MOW CELEBRATE - Christmas with Orang Asli Pulau Indah, 9 Dec 2012

Come meet these beautiful children at Kg Orang Asli Pulau Indah ...

They live in this sleepy little village, which we taught was not inhabited when we first visited. The row of blue box houses were mostly locked and deserted.

Then we noticed a bright and colourful sundry store and spoke to the owner. He was very helpful and directed us towards the Tok Batin’s house. Alas, as with all the other men in the village, he was also out at sea. We knocked on one of the house that appeared to be occupied and the lady showed us the way to the Tok Batin’s assistant’s, En. Azmi’s house, but he too was not home. Finally, we managed to track down another of Tok Batin’s assistant, En. Sunyi who was still at home and was planning to go out to sea later in the day.

We finally met up with Tok Batin when we visited the village again on the 29^th Oct 2012.

 This community was established about 12 years ago, when they relocated to this houses build by the government. There are about 50 families living in the blue box houses and another 14 families in thatched huts.

 There are about 130 adults and 100 children living in this community. Half of the children go to school regularly but the other half only go to school if they wake up in time to catch the bus. Some of the parents do not view education as important enough to get the children ready for school in the morning.

Most of the men are small-time fisherman, making between RM400-RM600 per month, depending on the weather and their catch for the day. Some of the men work as landscape workers, and earns about RM700 per month. The mothers are mostly housewives who do not do much at home except household chores, minding the children, and watch TV.

 Or hanging around catching lies at the river mouth while waiting for their husbands to return from the sea.

 It will be useful for them to learn some crafts that can supplement their household income.

Fortunately, they do not need to pay rent for their house. However, their income is barely enough to pay for household expenses, food and utilities. They do not get regular aids from JHEOA or other government welfare depts. Westport provide free meal once a year, MCA/BN do visit 1-2 times a year bringing food and other items, and UiTM students visit 2-3 times a year bringing food and games.

The Orang Asli are so used to living in the jungle, and even after being out of the jungle for more than 10 years, they still cannot get used to the more civilized way of living, particularly in terms of hygiene. Successful adaptation of the Orang Asli to new circumstances can best be handled by the Orang Asli if they are encouraged to retain their indigenous customs as this would enhance maintenance of their ethnic identity and their stability as a productive unit. This is a huge task and we encourage other NGOs to come forward to help this community to learn and progress towards a cleaner and healthier life.

 Learning can be both ways as we discovered during our visits to the village. At the river mouth, we saw a man extracting huge wriggly worms from its cocoons, and sold as baits to anglers passing through the village.

 By the way, our worm-extractor guy is multi-talented … he can also play the guitar and sing.

Although there are only 2 to 3 families who are Christians, with the remaining being Muslim families and “Mah Meri” worshippers, we chose to celebrate the year-end festivities in this village of multi-religious families in the spirit of 1Malaysia, and to bring cheer to this community.

So do come and join us for a fun-filled day with the Orang Asli in Pulau Indah. You will get the opportunity to learn more about their culture and way of life, and at the same do your bit in helping the less fortunate.

Details of event

Day/Date: Sunday, 9^th December 2012

Time: 10.00am to 2:30pm

Venue: Kg Orang Asli Pulau Indah, 42920 Pelabuhan Klang, Selangor

Program

10:00am            Gather at Ti-Ratana Penchala

10:15am            Meet and greet session with volunteers

10:30am            Depart to Kg Orang Asli Pulau Indah

11:30am            Arrive and get organized at Kg Orang Asli Pulau Indah

11:45am            Entertainment/Games/Activities for the Children

                        and Demo/Display of Orang Asli customs, talents

12:15pm            Group photograph

12:30pm            Presentation of wish list items

1:00pm              Visits to selected families’ homes (for those who are interested)

1:30pm              Event ends

2:30pm              Arrive at Ti-Ratana Penchala

Wish List

We are planning to give each family a grocery bag of foodstuff as proposed below. You are welcome to donate any of these items plus toiletries, household cleaning products and other foodstuff. Pre-loved but good condition clothes for children and adults will also be useful.

Apart from these, we are also seeking individuals or group of individuals who have experience in organizing telematch/games/activities for children. It will be a fun thing to do with the children on the event day.

If you would like to contribute to this event, please let us know via email at trccpenchala@gmail.com. Although there are 64 families and 100 children, we are catering to a slightly bigger number in case more families turn up on the event day.

Items for Grocery Bag for 70 Families	Quantity	Unit cost	Sub-Total	Donors
Danish butter cookies	70	RM3.00	RM210.00
Sweetened creamer (2 cans x 500gm)	140	RM2.60	RM364.00
Instant noodles (1 pack of 5)	70	RM3.00	RM210.00
Sugar (1kg)	70	RM2.50	RM175.00
Cooking oil (1kg)	70	RM2.50	RM175.00
Items for 120 Children	Quantity	Unit cost	Sub-Total
Goodie bags	120	RM2.00	RM240.00
Lunch for 250 pax	Quantity	Unit cost	Sub-Total
Lunch boxes	250	RM5.00	RM1,250.00
TOTAL			RM2,624.00

For all items except for lunch, you may sponsor the actual items in whatever quantities or donate cash (any amount) by banking into our account.

We would like to serve the same food for lunch to all 250 pax, thus it will be more efficient to source from a single caterer. However, we welcome sponsorship for lunch in terms of cash (any amount).

Contents of the children’s goodie bags must be the same for all 120 bags, and may contain biscuits, candies, small toys, etc, the cost of which should be about RM2.

All items must be delivered to Ti-Ratana Penchala Centre by 5pm, Monday, 3^rd December 2012, to give the committee sufficient time to buy any outstanding items and pack the items.

Kindly email us at trccpenchala@gmail.com for more details.

Volunteers/Participants

For logistic and security reasons, all volunteers who wish to participate are requested to pre-register your name and contact number with us by emailing trccpenchala@gmail.com.

Please arrive at the Ti-Ratana Penchala Centre by 10:00am sharp for a briefing. We shall convoy together to Kg Orang Asli Pulau Indah thereafter. No transportation will be provided, so kindly ensure you make your own arrangements if you wish to carpool with other volunteers to get to the event venue and back to the Centre.

Lets do whatever little we can to help make this event more festive and memorable for these less fortunate families.

For more information or if you need any clarifications, please call June at 03-77849002 or email trccpenchala@gmail.com.