with the boys at Rumah AmanKids are such sweethearts when they are well mannered.
A bunch of us were at Rumah Aman to distribute Macdonalds Happy Meals, personalized cupcakes, and brand new gifts to the boys. Rumah Aman is really clean and well mantained, a fact that i really like because kids should grow up in such environment, don't you agree?
When we arrived, the boys were seated in the dining hall. When we distributed the Happy Meals to them, each of them said 'Thank you', and 'Terima Kasih'. One smart kid said:
Xièxiè
Can you imagine that? The kid obviously was learning mandarin and wanted to practice his speech!Oh and they got so excited at the personalized cupcake! I think Juwita touched them in such a way that they felt someone out there cared enough to make something so unique. They asked "Kami boleh makan muka kami tak?" or "Can we eat our faces?". While eating their Happy Meal burgers, they studied their faces on the cupcakes and discussed amongst themselves how is that possible. Reminds me of little scientists!
When the time came for the gifts distributions, the kids became ecstatic. Whatever manner ingrained in their little spines gave way to genuine joy! The curious ones left their seats to investigate the nicely wrapped presents. One kid tried to guess the gifts! Yang tu bola kan, kakak? Yang tu jam kan, kakak? (amboi, pandai betul hang nie. Kalau ada game show Guess the Presents, mesti hang menang punya. Confirm!)
I shooed the curious Georges back into their seats and then briefed the little tots about how secret santa works. How each gift is numbered and they have to randomly pick a number from a bowl filled with numbered paper. If you picked number 3, look for a gift numbered 3!
"And on each gift, there is a card with the name of the pledger on it. Keep the card carefully, because after getting your gift, we want you to draw a thank you note to the pledger. OK? Boleh buat tak?" I went on.
"Boleh!" They screamed.
Because there were about 5 tables, I asked the little tots which table wants to come out and draw the numbers first. Naturally, all 60 hands went up! Big mistake. Ha ha. You're talking about kids with presents. Silly me.
So i said, "Ok, macam ni. Dua table depan, sila hantar seorang ketua, and then kita o zom. Siapa menang, table dia dapat dulu. Lepas table tu, table yang kat belakang pergi pula. Ok?"
You know how before a battle starts, the representatives from two opposing teams meet at the middle ground, and speak of war terms and what not? It looked exactly like that! Each table sent their chiefs and they o zomed (scissors, paper, stone)! And when it was over, you can hear a mixture of yays and ohhhhhs. Obviously, the yays were from the winning team. One kid even pat the chief on the back for such an amazing display of o zom technique.
I observed the kids when they dipped their hands into the bowl. Some closed their eyes and wished 'nombor 21, nombor 21' (number 21 is a football from Mahendran, by the way). Another one took forever to fish out a number and made his friends impatient. One kid mouthed an excited 'wow' when he picked out the biggest present on the table (a water gun). As he walked away, i noticed he was carrying a gift almost half of his size. No wonder he wowed.
Towards the end of the lucky draw, the impatient few formed a line, waiting for their turn.
After the lucky draw, they proceeded to draw their thank you drawings. This time, Ya Ping's, Hazrina's, and Yi Ling's gifts became handy because they get to use the color pencils and crayons. (To my surprise, none of them has color pencils. So we had to open some of the gifts to use the color pencils and crayons.)
They were willing to share.
This time, the kids became chatty. I got questions like "Kakak, uncle David Ong pakai spec mata tak? Uncle Ong ada misai tak? Abang Adi Putra suka bola sepak tak? Dia suka Manchester United tak?". I wanted to pinch their cheeks for such cuteness!
In all the joy, they do not forget their prayers. When it was 5' o clock, they left the dining room to perform their solat and came back running to pick up where they left off.
At times, they got rowdy. They hid their drawings when someone from another table tippy toed to another table, the kids with finished art job guarded their entries on the main table from other roving eyes, and i was overwhelmed. Nasib baik Hazrina, cikgu seksi for the day, came to my rescue. She asked them to keep quiet and got them back to their places. "Kakak kira sampai lima, siapa tak balik tempat masing masing kena tolak markah. And panggil kakak, kakak ok? Jangan panggil makcik. Sensitif tau." She warned.
While waiting for the kids to finish their drawing, i was beside myself. I was in a good company. Vingie was a natural with the kids. Colleen was very organized. Ridhuan, albeit new to the team, was in synced with the the rest because he was from Penang, too. Hazrina, with her teaching background, was excellent in crowd control. Mimi and Sabrina helped the kids with drawing. I felt inspired.
When the competition was over and as we packed our bags to leave, kids gathered around me, asked when will i come back. Kakak, bila kakak senang, kakak datang lagi tau.
I was speechless.
They wanted us back.
I want to thank the following people for making 'Pledge a Gift to the Rumah Aman Boys' possible:
1. Juwita Ahza, Subaidah, and My Cuppy Beez
2. David Ong
3. The Ong Family
4. Ya Ping
5. Yi Ling and Kim Yoong
6. Cheong Ai Ling
7. Cheong Ai Ling's Boss
8. Mahendran
And a big YES WE DID IT to Bloggers Give Back comittee:
1. Vingie Him
2. Colleen
3. Ridhuan from Detik Indah
4. Hazrina
5. Mimi
6. Sabrina
7. Yi Ling and Kim Yoong
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