'Tis The Season To Be ... Giving Gifts to Ubin Residents
Hi All!
It's been a long time coming since I wrote my next post but I am happy to finally find the time. As of now my wifi at home is still not working, so I figured that I will just blog again while using my phone. It's tedious but it's best to really share my thoughts as fresh as it gets!
Christmas is just around the corner and on Saturday, December 22nd 2018, I was invited by my friends from Faith Community Baptist Church (Marine Parade) and members of the Singapore Boys' Brigade 86th Coy to head down together with them to Pulau Ubin for a Christmas celebration. If you've heard about the FCBC and BB before, that's mainly because I've been with them for a few events held on Ubin as well. You may read up on my adventures with these awesome people here.
I was completely excited when I heard about this because I had never actually been invited to a Christmas party; what more than one on Ubin! So I eagerly awaited for the day to come as I cleared my annual leave from work during my final days serving in the army.
By 0900hrs, I reached Changi Village donning my green bamboo shirt since green was one of the dress codes for the party. Not long after I've reached, JD crossed paths with me and he was happy to see that I could make it and told me to just head down to the ferry terminal to join in with the others while he finds a better parking spot.
It was a big group and I was happy to see that many youths were among them as well. The group was that big that we needed to take 4 bumboats to get from Changi to Ubin! I also caught up with the rest whom I've befriended during our volunteering event before at Pak Ahmad's Drink Stall.
Once on Ubin, we regrouped with the others at the Assembly Area before we were broken up into our individual groups. I didn't actually have one but I was free to join any that I liked, hehehe. I joined Team Ovaltine because why not? Then, we did some icebreaker games and got to know a bit more about ourselves.
There were six different groups, all named after drinks closest to our hearts (and taste).
It got pretty exciting when we started playing some simple games such as a quiz on the history of Ubin, charades and a "copy the poses" game where we had to pose exactly like how the people posed in the pictures given to us. I liked the quiz part too because it refreshed my knowledge on my mom's birthplace and also because my group mates depended on my "descendant" advantage hehe.
Everyone working together to get that perfect group pose.
At roughly 1100hrs, the groups were then tasked to split up and head down to several areas around Pulau Ubin. Prior to this event, the people were requested to bring along some gifts to bless the residents. Some of them brought huge gifts and some were wrapped beautifully too! I was very moved to see the amount of effort that the kids placed in to present their Christmas gifts to the Pulau Ubin residents.
Some groups were tasked to present gifts to the boat operators, some to the taxi drivers, others to the restaurants, provision shops and bicycle rental stalls down in Pekan Ubin and others went to the different kampong houses as well. Team Ovaltine were tasked to deliver presents to the provision shops in Pekan Ubin as well as the houses within that vicinity.
Ho ho ho-ld up, that's an awesome look!
Donning on some cute Santa hats, everyone went to their respective areas and started spreading around their Christmas cheer and spirits. First for Team Ovaltine was Chew Teck Seng's Provision Shop which is currently under the care of Ah Yong. The whole shop was beautifully decorated with some simple but pretty Christmas decorations and it really gave off a warm feeling to those who dropped by.
Ah Yong being bombarded with presents from the team.
Wefie time with Ah Yong!
Next was the shop next to his whom I was unable to get the proper details from as I was talking and trying to get to know Ah Yong since he had appeared before on The New Paper alongside my article in October. You may read up about his article here, and mine here.
After that, we headed down Jalan Ubin to see if any of the residents were in to receive gifts. Our first house was an unsuccessful attempt but our second one wasn't. The group managed to find a nice old woman tending to her plants and they climbed up the stairs to her home to deliver the presents to her.
From what I saw, the resident was very overwhelmed and touched by the gifts that the team presented and that also made me very happy.
We still had two more sets of gifts to deliver but the houses we were assigned to mostly turned up to be unoccupied. So, since every group was told to gather at Pak Ahmad's Drink Stall by 1230hrs, we decided to continue our route down Jalan Ubin and that's when we ended up at Teck Seng's Place. As per normal routine, the house's caretaker Uncle Lim was at the front door to receive curious guests, only for this time for him to receive Christmas gifts instead.
Wefie time with Uncle Lim!
Now that we are left with one final set of gifts to present and also some time left, I decided to bring the team into the forests of Kampong Sungei Durian to the residence of Cik Rahmat Yusof as it was near Pak Ahmad's house so to speak.
We arrived to see his wife munching on some quick brunch by her kitchen entrance. She was intrigued to have seen quite a crowd approaching her house considering how the area would not usually expect anyone. She asked me if I was bringing them around on a tour to see the kampong houses around Ubin, in which I replied that they were here on a mission to deliver presents. She also informed me that Cik Rahmat was downstream looking for shellfish as the tide began to recede.
She was touched to have received the presents and she struck a casual conversation asking the group if they loved looking at the kampong houses around Ubin and even shared with the group the simple pleasures of an easy life staying in a kampong. I could only imagine how lucky it was that the both of them still have such a lovely kampong house that they can call home. One wefie later, we made our way down to Pak Ahmad's Drink Stall as it was already 1230hrs.
Wefie by the stairs leading to her beautiful home.
When we reached the stall, it was filled with life as everyone had already gathered and helped to purchase some drinks from Pak Ahmad as a sign of support for his stall and livelihood on the island. Kak Ratna, Pak Ahmad's helper alerted to Pak Ahmad about me as I stepped closer into the house. I was a tad bit nervous as to what might happen but Pak Ahmad jokingly teased me and claimed that I have brought along rezeki or blessings to him as he might have assumed that I was responsible for bringing these people over; when in reality this was all due to the committee and organising members. I told him that if more than anything he could help to thank them instead as I was merely a guest this time round.
After everyone had refreshed themselves with some cold drinks and fresh coconuts, we gathered out front on the open space where a skit was performed. As explained to me by my friends, the skit was based on a verse in the Bible depicting the journey of wise men who followed a star in the sky in which they believed that the star would lead them to the prophecised birth of Jesus in whom would be the new king. Along the journey, the wise men would cross paths with people who were going through difficulty, sadness and pain and so they would preach about finding happiness, salvation and ease if they followed them to their destination.
So we were told as a group to follow the star which was held up by Bryan and we stopped at several places along Jalan Ubin such as Ubin Fruit Orchard, the former Headman's house and Teck Seng's Place to see the skits of the wise men's encounter with the people. All in all the skits were entertaining and amusing and I believed the kids who attended from church learnt a new lesson about their faith.
Wise men spotted the star over at Pak Ahmad's Drink Stall.
Desperate times call for desperate price hikes for keropok. (I'm not Christian but pretty sure this didn't happen in the Bible uh)
Applied for 30 different jobs and every single one rejected you? I think it might be your resume, gurl. Hehehe.
Heartbreaks are sad, so you know what will make you happy? Just follow the star.
The journey ended at Ah Yong's Provision Shop where they reenacted the meeting between the wise men, their followers and the infant Jesus. The big group gave a rousing round of applause to those who performed before breaking into a series of Christmas carols.
Joy to the world in Ah Yong's Store~
The wise men could also drop some sick beats, who knew?
The whole Christmas celebration ended with a sumptuous meal prepared by Ah Yong and his friends, while JD helped to buy some halal Nasi Lemak for me from the only Malay cafe in Ubin. After one final group photo with the whole team of FCBC and BB, they were all dismissed; but of course not before everyone of them were reminded about the good that they had done on Ubin that day.
This had been one of my most enjoyable experiences on Ubin this year as it really warmed my heart to see people of all ages, race and religion, coming in together on Pulau Ubin to spread happiness, love and joy to the people who have called the island their home. The kampong spirit was observed and celebrated alongside the Christmas spirit and that was a very beautiful sight to behold.
Thank you to Faith Community Baptist Church (Marine Parade) and Singapore Boys' Brigade 86th Coy for spreading your festive cheer and playing your part in reviving our kampong spirit. It had been my greatest pleasure to have joined you on this special day and I hope that we can always work together in the future in making Pulau Ubin thrive again.
Before I end off, please do enjoy this video compilation prepared by JD with all the photos taken by everyone who went around spreading the festive cheer!
To all who celebrate, I would like to take this time to wish you a Merry Christmas and for everyone, a very Happy New Year! 2018 had been wonderful for Wan's Ubin Journal, so here's to an even more wonderful 2019 for WUJ and for Pulau Ubin!
May Pulau Ubin thrive again, with its people in its heart.
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