Wednesday's Child ...: CSR2015: KAMPUNG GINTONG, JERANTUT

I don’t remember the last time I went out on a CSR programme with the company’s Volunteers’ Brigade. I know for sure I haven’t gone out to any since June last year when I fractured the humerus bone of my right arm (where I had to eventually go for a surgery in July to insert a six-inch plate with six screws replace the grafted bone).

There were several CSR programmes that I could have gone for sometime late last year and early this year but the brigade chief didn’t think I was ready for it.

“Eh, dah boleh angkat barang2 berat dah?” he said when he saw me carrying a box to my office recently. He asked if I could participate in the coming CSR programme. I said yes immediately.

Some 40 of us went to Kampung Gintong in Jerantut last Saturday for the gotong royong Suara Komuniti BH. Kampung Gintong was one of the villages affected by the floods late last year. I remembered reading an article about livestock being swept away during the floods there.

It was a two hours’ drive from Kuala Lumpur.

Arrangement had been made for a contractor to replace the wiring of the Balairaya and Balai Hidang. Our job was to paint these two buildings.

It was a long drive to Kampung Gintong from Jerantut main road. There are some 160 residents from about 30 families living there. Houses were too far apart.

The villagers told us water rose to the roof during the floods. It took close to two weeks for it to subside. In fact, on the way in to the village, we saw some abandoned wooden houses, some still caked in mud.

The mosque and school nearby the Balairaya have been repaired. The mosque had new carpets and prayer mats. The school had the roof and furniture replaced and also a fresh coat of paint. There are some 40 students (from Standards One to Six) at the school, with 15 teachers. There is only one Standard Five student at the school.

Most of us could not imagine ourselves living in a faraway village like that. “I would need some kind of civilization,” someone said.

My guess is although there are basic amenities such as water and electricity and also telecommunications (funny enough, there is Maxis and Celcom connections when we were out in the open but not while we were in the Balairaya), we still need the “hustle and bustle” feel to the surroundings.