Celebrating MP's Life - Episode 1

10th November 2007 marked the 1st event to celebrate life in a way that I thought you would have continued living your life. Aunty Choo2 and I drove with Reiter to an Orang Asli village located on Carey Island to bring back some of their craft to KL. It took us under 11/2 hours to reach the Island but more than 3 hours returning. This was due to the roadblocks that were set up to try and stop the 'clean election' march by the opposition. Well even with the roadblocks and rain, more than 40 thousand supporters managed to get through.

On this trip, we brought back a wooden carving that had been ordered by an individual. Pretty good work. It had a hand holding up an interlocking chain. The hand was resting on a head that looked somewhat like the face of a dragon with a free moving pearl in its open mouth. All these were carved from a single piece of wood. The other items are their regular produce which is offered for sale at specially set up OA craft stalls manned by volunteers. 100% of the proceeds go back to the artisans.

Some of the women were already gathered at the craft center with their ware while a couple more drifted in soon after we arrived. Reiter had informed them of our arrival so they were expecting us. Still there was a sense of excitement and they appeared genuinely happy to see us. After threading our way through a muddy patch, we were ushered into the craft center and invited to sit on a hand woven mat that was reserved for visitors.

We were offered tea and a share of the snacks that Reiter brought for them. So while we seeped tea and admired the pieces of woven craft on by these people, Reiter went about accomplishing her task. First she handed out some over the counter medicinal supplies such as panadol, antihistamines, thermal plaster and Chinese ointment or 'Hong Eu'. Then it was payout time. Reiter pays the artisans 50% of what they want for their ware upon collection and then another 50% after the sale. This way, she can spread the limited resources she has among the many villages that she is working with. After this is done, Reiter goes about itemizing the new stock she is bringing back on this trip and paying the artisans for the items collected.

With these tasks accomplished we packed the products into the trunk, bade farewell and was off to rejoin the hustle and bustle of the city but not before a nice lunch at a nearby seafood restaurant.

Lending a hand

Around MP's birthday I started thinking about how to commemorate her entry into our lives. I wanted to do something that she would approve of, something that would reflect her nature and true spirit..

My thoughts started to take the form of maybe donating to a charitable organization in her name. So step one of this project was accomplished, I knew the what but the 'how' and 'which' was not quite clear.

That was the extent of my effort ... stalled for lack of a creative idea that felt right. Then a little over a week ago, my friend Sze Ning told me about how poor many of the orang Asli community are. These people she tells me are the real 'hard core poor'. There are inidividuals who try to help these people but resources are limited and they rely directly on private donations.

In one example, a good samaritan brings whatever over the counter medical supplies and stationery to the villages whenever she can. I knew immediately that this was the 'how' and 'which' question that I was comteplating. MP had donated blood on a regular basis, not just 1x a year but up to 3x a year if she could and did. So when I heard about this activity, I could see MP getting involved. I can visualize her nodding her head in agreement....

http://www.wildasia.net/main.cfm?page=article&articleID=267 http://www.coac.org.my/codenavia/portals/coacv1/code/main/main_art.php?parentID=11374493258660&artID=11541437513190