（Day 1&2) 7&8/04 凌佳乐 Jia Le

SATURDAY, APRIL 07, 2018 SE 2018 - FIRST DAY 07 April supposed to be a sunny day, unfortunately, it wasn’t. I was thrilled at first when knowing we would have cultural mapping in Serdang New Village as our “Social Engagement” project (SE). To me, New Village新村 is always filled with warmly human. Especially this Serdang New Village, which known to be the largest village in Malaysia. Yeah, looking forward to it. But then, when we kicked off our day with rain, I sensed that things might not go as smooth as we thought. We had a good start actually. We went along the Kuyoh Road (Seksyen 5 area). In the beginning, we didn’t get much rejection when we went for house-to-house interviews. Okay, I just mean the first row of the houses, around 20 houses (which most of them run their own business). Maybe, there’s why. After went to house-to-house interviews, I noticed that almost every house keeps a dog. AT LEAST A DOG ! Some even having two to three. They really freak me off !! Moving on. Getting reject from house owners weren’t special story anymore. We even heard a 30-year-old plus guy who told us that our act/project is time wasting, and useless. I felt sad when I first heard what he said. Firstly, he’s a young adult with children and he’s denying the work of students. This would indirect pass the message to his kids that what is useless and what is not. And the way he spoke to us wasn’t polite. Shouldn’t him show a good example to children? Secondly, his words made me re-think of what the purpose of we doing this and could we achieve our goals perfectly? It’s seem like we are far from our target set after being rejected for so many houses. His words made me down. Then, we even chase by those evil doggies. We even been treated like a salesman, a government officer, a liar, friends to their kids... We even splashed with water by Thais, saying it’s Songkran Festival. Thanks for the blessings. We two really can feel your warm welcome. *Kopkun Kab* SUNDAYY, APRIL 08, 2018 SE 2018 - SECOND DAY I almost lose my enthusiasm towards this project when it’s came to the second day. Again, day 2 was also with Pak Chii. We were distributed to Seksyen 1 area. This seksyen is slightly different from the seksyen we did for the previous day (Seksyen 5). The dogs in this seksyen are mostly homeless dog. I was really scared when there were first 6 to 7 dogs appeared in front of me at the same time. Still remember that time I thought that I was going to say goodbye to this world, but then it was actually just their mating season. Hahah My partner made a good effort to protect me from those evils. Another thing different is that the housing area in this seksyen speaks Mandrain most of the time. Even the elderly in house know to speak Mandrain. Well, forget to tell, I am actually a Hakkas from one of the village in Perak, in which at the same time, Cantonese is widely spoken at there too. But then, sad thing is that my dialects only scraped through. We met one house (NO.504) which the old woman spoke a lot to us. Here goes her story. She is Madam Lee, born in 1927, came from Ipoh (which the elder would call it Paloh). Yeah, she is one of those who experienced the forming of New Village. She said that time they need to pay 100 ringgit like that for a “Title Deed”, and hence, here is the land she got. She was forced to marry when she was just 16. That time Japanese came and they knocked door by door during nights. Her parents scared and made the decision letting her to marry. She was then gave birth her first kid in her 17, second kid when she was 19 and she has 8 children in total. She also shared stories about her children, her grandchildren and her great grandchildren. Yes, she really proud of their achievements. Besides, she told that she had been working almost half of a century. Plastic factory’s worker, hawker in canteens (primary and secondary schools) and etc.. I knew she needs people to talk with, so we spent some time listening to her. The little different from other grandma was that she is really fit and strong even she’s nearly hundred. Also, her memory and thought is really good and clear. She welcomed us with full of warmth. Madam Lee also kept inviting us to get inside her house to have a drink since the whether was super hot. How I wish I could stay longer in her house, but we can’t, we needed to move on to the next. This woman really made my day. Is something extra I gained from this SE project. Time flies, she said. (ATTACHED WITH VIDEO OF HER TALKING) FOOD RECOMMENDATIONS    Highly recommend this place to go during this hot whether season. (NO. 939, Jalan pasar) Big bowl and real stuffs. Quite worth it.