WUJ Kampong Clean-Up Sep '19

Hi all,

In this post, I will be sharing on the experience of what unfortunately potentially might be WUJ's last Kampong Clean-Up for a while. Reason being that I will be starting my new job elsewhere in October and I am still uncertain of my availability and commitment given the nature of my new job. Nonetheless, I still wish to be able to commit my time to restart this simple and humble community outreach project of mine once conditions permit.

Today I am joined with six wonderful and passionate volunteers as we are tasked to offer our assistance to Cik Kamariah. NParks have earlier informed that her house is scheduled for major restoration and repair works so in order for her to get her home ready, we offered to help her throw away old unused items and did some major housekeeping. Joining Cik Kamariah were her two sisters, Cik Samsiah and Cik Nora.

Before we got ready for tedious work, we helped ourselves to a hearty breakfast bought by Cik Rosmala from Changi Village. Afterwards, we got our hands and feet moving in, out and all about Cik Kamariah's 120-year old kampong house.

Changi Village has the best Nasi Lemak, which store, however; depends on your taste buds! Photo courtesy of Cik Kamariah

To really get things sorted out, we had to remove everything - and I literally mean everything - from inside the two bedrooms. We managed to come across some interesting findings such as old family photographs, certificates dating back to the 1970s and nearly everything just screams nostalgia. It was also through the major housekeeping that we learned that many of their old wardrobes and furniture has given way and might need to be thrown away; unless of course, it holds sentimental value to the family then it will stay as it is.

It also got pretty dusty pretty fast and so, some of us helped to sweep the floors and dust off the racks and windows. In fact, we even came across a dead mice found underneath one of the old wardrobes - but I guess that is still nothing as compared to the live mice that ran across my leg and left quite a lot of the volunteers screaming, some even manly ones. But hey, there is always that small bit of excitement in the things that scare us, isn't there?

Clearing a room one by one together. Photo courtesy of Cik Nora

After about an hour and a half, the rooms were cleared and everything was laid out in the shelter outside where her kitchen used to be. Here, Cik Kamariah and her sisters went on to sort out the loved and the pre-loved items. It almost started looking like a flea market; whatnot with the variety of items arranged everywhere - ranging from clothes, curtains, traditional pottery, paintings, traditional games, boxes, fishing equipment, furniture and even an entire mattress, hehe.

So many things to sort and reorganise, but it was a fun way for the residents to bond together. Photo courtesy of Cik Rosmala

As much as we would love to sort these items out, we still believed it was up to Cik Kamariah and her family to really know what is to be kept or thrown out as the last thing we would want to do is throw away something of significant sentimental value to the family. So, after finding out that one of the volunteers was quite the professional photographer, he went on to take some pictures of Cik Kamariah's house and also after knowing that he was into architectural photography, I thought it would be a nice idea to take this rather free time to bring him and the other volunteers around to see the Malay kampong.

During the trip, I was fortunate enough to finally meet the daughter of former resident Bujang Garip, along with her husband and daughter, who now stays in a small but cosy house behind Cik Jariah's house. I always liked to show her house to my volunteers or pretty much anyone who joined me for a tour around Kampong Sungei Durian because of one extremely special highlight - the painting of their former home which also served as a window. After finally getting to know each other and exchanging numbers, we bade farewell and continued our journey down into the village.

Casually engaging with the family of Cik Bujang Garip's children (off-camera). Photo courtesy of Andrew

What makes this tour a little more special is because I was able to provide more information of where the houses once stood thanks to Cik Rosmala who showed me around the kampong the previous Wednesday to assist me in my remapping project of Kampong Sungei Durian. I have yet to write up on this experience on WUJ, so that's a post that I owe you guys in the near future.

Follow me as I bring you around Kampong Sungei Durian! Photo courtesy of Andrew

After coming full circle, we returned to find that Cik Kamariah and her sisters were still sorting out the items. Coincidentally, at the time we came back she was sorting out through all of her traditional games. I felt that it was also the perfect opportunity to introduce our international volunteers to our form on entertainment from the good old days and there was no other better game to get their feet moving than chapteh! Everyone had a lot of fun - even Cik Rosmala, Cik Jupri and Mr Chua had a go in showcasing their inner Ubin kampong kid again.

Ana, from Mexico, is having a try at chapteh for the first time! Photos courtesy of Andrew

Finally, after all the items had been sorted and ready to be brought back up into the rooms, we wasted no time to bring everything in. Once all that is done, we did some minor housekeeping in the shelter and proceeded to place all the trash at the trash collection point where the contractors would come and remove as per every of my kampong clean-ups over the past year.

Before we parted ways, we took a quick group photo and as always, thanked my volunteers for all of their hard work, dedication and commitment for coming down to Ubin on a Saturday to get themselves involved in community work. This by far was among the most laborious clean-up we had done, but with it was also all the more fruitful, meaningful and memorable for each and every one of us.

My sincerest and heartfelt appreciation to the following heroes and heroines for making WUJ Kampong Clean-Up Sep '19 a special and memorable one:

✵✵✵

Ana

Andrew

Cik Jupri

Cik Kamariah

Cik Nora

Cik Rosmala

Cik Samsiah

Mr Chua Yong Liang (Ah Liang)

Norah

✵✵✵

More photos from this month's clean-up available at WUJ's Facebook photo album here!

Read up on the previous kampong clean-up here!

Read up about this month's kampong clean-up through the eyes of Andrew in his wonderful write-up here!

May Pulau Ubin thrive again, with its people in its heart.

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Come join me on Ubin as a volunteer to clean up our kampongs!

Find out more about WUJ Kampong Clean-Up! 
https://wansubinjournal.blogspot.com/p/kampong-clean-up.html

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