When I took Shila along with me to visit Anita at the shelter home last Sunday, the drive from her place to our destination took about 1 hour. So we had ample time to chat during the drive.
Remember I mentioned about the Orang Asli lady staying in an ulu kampong who has yet to contact me? I couldn't contact her as she doesn't have a phone. To go to her place, I wasn't too sure how to get there. When I asked Rosnah earlier, she told me we'd need a 4 wheel drive to get to the place. That stopped me from trying to look for the place on my own.
Well, Shila also stays in the same town, so I decided to ask her as well about this OA kampong. Guess what? Shila stays even nearer to the place! As a matter of fact, to get to the kampong, we just need to go further in using the same road leading to Shila's kampong! Shila herself had been to the kampong twice for a picnic with her family. The place it seems is quite popular for the locals there to mandi sungai. And according to Shila, although the road may be rather narrow, it is still accessible by car.
Great, I thought... maybe one fine day, I will get Shila and maybe one or two other PLHIVs to join me, and we'd try to visit this OA lady. If we can't find her house, we'd just go to mandi sungai!! Hehehe...
Anyway, we had a board meeting last night and I suggested to the board that we should try to arrange for HIV/AIDS awareness programmes at OA settlements. The Board agreed that we try to target this for our World AIDS Day programme this year. For that, we'd want to liaise with the state JHEOA people.
Other than just giving talks, maybe we can also arrange for rapid testing. There does seem to be more and more OA cases referred to the Ipoh HIV clinic of late. There may be more OAs infected without them knowing. The OA lady I'm trying to contact for example, not only had her husband died of HIV related illness, her 12 year old daughter too died of the same. Now she still has a 10 year old son (not infected), but her own CD4 is so low, and without assistance, chances are she herself may skip her own hospital appointments (she's not working) and as such, I'm not too sure how long she'd be able to last. What will happen to her son then?
I believe there are others in her kampong who may have also been infected, with or without them knowing. Their lack of knowledge on HIV may contribute to even more infection amongst the OAs. This is certainly an area to penetrate.
So yes, that is our next target - creating awareness amongst Orang Asli communities.
I do hope this will not end up as a NATO project. (No Action Talk Only lah...)
12 comments:
oh is that what NATO stands for? hehe! I have many such projects.
Kak Teh,
Ni mesti cita-cita tinggi macam-macam nak dibuat tapi never got around to do it, kan? Well, for this OA awareness, whether or not it will become a NATO project will also depend on the support/cooperation I get from others.
I like! I like! It is about time too ya.
Kalau dekat dekat...I dah join your NGO. Let's hope this project akan berjalan lancar. Insyaallah!
Naz,
It's about time for sure. Problem is ours is a small organisation with no full time staff - all the volunteers have their own full time jobs. Mengharapkan masa lapang to do all the voluntary work. Tu yang payah sikit bila nak proceed with bigger projects. Tapi, insyaAllah, hopefully this one will take off soon.
Pi, does OA now wears proper baju attire? Or are they still tutup kat bawah, buka kat atas?
Raf
Raf
Tutup bawah, buka atas? Eh, the guys in my kampong pun ramai lagi yang macam tu, dok lepak depan rumah pakai kain pelekat tak pakai baju!
Many of the OAs now have either become Muslims or Christians. Baju pun dah proper dah macam kita-kita ni jugak.
but Kak Pi, dont you think due to modernisation, vices come as part of the package? as a result, even OAs who most of them practically lives in the jungle are not spared from the virus?
Kerp,
Errrr.... dah biasa pergi ke? ;)
Everything comes in a package lah bro, pengaruh yang baik, pengaruh yang buruk, semua masuk. Yang tak masuk package - awareness on pengaruh yang tak elok. Yang tu biasanya bila dah jadi something bad, barulah orang nak take action.
Serupalah orang yang bercakap ni pun. Sebelum ni tak heran nak bagi awareness to the OAs. Bila dah more and more cases of HIV amongst the OAs, barulah sibuk nak buat awareness programmes...
Salam Kak Pi,
Isn't it possible to have a joint project with JHEOA or even POASM? I think the JHEOA deals pretty much with mainstream issues but POASM I think would be interested in more detailed/specific projects.
The situation for the OAs in Msia is sad. They are slowly disappearing into oblivion. Jauh panggang dari api kalau nak di bandingkan dengan the indigenes here in Scandinavia, who fought on until they regain their rights for self determination. The Lapps here too had a lot of sad episodes in their history but they get the backup from the govt and the international community to set up their own govt, preserve their culture and language. With self determination comes pride. With pride comes the rest.
Naz,
Hajat di hati nak buat jointly le. Tu yang tengah nak contact JHEOA ni. Hantar surat aje tapi takde orang kenal kadang-kadang kot takde response. Ada juga a few of my colleagues yang kenal orang yang selalu masuk OA settlements ni - so am getting hold of them as well. Doa-doakanlah this project will take off soon.
Aunty Pi,
If u cld give a call to Mama's ppl in KL ofc? They always go visit the OA settlements. Direct access... meow! Oh, better still, Mama will sms u his number, OK?
Cat-in-Sydney,
I'm trying all sources actually. Any contacts welcomed. I have already however found a friend who does visit the OA settlements in Perak. You want me to visit any KAs as well? (Kucing Asli lah... hehehe...)
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