Awareness Campaign at Orang Asli Village

As I had mentioned in a few of my earlier postings, this year for the first time, Buddies would be organising an event on our own in conjunction with the World AIDS Day. And our plan was to have an awareness campaign at an Orang Asli village in Perak.

Sunday, 6th December 2009 – D Day of the programme.

There were supposed to be 6 of us making a move from our centre in Ipoh, including one who already knew where the OA village was and would be showing the way. But he was feeling unwell, and although at first he figured he’d still go to show us the way, we told him to get a rest – we had already been given the directions to get to the place, and so we’d find our way there. Besides, Su Win, the lady who helped to disseminate the info to the kampong folks, could be contacted by hand phone and I had saved her number in my phone.

So 5 of us made a move from Ipoh in 2 cars. Madam Chair took in the passengers (all ladies) while vice-chairman, who could only take in one passenger because he had the projector screen in his car, drove alone. 3 other volunteers, who stay in other towns, were to meet up with us at the junction heading to the village. (Hey! How come the chair and vice-chair always ended up as the drivers? During our retreat to Cameron Highlands in June this year, we went in 2 cars and the same 2 became the drivers as well. I wonder if it’s part and parcel of becoming the chair & vice-chair!)

The village we were heading to? Kg Sg Genting, near Chenderiang.

We took the PLUS highway, exited via Gopeng then headed towards Kampar. The junction would be before we reached Kampar, ie the junction heading to Sg Siput Selatan.

It was only when we were already on the way that I remembered to ask if anyone had taken along condoms for our condom demo. I was too busy putting in all the mechanical gadgets (projector, loud speaker & notebook) in my car, I totally forgot about the condom! Aiseh! No 7-11 on the way and definitely no shops selling condoms at the OA village.

When we got to the junction where we were supposed to meet up with the other 3 volunteers, I called up one of the volunteers and was told that he’d take another 10 to 15 minutes to get there. So our vice-chair waited at the junction while we ladies went to look for condoms! The small shops didn’t look like they’d sell condoms (we saw kedai motor and kedai perabot and a mamak restaurant – we’d look real desperate if we had actually stopped and asked if they sold condoms!!) and so we decided to head to Tesco Kampar which was just about 10 minutes away. Imagine one of our ladies going there and queuing up just to pay for a pack of 3 condoms when the other shoppers were queuing with trolleys filled with loads of stuff!

Anyway, by the time we got back to the junction, the other volunteers were already there and so we continued our journey to Kg Sg Genting with me leading the way. The instruction I remembered most was that we’d be passing under the highway bridge once and the kampong would be right before reaching the next highway bridge. As such I drove until we saw the second highway bridge, stopped by the roadside and called Su Win. We weren’t that far off, just turn back and find the first junction on the right, which was just nearby.

And so we finally reached Kg Sg Genting…

The building where the talk was held.

There were power sockets at the above building, but the electricity meter was not. Sudah kena potong I guess. But Su Win had kindly arranged for a long extension wire to get electricity supply from the nearby house. Only problem was, there was only one socket available. Thank goodness my notebook had been fully charged, and so should be able to last about 3 hours on batteries. Likewise, the loudspeaker too had been fully charged and should be able to last for 2 hours usage. And so, we had to give priority to the projector to get the electricity supply as the projector wasn’t rechargeable.

Posing while waiting for more OAs to come.

Explaining to the OAs about HIV and AIDS.

At least they seemed attentive enough…

Not to me but to the screen…

Even these kids were paying attention.

OK, listen up people! This lady here is gonna show you how to use the condom properly… with a real life… ermmm… BANANA!

Oh OK, so maybe the banana she bought was a wee bit too big…

See the smiles during the condom demo?

No questions asked during the talk itself but this group of ladies did ask me privately after the talk, during makan time. At least they were interested enough to know more.

Makan time!

Volunteers & Su Win in a group photo after the talk.

Packing up our gadgets after the talk.

With one of the OA families after the talk. This house was where we got our electricity supply from.

This was not only our first time organising our own World AIDS Day event, it was also our first time giving talks to OAs. We were not expecting any changes overnight. To us it was good enough that a group of OAs were willing enough to come and listen to the talk.

Hopefully that was just a start to more awareness amongst the Orang Aslis.

This and that

We (Buddies) had our board meeting last night with ngam-ngam quorum. It would be a blessing if we can get full board attendance, even once a year. With everyone busy with their own work and family, and only joining Buddies on voluntary basis, it can be very difficult to gather all the volunteers under the same roof at the same time. One of our board members even tendered her resignation last night as her job requires her to travel a lot, leaving her very little time for voluntary work.

That's why after the meeting last night, when a fellow volunteer asked me if we should be roping in more Malays as volunteers in our organisation, I said I didn't care which race they're from. Malays ka... Chinese ka... Indians ka... heck, if he can get Mat Sallehs oso I don't care. We just need volunteers so that the small group of volunteers that we have don't suffer from burnout!

Nevertheless, we are still proceeding with our plan for an awareness programme at one of the Orang Asli settlements in Perak. During last month's board meeting, we assigned 2 of the board members to get more info from their contacts. One of them was to get in touch with the JHEOA. Well, he did get in touch with one officer, but got a rather disappointing reply. The officer said they are not interested to participate since there are already other agencies/organisations dealing with such matters (HIV). (Ladies & gentlemen, welcome to Malaysia... the land of "that's not my job"!) I'm not sure if that is the stand of JHEOA or just that particular officer my colleague contacted, but frankly, I initially thought going through JHEOA first would be more proper rather than just pandai-pandai sendiri. If they don't want to have any part in this, so be it. Pinggan tak retak, nasi tak dingin, orang tak hendak, kami pun tak ingin...

We still intend to go in anyway. My other colleague's friend has agreed to help us out, and we also have another volunteer who has also had the experience of going into the OA areas. In addition, I've also been liaising with someone from the COAC (Center for Orang Asli Concerns) who seem more interested in the project, and willing to help out at least in connecting us with the OA community leaders.

So yep, God-willing, we're targeting early December for our project, in conjunction with the World AIDS Day.

On another note, remember little Baby K... the hole-in-the-heart baby? Well, she's due for her heart operation in November. The cost of RM20K for the operation has already been covered, so we don't have to worry about going around asking for donations; but Mr and Mrs K still need some money to cover their cost of living in KL during the period when Baby K is hospitalised in IJN. And with the kind of jobs they have, taking leave from work means unpaid leave. In other words, less income for them next month.

But not to worry, the board has approved a certain amount from our Welfare Fund (a portion of the RM20K grant we got from Yayasan Sultan Azlan Shah before Raya has been allocated to our Welfare Fund) and the approved amount will be given to Mrs K before they leave for KL.

Hopefully there will be no other complications for the little girl before, during and after the scheduled surgery...

Boleh sampai tak boleh sampai?

The HIV awareness programme we're hoping to do for the Orang Asli community is targeted for December, in conjunction with the World Aids Day. Hopefully we can get all the plans worked out by then.

But I can't wait until then to give help to the OAs who are already infected/affected by HIV - especially cases which had already been referred to us. Like the recent case I mentioned.

Actually another volunteer, Pat, has been assigned to Wan, the OA lady. I'm just the co-buddy, that too because the volunteer who was on clinic duty when Wan's case was referred to Buddies, felt that Wan's son deserved assistance from our Children Education Fund.

Earlier, when I asked Rosnah on the whereabouts of Wan's kampong, Rosnah told me that we'd need a 4 wheel drive to get there. Then later when I asked Shila, Shila said the kampong is accessible by car. She had gone there twice to mandi sungai.

This morning Pat called me to ask me again on the name of the OA lady. You see, Pat stays in a town where there are quite a few OA settlements, and other than being involved with Buddies, she and her husband, with another group of volunteers do go in to OA settlements from time to time. So yes, Pat is quite used to going in to OA settlements. Just as well that she has been assigned as Wan's buddy.

However, Wan's kampong is in another town, not far from the town where Pat stays. After getting some info from me before Raya, Pat was thinking of going to visit Wan. She had wanted to go for the past few days, but it had been raining in the mornings and her husband advised her not to go on rainy days as the roads may be slippery. But the weather looked clear this morning and so Pat called me to get more info on the lady before attempting to find the kampong, which she had not been to before, and so she herself couldn't be too sure of what to expect.

About 4 pm today, Pat called me...

"Aiyo Afizah, don't ever attempt to go there alone lah!"

Pat was glad she went in her Kancil, and with a friend. Apparently, the road is very narrow, and she had to go quite far in, uphill. After asking here and there, she still was not able to get to Wan's house. She then got to a place, where she was told she'd have to walk to get further in. The only other choice is by motorbike.

Well, both Pat and I had visited Hana's home before where we had to park our cars at the bottom of the hill and climb up on foot. But that was considered easy - walking up would take less than 3 minutes.

To get to Wan's house, Pat was told that she'd need about an hour walk. An hour?! I guess when Shila mentioned the place is accessible by car, it never occurred to her that we'd have to go so far uphill.

Nope, Pat was not prepared to walk that far in. But she wasn't about to give up either (she's a very dedicated volunteer!). Coincidentally, one guy was going up on a motorbike, and so Pat stopped him and asked if he knew Wan. Luckily the guy did. So Pat asked for a favor from him - asking him if he could go up and get Wan to come down to where Pat was. She even gave him some petrol money in return.

Off the guy went. Pat and her friend had to wait for quite some time, she thought the guy had simply ran off with the money. But the guy did finally come down, much to Pat's relief. After all the waiting, Pat was told that Wan had gone to the hospital for her appointment. It was at this point that the guy admitted to Pat that Wan was actually his sister! Duh! So Pat gave her number to this guy, and told him to get Wan to call her.

Anyway, the guy mentioned that based on the time, chances were that Wan would be at the town's bus station, back from her hospital appointment. Off he rode his motorbike to town, and within minutes, Pat received a call from Wan. True enough, Wan was at the bus station. So Pat told Wan to wait there for her.

Yes, after all the obstacles, Pat did finally get to meet Wan. Wan has a sister who stays in town, and her sister can be contacted by phone. At least if we need to get hold of Wan, we can now pass a message through her sister. Pat also took down Wan's bank account details.

That means I can now easily pass some money to Wan while having my butts parked in front of my computer - online banking lah!

But that doesn't mean I no longer intend to visit Wan. Visiting the place sounds adventurous enough, and I do love adventure! I do however have to make sure I go in the proper attire when I visit her - and especially proper walking shoes. And probably also with a small backpack - complete with drinking water and all.

And more importantly, as Pat advised, not to go alone.

Targetting the OAs...

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...)