp but rather a half-day filled with activities confined within the school compound. We had literally lined up activities one after another and as a result, the camp was a mix of anticipation, chaos, frenzy, excitement, screams, jubilation, confusion and exhaustion.
We all had gathered early (some came with their siblings) to prepare for the day. I was particularly busy with the food as we also took charge over their breakfast and lunch. Breakfast, was first in the line up, had been included as part of the activities in the course that I would like to call “Family Unit” – that was the concept for the first half of the day. The day before, we had bought most of the food for the breakfast at a nearby sundry shop (cakes, junk food, cokes and etc.) and some were prepared fresh on that day. On that day itself some more food were bought in fear of shortage. I think we spent a lot to prepare for today.
These are some food for the breakfast. Tee Hooi helped me in setting them up. Ok..I admit it was a wrong choice of shirt I wore on that day. I looked like a drug pusher.
The camp began with registration. Students, dressed in their sports attire (like they were asked to), registered themselves and were subsequently divided into 12 groups named after the Chinese horoscope (from mouse to pig). Each group consisted of equal mix of gender, and upper and lower primary students. After they had all gotten their name tags, they gathered in their respective groups for some ice-breaking session guided by facilitators. The purpose is to make the kids comfortable with their group members (after separated from their usual gang) and to fire up their spirit to gear for the battles ahead. When all was set, kids and students proceeded to the hallteen for a short briefing cum opening session of the “One Day Camp”.
Teachers, kids and us gathered in hallteen for a short briefing of the day
In all that time, facilitators/station masters prepared the game stations situated around the school compound. Score sheets and money coupons were then distributed equally to all facilitators/station masters and once more were briefed on their usage for those who weren’t very sure. We had gone through the plans during our preparation days back in Ipoh but somehow, things would just go amiss during the actual day. That’s what I call reality. Anyway, nothing we UTP students can’t handle!
When the briefing ended our one day camp officially started. The kids by now were very excited and made hell a lot of noise. Their collective decibels can match a hard blown whistle. Once a while, we had to chant out something like “ai de an ching” then the kids would responsively clapped and quieten down. To me it was like mind control. Imagine you were monkeying with your friends, no sign that you were about to stop, when suddenly a spell was uttered and you obeyed like a zombie. Anyway when that was done all too frequent the magic was also fading. The zombied-kids were quick to regain their consciousness and the noise level would sky rocketed in seconds. Then we would do something like this to keep them down:
Ah Look: Who thought I’m handsome say "i"
Yea..everyone thinks Ah Look is handsome. I raised my hand too.
Ok breakfast time. Facilitator of each group handed them the breakfast menu in which they as a group had to decide what they want for breakfast. There are mixtures of healthy and unhealthy food and depending on their choice, points were given. When they are done, the facilitator and representatives will go to the food counter and collect their breakfast. The purpose of this section was to teach them the healthy choice of food. They were told to choose wisely and more points will be given for healthier food. They were also told not to spend all the money for breakfast because they still need them to buy lunch. There were also few food pyramid posters pasted on the walls nearby to aid them. Still, some kids succumbed to ordering junk food – so much for the advice and clue. Anyway, the camp paused for about 45 minutes for breakfast.
Kids and facilitators collect their breakfast here. I was also selling some ecstasy pills that morning for the coming "kun yam tan ".
They fueled up their energy for that morning. JunJia was going round asking kids for comments and more or less be a commentator himself
After breakfast, each group were broken into 2 smaller groups – the upper primary and the lower primary. Upper primary kids will play in 6 different station games cater for their level and similarly for lower primary. So there were total of 12 stations games going on at any one time! Each station was to have 2 game masters and so we were all pretty booked. Everyone had a job to do. In each station, 2 groups competed with each other at a time. Depending on rewarding system, some games gave money to the winning group and others were given points. Each station lasted for 17 minutes and when the time is up, whistle will be blown and the groups will scramble to the next the station. Here are some pictures:
This is station ‘name as many as you can’. A topic is given for example animal, and kids shall name as many as they can in an alocated time
This is ‘matching colour’ station. I think is to test their English if I’m not mistaken
This is ’spot the difference’ station
This is ‘burst the balloon’ station
This is how it looks like on that day. Different stations in different corners
This is ‘build a bridge’ station
This is ‘relate the story’ station where kids have to memorize a story and relate it to another member all the way….
…upstairs. The last person will have to relate it to station master as accurate as possible
This is the math corner
This is the ’spiral run’ station
This is the ‘bombing station’. Yea the bottle is the bomb…and Ang Khian is the bomb timer
This is ‘toss the coin’ station
This is the ‘photographic memory’ station
Actually some stations especially stations for lower primary always ended prematurely. 17 minutes was a little too long. We clearly underestimated their intelligence. Some finished the game in no time and so they had sit around to wait for the whistle. Some did complain about unfairness because those upper primary stations seemed more fun and I quite agree with them. Some facilitators tried to keep them occupied and entertained while they were waiting.
Babysitting. Poor kids, they have to wait while others were playing
The station games ended at 11.30. All the while lunch was prepared hastily because the canteen operator mistakenly thought lunch was supposed to be at 1pm while actually it was to be at noon. So to kill some time, the kids were grouped in the hallteen to cool down. Motivated them a lil’ bit. Did some dancing a lil’ bit. Chit chated a lil’ bit. The lunch menu was handed to them and again they decide as a group what they wanted to eat. When they were done, the lunch was ready just in the nick of time.
Gathered in hallteen to cool down before lunch
Have you seen so many bowls of rice before? The canteen operator warned not to fill the bowls with too much rice or some of the kids might cry
The food and drinks for lunch. Actually nugget is considered unhealthy..but who cares!!!
I must admit lunch was a bit more chaotic than breakfast. Shortage of manpower was the main drawback and insufficient of Coke did not help to satisfy some fussy students. Towards the mid of lunch session, many facilitators lost tract of money spent and how much food was ordered. But since food was aplenty, it was decided that the buying rule should be loosen and those who still wanted to eat could just help themselves to the food. We all had the same food and dined with the kids. Basically ‘Family Unit’ session ended after lunch.
The evening session continued with the egg challenge and the fashion show. No points were considered for these two activities as they were just for fun and to milk their creativity juice.
The groups were given newspapers, some tapes, balloons and strings to build protection for the egg
Some of the inventions
Time to put them to test! Remember kids, it is not the fall that breaks your eggs, it is the stop
I hope this egg is ok because I don’t think it is of any use hanging a balloon as it was not filled with helium
Some broke, some didn’t. Well done. They were still pretty excited with the whole thing
After egg challenge, fashion show was next. Each group was handed a picture depicting traditional wear of a country and were given some newspapers, tissue rolls, plastic bags and straws to make their costumes. I like the Indian girl most…so cute.
I think he’s suppose to be a samurai. He’s a very skilled one because he doesn’t even have to see
Aloha! When you dressed up like a Hawaiian you must do the Waikiki dance
And he’s sporting enough to do it! Applause applause.. Hey my cute Indian girl is there too!
Sawadikap…This boy from Thailand
Ok one last round of photo before I rushed to calculate the points of each group
After that, each student was given a piece of manila card for friends to write their remarks for the day. Actually they were supposed to go around and ask their friends to write what they think about him/her but instead this was what happened:
We were like superstars for a while because all the kids wanted to take our contacts. We gladly obliged and inserted some good comments such as "study hard", "be handsome and pretty always"..yea something like that. When I went back the last time, my bro and sis’s cards were still hanging on the wall together with the souvenir. Nice! BTW, of all pictures, I think this is the best looking picture taken
After this session, a quick sharing session was done in masses instead of what was planned initially. The “manila card activity” session should be done last while the proper sharing should be done in groups facilitated by group facilitators after the fashion show. Anyway, this was done as such in view of kids getting tired and restless. We were tired too. So it was ok. The kids were very good – listened to all of our instructions. I hope they have learned team play and most importantly had loads of fun that day.
After the points were added up, we proceeded to giving out prizes to the top three teams.
And the winner goes to…..(drum roll)
In the end, hampers were given to the top 3 winning groups.
Tiring but a great one day camp
The one day camp ended about 4pm if I’m not mistaken. Everyone went back, washed up and had a good rest and spent more time with families. As for the evening and night, well like I’ve said before – we all had our own agenda. As for me, I couldn’t really remember much of that evening after that as it was since a year ago. But one thing for sure, I’m glad I did rural service in Liman Kati. That day was one of the best days during the whole period of service.
Coming up next:- Chapter 7: Day Five
Charity: Rural Service: Chapter 5
May 18th
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
Charity: Rural Service: Chapter 4
May 15th
Chapter 4: Day Two
Okay… We survived the first day in Liman Kati pretty well. None of us got bitten by stray dogs to say the least. None gone missing. All came back with all sorts of stories, even just for the first night. Awesome! I would say everyone woke up still with the burning desire to make a change and do our best. I guess everyone did more or less get closer to their respective foster family members. Some families had probably brought their new addition to a good dinner on the first night to start the week or perhaps out of courtesy. Of course there are many of us just stayed home eating home-cooked food and fostering better ties with families. For me I had rice with vege, chicken dish and a bowl of soup. Apparently there’s always soup for dinner because my two new siblings wouldn’t want to eat without soup. I slept near 12am on the first day and woke up 7am on Thursday (12/7/07). Today is mini science exhibition in the morning, followed by colouring competition in the evening and a talk on family by Mr. Tang (the funny man) at night.
Mini science exhibition was held in the very same primary school in a classroom next to our command center. Some education props were already set up the night before in that room and we gathered in the morning in our command center to start our service for day two. When we were ready, the kids were brought down groups by groups and facilitators involved took turns to do the explanations.
Some interesting facts. Again of course it’s good to know Chinese. I’ve probably missed out some interesting facts just because I can’t read =(
More exhibits laid in the room
Even more….Education department had done a very good job. Looked very interesting even for a 22-year old like me
Here’s Hooi Yee je je explaining some interesting facts. “Ahem..pay attention pleaseeeee!” Some kids really looked like Shaolin disciples. Can you spot one?
This is how the showroom looked like. Kids and teachers joined in too. Heck, I even bet the teachers actually enjoyed what we’ve came out with
One station at a time. The cute Chee Huey je je doing explanation
Chee Huey and Lee Teng shaking up some explosive concoction. I think is to explain that the reaction of soda powder and vinegar can produce pressure enough to pop the bottle. Perhaps this might make them interested in becoming a chemical engineer.. hehehe..
View from another angle. The kids were pretty excited to see the white foam oozing out
See, this is a volcano (more like an anthill to me). If you remember, in chapter 2 I said I would explain how it works. But I won’t so I’ll pass this Jun Jia. Wait do you notice the boy smilling widely? I tagged him rabbit because he’s cute like a rabbit with his pronounce front teeth. I try to remember kids’ name but they are all in Chinese so I’ve no choice but to give them nicknames
Live in action!
Jun Jia said if you pour some soda powder and add some coke in it, you’ll get a live volcano. Ok I might have interpreted his explanation in Chinese wrongly but anyhow that was how they created the volcanic scene. Jun Jia of course expertly told them everything that is to know about volcano in the right way. What’s going on outside BTW? Hmmm….
Suet Yeng did the volcano experiment for the next group. But I pity her, because the dude across the table (see where she is looking?) is a GANGSTER! It was like a scene in Hong Kong mafia movie where, when you and your friends were enjoying steamboat by the street in Tsim Tsa Tsui, a gangster dude with his cohorts come and tou luin (make a mess with you). In this case, this dude also famously known as Mr. G to us, together with his cohorts (see the left and right to him? – at least is multiracial here to show M’sia boleh spirit) disturbed Suet Yeng’s presentation. I imagined the duel was like this:
Suet Yeng: Now, I’m going to pour the carbonated drink into the valcano to simulate a live volcano.
Mr. G: Oi!! Give me the Pepsi!
Suet Yeng: If I give it to you, I can’t show other students how a volcano behaves, can I?
calefe (extra casts): Hear hear….(applause to Suet Yeng)
Mr. G: I don’t care! Give me the Pepsi. I want to drink! I’m thirsty now! Besides you are wasting food. Do you know how many people do not have access to clean water?????
calefe (extra casts): Hear hear….(applause to Mr. G)
Suet Yeng: Ok I will give it to you….after I mix with the soda powder. Do you know that it tastes better after mixing soda powder? Think if you have a soda drink it tastes good. What do you think it tastes like when it contains 100x soda powder? Sure explosive!! I’m sure you’ll like it. Okay?
calefe (extra casts): Hear hear….(applause to Suet Yeng). She has a point there!
Mr. G: Hmmm…I guess so… Ok bring it on!
Now people this is how a university student uses her knowledge to get her out of a tight situation with a rowdy bastard. Don’t it just makes you wanna be like Suet Yeng? Go ahead kids, enroll yourself in a university or college, then you can be as smart as Suet Yeng je je. I bet Mr. G got his explosion in the toilet, or perhaps halfway there. Anyway let’s have a closer look at who this Mr. G is.
This is Mr. G. You know every gangster boss will have a bigger boss behind. Just like in this picture. Even the teacher was afraid when the two teamed up
Get back to education. Jia Lin was showing the wonder of UV light. I guess to the kids, it was like superman’s eyes instead of getting to understand light wavelength
Getting some electric and electronics knowledge
yea some kids needed better view. Boon How explaining how electrons work and the wonder of current! – of course in a much simpler sense -
Quiz time! Which ones are conductor and which ones insulator?
Tada! Whoa….lampu menyalala cikgu Teck Guan!
One last look at the science exhibition
Told you the science fair was interesting! Even big kids were enjoying. Do you see the boy with the mouth curved down? I’ll tell you why he kept his face like that in a while.
I took a break to speak in Cantonese to these people. It was draining my energy to speak in Mandarin! Geez. Anyway, most of my morning were spent tracing the mural painting on the wall. The wall is at the front of the school. Too bad I don’t have any pictures for this process.
Right, this was what was happening outside! Registration for the arts competition later this evening (or was it for sports competition this Saturday?) I forgot, Damn…=P Anyhow, whatever activities we have planned received very good response from these kids. Great!
So this boy here looked like that because he just had his front teeth removed. He wouldn’t want to open his mouth.
This was our command/operation center aka lepak place. We had most of our lunch there.
In the afternoon we had arts competition. In conjunction with the upcoming National Independence Day in August back then, hence the theme was that.
The drawings were provided. They just had to bring they colouring materials and work their magic!
Some were really good! I could never colour that well
Enthusiastic! Keep it up boys and girls! You guys rock! Winners will be announced much later though.
We tried our best to get to know each and every kids. They all are wonderful and have their own stories and ambitions.
This is my foster bro! He gets bullied sometimes. And one of the bullies are none other than….
Mr. G! Well, I’m not saying he’s a bad boy. I guess that’s what we all went through when we were at their age. Probably he has bad influences (see picture – this is another proof but lets give the big kid the benefit of the doubt)
We all went back after the evening sessions, spent some time with our families. And at night after dinner, we had the ‘Family’ talk. The talk started about 8pm if I remember correctly. Those who attended the talk include rural folks, mainly children. However children were noisy and were running about disturbing the talk. At about 8.30pm the side attractions such cartoon shows, dancing and board games were ready and facilitators ushered almost all the children upstairs to the side attractions. Speech area was then very much improved without the children. Although half the seats were unoccupied, it can be seen that the people enjoyed the talk. Still some children were uninterested in any of the side attractions. They become more restless towards the end of the night. Luckily facilitators managed to control them and released them when the talk ended at about 10.00pm.
The scene during the talk
These kids were so energetic. We had to ‘quarantine’ them while waiting for upstairs to get ready
Talk minus the kids. The kids were upstairs watching cartoon – Oggy and the Cockroaches. Board games like dam, chess and snake and ladders were there too
Some necessary things that we had to do
There were also kids involved in dancing! We managed to get some kids to participate in the closing act. You will see it in later chapters. We got them practicing early. So kids remember, plan ahead, don’t do last minute work and right practice makes perfect
Here are some random photos.
There’s a Chinese temple there. And there are a lot of bushes here and there too. This is kampung
Rubber trees if you haven’t seen one
Ok this is it! Third time these two have appeared together. Hypothesis confirmed!
Please understand that no kids were harmed during our service. We made sure that whatever we did, safety is always stressed. This was an isolated case. Actually Look is a good guy. Don’t be mistaken. This particular kid was camera shy…maybe
It was another successful day. The kids (and teachers) were cooperative. I hope they’ve learned a thing or two from the science exhibitions and appreciate our effort in making the props and organizing activities. Again at night we all spent time with our families. Some discussed homework; some played games; some watched TV together; some went yum cha; some simply just had a walk nearby before going to bed. Today was a tiring day – like all the days that followed after this but it was all worth it. BTW, it was durian season that time, so we had bountiful feast on durians also during our days in Liman Kati. Tell more about it next time. Tomorrow is another new day, new challenge, new things to learn – not only for the kids but for us too.
Coming up next:- Chapter 5: Day Three
Charity: Rural Service: Chapter 3
May 8th
Chapter 3: Day One
We were greeted by this banner when we arrived in Liman Kati.
The new village is not huge; in fact it is quite small you can pretty much cycle through every nook and corner in 3 hours time. Everyone knew everybody there. The roads were narrow. Thus motorcycles (sans the helmet) and bicycles were their main means of transports. The village is not like a typical ‘kampung’ with coconut trees by the beach like what I’ve always imagined a village would be when I was small. The word “new” in front of the word “village” means this place is a cross between the old ‘kampung’ and modern residential area. Mostly terrace houses are there – some big; some small; some long; some wide; some double-storey; some single; some are house-cum-kopitiam; some are made of woods; some are made of bricks some in high ground; some in low land and some along the gradient. The village is surrounded by mostly rubber trees as most of the residents are rubber tappers. They would wake up very early in the morning (as early as 3am) to work in these trees and about 7 am they will get their kids to school and after that go back to work. Some work in the construction business and trading, and they are usually considered the wealthier ones in the village. I’m not sure about the population of the village but I’m guessing about 800 plus minus. Most villagers are older folks as the young bloods have gone looking for better opportunities in bigger cities. The younger ones who are still dependent on their parents will take on the same cycle as their older brothers and sisters. Many of them are not highly educated, or at most finish their secondary school and after that work as foreman, hair dresser, sales persons, construction workers, etc. You name, they’ve got it except professionals like doctors, engineers, lawyers, and accountants. Higher education is not their concern – getting a job right after the secondary school is. Their parents, although do tell them to study hard but lack the motivation and emphasis on the importance of higher education for they too have not been encouraged by their parents and their parents before them.
The purpose of us going there was to address this issue. Our focus was on the younger kids (teach ‘em while they are young) not on the older villagers per se. Our mission was to motivate them to proceed with formal education in higher learning institute, be it in college or universities. Hopefully one day they would have many top scholars from Liman Kati. This task was laid ahead of us. We knew it was not easy to change the mindset in a week’s time but we hoped to make a difference no matter how small.
The road was clean and the air was fresh. Staring eyes followed our bus as we rolled past the welcoming banner and headed straight towards the one and only primary school in Liman Kati – SRJK Liman.
We were greeted by the village head and fellow committees, and teachers. Pleasantries and introductions were exchanged. I had no choice but to also speak in Mandarin. This was the start of me speaking Mandarin the most in my entire life; including speaking to teachers and kids. Sometimes I manage to speak in full sentence and coherently which was quite a feat I never knew I could do. My proficiency in Mandarin had improved gradually throughout the service. We then proceeded to take a photo that also appeared in a Chinese daily the next day.
It’s good to learn Chinese people. So you can read.
The teachers showed us our command center – an unused classroom. We unloaded all our stuff there. Coincidentally, it was recess time and we had our first encounters with the kids. And oh my…they were so cute, small and vulnerable. Some cutsies were clearly afraid of those big-sized ‘ko ko’ (brother); some were downright friendly and bubbly; some were clearly bullies with ‘along’ look. I thought they were innocent…but I was wrong as I later learned.
Let me digress from the story to describe how we got all the collaboration between the village committee and the school counterpart. One of the things to settle during our end-semester break was to find a location to do the service. It was not easy to get 26 families to foster-care for the 26 of us strangers. The process involves contacting the village committee, discuss with them and they will then decide to accept or not. Liman Kati is no different. Like any area is represented by a political party, Liman Kati is under MCA. Contacts were established, meetings were held and since there was a similar service done 10 years ago by another institute, they would very much like us to do it again. The village counterpart and the MCA would fund our expenses. A call for families in Liman Kati to volunteer to adopt orphaned university students received warm responses. Next would be proposing our purpose to the school teachers. Backed by the village head and committee, the school teachers agreed after they were convinced that we would do good instead of wreck havoc together with the kids. So up until this stage, we were pretty set – we’ve got the location; families have agreed to house us; we’ve got the kids; and the villagers were all supportive of our course. On and off, whenever we have achieved significant milestone in our preparations, we would send updates to inform the village committee so that they know what to expect and how much funds were needed.
Let’s now come back to the story. While waiting for the kids to finish school, we had our lunch in a small shop that became our regular eating place – there weren’t much other choice anyway.
Look, Kim Foh, Me. And no we did not finish all the food by ourselves. That table sat another few more fellas.
We headed back to the school where the adoption ceremony began. We felt like orphan kids for sale.
The girls were first to be ‘sold’.
The parent/grandparent/kid would come forward and reached into the tin containing our names and fished out one. That was how we were picked one by one.
Guys turn for ‘sale’. Lelong~ lelong~ ~
After the ceremony ended, we went back home together with out foster family (I’ll intro my foster family later). I suppose at our respective house all of us did the ‘warm-up-and-get-to-know-you-better’ session the way any sensible person would do under such circumstances.
In the evening about 4pm we had to go back to the school to prepare for tonight’s opening ceremony. I was lent a motorcycle myself by the neighbour of my foster family. Good thing I got my license. We got the stage decorated and rehearsed our routine for one last time. Some kids were already at the school – they hang out there like it was their backyard. What surprised me was how quickly they clicked with us. They weren’t shy at all. I guess they were excited that at least something fun is going on in their village. There is not much entertainment in the village – no Internet, no computer games (though there’s a cyber café but need to pay), no Xbox, no shopping complex (nearest The Store is in Kuala Kangsar). Anyway, they bonded with us and we were like their buddies in no time. They would tell us stories – kids-say-the-darnest-things kind. What was even more astounding is that there were also quite a number of rude boys and girls alike. They use foul language like conjunctions in their sentences and they would talk about ‘hamsap’ (dirty) things. Something tells me that they’ve got to know about the birds and the bees in the wrong way. Despite all that, we were glad that the kids were very receptive of us. All the ice-breaking plans were really unnecessary – they had melted before the sun came. I thought if these were city kids, chances are they won’t be so excited about our programmes, let alone see them playing around after school. They would prefer spending time in front of the computer, or attend tuition, or sleep, or go shopping. Even if they come, they would come under the tugs of their parents/guardians. They won’t chase and jump around; they won’t tell you ridiculous things; they might even outsmart you; they won’t come riding in motorcycles triple their size without helmets; they won’t show you how to ride a bicycle ala ‘mat rempit’ ; they won’t sneak up behind and jump on you for a piggy ride. They would probably be too well-mannered and just smile at you when you speak to them. So our coming here was like grown-up city kids meet the ‘kampung’ kids that resulted in culture clash. As much as we were trying to teach them all the right things, we learned as much of all the wrong things from them. They were like that because of their upbringing and surrounding influences. Who to blame?
The dust settled. The time showed 8.00pm. Parents, children, teachers and village VIPs all arrived and gathered in the school hall (actually I don’t know what to call it because this assembly area is also the canteen). Ok let’s name it hallteen. So we were all in the hallteen for the opening ceremony. Kids being kids, they were restless in no time and were running about the places. We tried out best to get them seated but the noise level was pretty high.
Some dude giving the opening speech in Hallteen.
The officiating of rural service in Liman Kati.
The MC of the day. Melvin and Ngai Yoong were wonderful in MCing.
Now this is what the hearts are for. One by one we presented our foster family with the hearts with our names written on the them. After pausing for a photo shoot, we would insert them jigsaw-puzzle like into the frame that we had earlier put up. These hearts were suppose to remain there for the duration of the service.
Kim Foh said he ate curry almost everyday.
Getting ready to go up the stage for a pledge.
Look led. I just followed what he said. It sounded like “We, the students of UTP, would do our best to ……”. I don’t remember because it was in Mandarin. After the pledge, it was dancing time.
‘Monkey’ standing behind included Pei Chie, myself, William, Suet Yeng, Look, and even the project director Kha Loon. What to do….lack of practice, that’s why.
Opening ceremony ended about 10 pm or so. We all had a short meeting in our command center before returning to out respective home.
When I got home, here’s what they were doing.
The woman in the middle is my foster mother and she’s the grandma of these two kids – my foster brother (kai di) and my foster sister (kai mui). Everybody calls Grandma ‘Jau Po Po’ for Grandma Chew. Kai Di’s name is Chew Bo Ann, and Kai Mui is Chew Shu Ping. Their father work in Singpore and come back for a visit or two whenever he could but those are too far and few in between. Their mother left them when they were younger because she could not stand the mundane and poor lifestyle there. They have been brought up by Grandma Chew in this very house.
The left room is their bedroom. Outside is my transport, my motorcycle.
Luckily there were obedient and not too rude. Study wise, they were okay – they could do their homework on their own. Shu Ping’s math is good. Bo Ann likes basketball but he was always ignored because he wasn’t good enough in the eyes of the ‘big boys’. Bo Ann is closer to me. In fact he would follow me wherever I go. Shu Ping is colder and quite fierce at times. She has her gang of ‘sista’ aka ‘chi muis’ – about 3 of them. Bo Ann is more prone to being bullied. At that time, Shu Ping was 11 years old (std 5) and Bo Ann 10 years old (std 4). Grandma Chew treated me well. She would cook at night and we would all sit in the kitchen for a simple dinner of few dishes and rice.
That is the kitchen table where we dine.
The house is a single-storey and they lived across the main highway further down from Liman Kati. Suet Yeng and Kim Foh lived across the freeway, also further away from Liman Kati. That’s why I was given a motorcycle for the ease of movement. My room was next to the kitchen. Grandma Chew sleeps in the same room as the kids to watch over them. Sometimes the other kids would ask about their family and they were usually replied curtly or simply ignored. Kai Di and Kai Mui are fine kids, trying to live the best they could. Simple life but they seem okay. Grandma Chew is weathered, but she knew her job is not done. Shu Ping wants to be a teacher and Bo Ann’s ambition is to become a fireman.
I wish them all the best and I hope I’ll be good enough a brother to them. Only time can tell.
Coming up next:- Chapter 4: Day Two
Charity: Rural Service: Chapter 2
May 7th
Chapter 2: The Preparation
As mentioned previously – solid progress were made during the holiday period. Venue was fixed: Kampung Baru (village) Liman Kati, Kuala Kangsar, Perak, from 11-18 July ’07; preparation period from 6-10 July ’07 in St. John’s Hall, Ipoh, Perak. Each department too had churned out pretty good details of their activities. We communicated using mostly emails and smses. Below is a list of activities that the counseling department had contributed (some were used, some as back-up) :-
Counseling activities
- Family Unit
- Sharing with Kids
- Campaign
- Movie Night
- Motivational Talk
General activities
- Cross the River
- Friendship Card
- Make a Kite
- Fill the Bottle
- Treasure Hunt
note: I wouldn’t explain in detail how this activities/games are executed/played because it’s going to be very long. I have some sort of a doctrine of these activities described with sketches and if you are interested, let me know. I’ll be happy to share.
Came July 6th, we were all eager to meet up in St. John’s Hall for the preparations. At the time, counseling team members had already reduced to 3 members including myself. For those who dropped out, I merely asked the reason for it, but never persuaded them to stay for this is a voluntary service and when one could not make it, I didn’t want to force it. In view of such situation, I was given an option to pull members from other department to join counseling team but I decline for two reasons. First being – it would be unfair because each and everyone of us had chosen the department of our choice and I certainly do not want to coerce anyone to join a department they did not choose. Secondly, I thought managing fewer people would be easier. In the end, I opted for the leeway to ask for extra helping hand from other departments on as-needed basis and that worked out just fine.
Anyway, I think it is high time I do justice to the rest by listing out the people who had contributed to the rural service programme in Liman Kati.
Project Director: Lim Kha Loon
Asst. Project Director: Look Chee Fai
Secretary: Leong Pei Chie
Asst. Secretary: Low Chee Huey
Treasurer: Pang Kee Yong *
Social Department:
- Derrick Tan Kok Leong
- Lee Wai Lun *
- Toh Jia Lin
- Lee Jun Jia
- Chin Kim Foh
- Kang Hooi Yee
- Tang Ang Khian
- Ho Ching Shearn
Counseling Department:
- Lee Teik Hui
- Suan Tee Hooi
- Chin Xi Yi
- Leong Pei Chie **
Education Department:
- Lye Suet Yeng
- William Yam Chee Wai
- Hoe Fook Yong
- How Mei Le
- Chua Boon How
- Teo Teck Guan
- Tan Boon Tat
- Looi Lee Teng
Promotion & Publication Department:
- Melvin Tan Zi Hern
- Foo Ngai Yoong
- Ian Leong Mun Choong
- Ong Yuih Yee
- Gabriel *
- Low Chee Huey **
* Helped out in preparation despite could not join in the actual service.
** Support member.
Preparation period proved to be very fun and everyone bonded well and was in high spirit. A lot of ground work and props are done in this stage. Now I’m going to let the photos do the talking.
This is where we slept, worked, ate and fooled around. Guys and girls were separated of course. See the metal gate?
St John’s Hall Compound. We stayed on the first floor. The rent was only RM 300 for that 5-days. Opposite is the DR. Seenivasagam Park.
Aren’t we dependent on them computers? Everywhere we go, the computers follow. They get the work done and provided us entertainment. Jun Jia & Melvin
Chat or discussion? Teck Guan, Boon Tat, (who’s @ the back?), Fook Yong, Mei Le, Suet Yeng, Me.
A group photo on Chee Huey’s b’day.
We work hard and also play hard. Hooi Yee, Derrick, Yuih Yee, Melvin, (who’s that in red shirt?), Xi Yi, Fook Yong, Gabriel, Me (doing some paper work behind), (unidentified tower).
That’s what we ate most of the time – ‘tapau!’. Yuih Yee, Hooi Yee, Ching Shearn, Ian, Mei Le, Teck Guan, Jun Jia, (too tired to guess).
Property of education department. Volcano! It’s made of newspapers and plasticine. I’ll describe how it works other time.
Another toy from education department. They made quite a number of props for the science fair.
The tornado, again by education department. They get most of the how-tos from Internet.
We are all ready to listen to some talk which I don’t quite remember. Chee Huey, Jun Jia, Teck Guan, Fook Yong, Xi Yi, Boon Tat, Me, Kha Loon
This guy started talking. He looks familiar, I can’t recall now but I know he’s in politics. I’m not interested in politics. This programme is back-up by MCA but nevertheless what we did has nothing to do with it regardless of their intention. We just wanted to have fun!
What does it says behind I don’t know cause I don’t know how to read Chinese. This guy was next. He talked and I fell asleep. So as few other friends who were hiding behind the front liners.
The group photo after the talk. Where is me….and William? We’ve gone to the mamak nearby for a chat in a language that I’m more familiar with! Hahaha.
Yea. A place more happening after the talk. This is Kopitiam in Greentown. That’s William crouching. Compare the smiles with the previous picture. This is pure, that was pretentious. Sweet!
Wah, no need to comment. This is my counseling dept. Xi Yi, Me, Tee Hooi.
Best buddies
The junior girls. Mei Le, Lee Teng, Chee Huey, Ang Khian, Hooi Yee, Jia Lin, Ngai Yoong, Tee Hooi
Mr. Tang the funny man. He gave some pointers on how we should act and do when in service.
Mr. Lee. He’s more serious but nevertheless gave us a good pep talk!
The group photo. Don’t know why the front people are so dulan (dull) looking. Maybe it was evening and everyone’s sleepy. Yea I think I was feeling sleepy that time.
Back to work! This is Pei Chie, behind is Gary. They are painting the love…..
You’ll see what they are for in the next chapter.
This is for the last day of the rural service. Told you we got it almost all covered up during the preparation period – from day one to day eight!
This is a piece of art that I did for the school wall mural. But it was not so suitable.
This was also not suitable
This one faired better. It was used in a booklet. These 3 e-arts are drawn using Adobe Flash
Another more suitable design was chosen for the mural instead; you’ll see it in the next few chapters. If I’m not mistaken it’s about 2 meters wide and 1.5 meters in height. Well, is not conventionally big for a wall painting, but it was good enough since none of us had actually did a wall painting before. When the design was chosen, we got it printed out on a transparency and we used a overhead projector to project it on, if I remember correctly – 4 pieces of white ‘mahjong‘ papers which were taped on the whiteboard. Next we traced it using pencil and we would use it to trace on the actual wall in the Liman Kati primary school. That was the method.
One of the dance rehearsals. It was like hand movement-to-match-song-meaning type of dance. Too bad the song was in Mandarin, so it was hard for me to catch the meaning and thus could not anticipate the next step. I had to do it by sheer memory. In the end it didn’t work so well for me because we had two of this type of dance for the opening. Actually that’s one more for closing but is not compulsory for everyone – luckily. So I ended up joining the few playful ‘monkeys’ who always stood behind during reheasals and fooled around.
Dance rehearsal. Jun Jia leading. While the rest were dancing, Pei Chie and I were behind tracing the mural into the ‘mahjong’ paper
These are the bunch who would be standing in front during performance simply because they are better at it. The ‘monkeys’ would be standing behind. Try to note the whiteboard at the back. You can see the ‘mahjong’ papers draped over it.
The juniors
One last walk in the park!
One of the favourite nocturnal activities when the rest were sleeping.
Tee Hooi: Hmmp! What were you doing with Yuih Yee last night? If you want to be intimate with him, don’t get caught on camera lah’
Fook Yong: Hmmm…don’t know why I’m so tired…. Sorry lo we got ‘tangkap basah” (caught red handed). Don’t get angry with me ler….
While I was sorting out the pictures, it occurred to me that we were actually lacked of proper documentation. Although we took lots of pictures but many do not show the process in which we were actually working. There were so many things that we had bought; we did a lot of paper work too; had group discussions; rehearse event flow and activities; prepared props for station games; get stationeries and miscellaneous tools read, etc etc. 5 days preparation was just nice and may I add we prepared well indeed. I wished more seniors – my own batch friends could join or did not drop out because we would have had so much fun together. I also wish to show you more pictures but to save my precious space, I have no choice but to select only a few to tell this story.
Well at last the moment arrived. 11 July 2007 was the date. We loaded our stuff – props, baggage and our asses into a chartered Sri Maju bus and off we headed to Liman Kati for the real business.
Off to Liman Kati in good spirit!
Coming up next:- Chapter 3: Day One
