By Dayang Nurramizah Awang Abdulrahman
GOMBAK, 26 March 2018: A programme called Road Expedition for Educational Development (RED) Lemoi 5.0 was recently held at Pos Lemoi, Cameron Highlands, to expose the Orang Asli to the world outside of their village boundaries, apart from giving the opportunity for participants to experience the lifestyles of the aborigines.
Pos Lemoi is one of the Orang Asli villages located in an area that is not commutable with regular vehicles. The village lacks basic facilities such as phone coverage and adequate electrical power supply.
The programme that took place from 17 to 21 March was organised by PERKIM Secretariat IIUM, one of the clubs under University Centre for Community Engagement (UCCE-BUDI).
“Personally, I am satisfied with the commitment given by each committee, especially the bureau of module and dakwah and ibadah bureau. They did a thorough planning that they were able to come up with beneficial activities for each slot,” Assistant Programme Manager, Nurul Nabilah, shared her thought on the programme.
The team comprising 60 members of PERKIM Secretariat IIUM, together with 11 Malaysian Relief Agency (MRA) members, departed from IIUM for Lemoi post on 17 March at 3 a.m using nineteen 4×4 vehicles. They spent five days and four nights there.
On the first day of the programme, they visited every house of the Orang Asli community there. At noon, MRA conducted medical check-ups on the elderly and they were given free medicines.
Nurul Nabilah shared her most memorable experience where she said, “For me is when one of the villagers told me how she reverted to Islam”. She told me that before her reversion she admired her son who was a Muslim and liked to see him praying. “Later, she and her husband decided to embrace Islam.”
The committees held many activities which were mainly aimed at creating awareness among the children about the importance of knowledge. There were several slots such as ‘Explorace Islamic’, ‘Lemoi Science Day’, and ‘Lemoi Got Talent’.
Besides, they also conducted activities like ‘ziarah’, ‘Amek Hari Ini’ and ‘Sharing Moment with Apak Amek’ to strengthen relationship with the villagers there. Another programme “Cultural Exchange’ gave the committees and the villagers a chance to experience each other’s culture and tradition, which included activities such as sumpit, archery, and anyam.
All participants enjoyed the activities for the five days they were there. One of the participants, Lily, said: “I am very excited about the presence of the sisters and brothers here. This village seemed lively. Before, we felt very lonely.”
The villagers welcome outsiders to their village with warm hearts and hoped that the students could come again to their village in the future. “The door of my house is always open to all of you,” said one of the villagers.
PERKIM Secretariat IIUM plans to organise another programme Lemoi 6.0 in March next year. Programme Manager, Mohd Soleh, said IIUM students who are interested to participate in the activities with the Orang Asli community may contact ‘Hikam Project’ at 018-9112283. ***