Friday, July 29, 2011

The plight of the Orang Asal


It was supposed to be a brief talk about water issues faced by the Orang Asal (we were told they preferred being referred to as Orang Asal rather than Orang Asli), the talk went on the discuss other issues that were faced by them from contaminated water sources, sanitation issues arising from that, deforestation and encroachment and lots more...
The talk was given by a vivacious lawyer, Siti, who does pro bono work for the OAs.
JY who would usually doodle the 1 hour away during her father's Rotary meetings was all ears, mostly due to the passion that exuded from the brilliant speaker.
A series of photos were shown and some of the images evoked very strong emotions.
Suggestions from rainwater harvesting to health clinics were brought up.
In the carpark, DH was presented with a traditional headgear.
One of the OA who came along for the talk showed us his woven bracelet that cannot be removed as it was weaved directly onto his wrist. It took 2 hours.

Another bracelet, this made of seeds.

JY asked Siti for another talk, a more indepth one and was instead invited to tag along with their group of volunteers into the OA village.

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