Introduction

The plot of land in front of Kechara Forest Retreat was transformed into a Halloween themed funfair park for the night.

On Saturday, October 29th, the Halloween Charity Night funfair event for underprivileged children and Orang Asli (indigenous people) took place at the Kechara Forest Retreat, Bentong, Pahang. The effort focused on providing an opportunity for our guests to experience Halloween through scary encounters in a ‘haunted house’ and the showing of horror movies. Needless to say, there was also a free flow of food and beverages.

Motivated by a sense of community and kinship as well as the desire to instil values of appreciation and giving, the Kechara Sunday Dharma School (KSDS) teachers and students worked together with several commercial organisations and our gracious sponsors, to organise this unforgettable event, creating a night of fun and games for the children. Seeing the happy smiles on their faces and hearing their laughter, everyone felt that the event was worth all the efforts put in.

The event was attended by more than 400 people. Among them were about 250 underprivileged children and Orang Asli, accompanied by their guardians and teachers. They were fully sponsored by kind donors. In addition, many KSDS parents sponsored and supported the event and all KSDS students were also sponsored. Many of the underprivileged children do not have much knowledge about Halloween; hence, the Halloween themed costume competition, the haunted house, and horror movies were something new and memorable for them.

Even though it was a rainy day, our honourable guests, the State Legislative Assemblyman of Ketari District, Bentong, Yang Berhormat Lee Chin Chen, and the Council Member of Majlis Perbandaran Bentong, Yang Berusaha Lim Sang Hong, as well as the Vice President of Kechara House, Pastor Kok Yek Yee kindly graced the occasion with their presence. Celebrity hosts, Phng Li Kim and artist Wayne Thong, were the Masters of Ceremony of the night. Members from the media, RTM 2 and China Press, were at the venue to cover this event.

Although the main focus of this event was on the children, members of the public also turned up when news spread through the social media and by word of mouth. Other participants of the Halloween party included KSDS students and their parents, family members and friends, as well as members of the volunteer teams from Bentong town and the Klang Valley.

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The Less Fortunate Children

More than 200 less fortunate children and Orang Asli attended the event. This included 27 students from SJK (C) Khai Mun Pagi who came with two of their teachers, and 47 children from SMK Katholik who were accompanied by three of their teachers.

Transportation to chauffeur the children from their schools was sponsored, and was coordinated through the great help of the various teachers and volunteers. The head masters of these school Madam Tui Soke Lai (SMK Katholik) and Madam Gan (from SJK (C) Khai Mun Pagi) were very supportive and encouraging. Madam Wong, a teacher from SMK Katholik even brought her husband and sister to the event, who were surprised and impressed with the Halloween themed funfair park.

Messages shared by Madam Wong:

“Well done to you all. Students had never experienced Halloween celebration… Thanks a lot for this [experience]”.

“It is unexpected that Kechara, a Buddhist organisation would organise a Halloween event”.

She also mentioned comments from her family members that the event was well organised and they could see that a lot of effort had been put in to set it up. They also felt that Kecharians are positive and sincere people.

Next 27 children from Pertubuhan Ibu Tunggak Semarak Kasih Selangor came with three guardians. Leong, our contact from Pertubuhan Ibu Tunggak Semarak Kasih was very helpful and he coordinated for the group to travel from Klang to Bentong. Madam Pauline, the person in charge of this association was appreciative of Kechara’s effort.

84 children from the Orang Asli Sungai Lebak settlement came with 31 adults. Encik Yusuf, fondly known as Tok Batin, the village head was very kind to organise and complete the registration process for us. Mr Kumar, who celebrating Deepavali, volunteered to fetch the Orang Asli from their village free of charge as an act of charity. He felt very blessed to be able to perform a good deed for the less fortunate on the auspicious day of Deepavali.

12 special needs children from Pusat Harapan Kampong Perting attended with the kind help of eight guardians and helpers. These special needs children are able-bodies but the speed of their learning is at a different speed than others. Out of this group, some needed more attention and care from time to time due to the level of their disability. Members of the public can reach out to assist these groups from your own goodwill. 10 children from the less fortunate local community, for example the children of a local nasi lemak seller and a pancake seller who came to help out at the event were invited to join in the funfair and enjoy the games too.

Despite heavy rain, a wet and muddy floor, children went wild, especially with the oversided inflatable games. Many of them took off their shoes and embraced the mud. The children, when asked how they felt about the Halloween Charity Night, were not shy to share their feelings.

Chang Mun Cong and Leong Cheng An from SJK (C) Khai Mun Pagi commented that:

“The food is good. It was fun and [we] will come again next year, hopefully next year it will not rain so the floor will not be muddy”.

The children from Orang Asli Sungai Lebak settlement commented that they enjoyed the food most and the boys loved the inflatable games.

Aqilah from Pusat Harapan Kampong Perting said she loved this event and would like to come again.

The children were having fun with the inflated air bouncer.

Futsal on an air inflated field?

The children were having a lot of fun although it was raining and the soil was wet and muddy.

The girls were playing happily on the slide.

There was more than one inflatable bouncer.

Everyone had so much fun!

Orang asli from Sungai Lebak came to join the Halloween Charity Night.

Volunteers from Persatuan Kebajikan Untuk Kanak-Kanak Istimewa guided the children to the event.

The children from Persatuan Kebajikan Untuk Kanak-Kanak Istimewa had dinner together.

Teacher Grace briefed the students of SJK (C) Khai Mun Pagi before entering the event.

The students were so excited although it was raining and muddy.

Teacher Callista briefed the children of Orang Asli Sungai Lebak on some guidelines for their safety.

The team from the Single Mother Association Semarak entered the funfair after their briefing session.

Group picture of Orang Asli Sungai Lebak together with Yang Berhormat Lee Chin Chen and Yang Berusaha Lim Sang Hong.

The children had fun and managed to take home prizes at the end of the day.

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The Sponsors

People from all walks of life came together to organise this party. Businesses from the Klang Valley and residents of Bentong supported this event in various ways. For example, Sambill Park Sdn. Bhd. subsidised the funfair equipment and sent a technician, Mr Raman, who worked for 2 days and 2 nights to set up all the games. Daniel Wong, the owner of Sambill Park Sdn. Bhd. was very cooperative as he considered this activity as a form of charity. He was enthralled by the beauty of Kechara Forest Retreat when we were introducing ourselves at the first meeting. He is now considering enrolling himself and his family in the Kechara Inner Peace programme towards the end of the year.

It rained throughout the duration of the set-up. So we decided to place canvas on the land to protect the games that involved the use of balloons. A large quantity of canvas was purchased at a hardware shop (Bentong Hardware Trading), whose owner not only gave us a discount on the canvas, but also sponsored two children to attend the event. When the event team mentioned transportation problems, the shopkeeper offered help without hesitation. The owner, Mr The, came personally together with his 6 employees to ensure that the job got done, without any charges, and in the rain! He also kindly offered his services for the next event in Kechara Forest Retreat.

Creatively crafted balloons were assembled by Cindy and Justeen from Popalloons. Together, they put in 16 hours of non-stop hard work that involved a lot of skill, using their hands to twist the balloons into shape. Like magic, numerous colourful balloons were turned into two gigantic Asian female ghosts with long hair, a Chinese vampire and his nemesis, a Halloween backdrop with vampires and vampire catchers as well as a huge arch made entirely of balloons with the words “Happy Halloween” on it, reflecting the theme very well.

The layout, lightings, and creative designs were the workmanship of Daya Rekabina Sdn. Bhd., Ray Thing and his team. They spent countless hours designing and redesigning the layout to suit the setting and to create the best effect. Electrical technicians, who became volunteers, helped out three days in a row, from the setting-up of the booths to the dismantling of the structures, purely out of goodwill and enthusiasm for the project. They were exemplary in their efforts to give assistance throughout the whole event.

Bulan Sabit Merah (Red Crescent), Bentong branch, under the leadership of Tuan Haji Abdullah, was very kind to station their ambulance and three well-trained members at the funfair in case of an emergency, at no cost! We are very grateful to Tuan Haji Abdullah and his team.

We were very fortunate to be able to attract the attention of many generous sponsors. WEG Industries and Super Asis Enterprise Sdn. Bhd. donated mineral water, Suntory Beverage & Food Sdn. Bhd. contributed the packet fruit juice, Kechara Oasis provided vegetarian crackers, and we received from Starkiss Food Corp Sdn. Bhd. 300 frozen vegetarian samosas and 300 spring rolls. There were other sponsors who wished to remain anonymous.

Veteran volunteers from Bentong town, “Wah Jie” and her friends tirelessly prepared 5 food items and served the food at the event, without service charges. Other foods such as burgers, Chinese pancakes, candy floss, and French fries were all prepared on the spot by either the stall owners themselves or by volunteers. Many people offered their help either by lending cooking utensils or by offering their services to ensure that there were sufficient varieties of food and we were happy to see that all the 400 participants enjoyed the delicious food very much. It was a tremendous success!

There were many generous sponsors who preferred to contribute in the form of cash. Some of them sponsored more than 50 children, for example, Mr Rei and Mr Ng from XOX Mobile. Many of them called to enquire whether they could also offer help besides money, for example, Mr Toh, Miss Josephine Woon, Frankie and others. We are blessed to have the support of so many people who were as excited as we were to ensure the success of this event.

Thank you Pakcik Min for coming to cook despite the short notice. Appreciate all your support and assistance.

Not to forget the great RELA team in managing the traffic and safety of the event. Not a word of complaint for having to work under the rain for more than five hours.

Our appreciation to Bulan Sabit Merah team for volunteering their Saturday night for this event.

The owner and his team of workers from Bentong Hardware Trading were so kind in helping us to transport the balloons and rubbish bin. Initially we only requested a lorry but he prepared another lorry and deployed more people to help out. They were ready to help to those in need.

Mr Teh from Bentong Hardware Trading offered his services free of charge to transport the large balloon decorations to the event venue.

Mr Teh and his team from Bentong Hardware Trading washed his truck before coming to help us.

Uncle Leong Fook Sang, a Chinese pancake vendor, brought his daughter Leong Mei Ting to help out at the event.

Veteran volunteers, Wah Jie and her friend helped to prepare the food.

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The Programme

The children were scheduled to arrive at 5 p.m. on Saturday. The first to arrive were students from SJK (C) Khai Mun Pagi. They arrived in time for the beginning of the food fair. Shortly after that, the children from the Orang Asli Sungai Lebak settlement arrived. They were briefed at the registration booth on the location of the mobile toilets, the emergency ambulance and on where to gather when it was time to leave. Once they had obtained their entry passes, the students and Orang Asli children immediately hit it off and started to play the games.

Celebrity hosts, Li Kim from Paranormal Zone and artist Wayne, were the Masters of Ceremony for the event. They arrived at 5 p.m., dressed up as horrifying Asian ghosts. Although they were not recognised as the celebrities that they were, nevertheless, they immediately drew the attention of the crowd. Li Kim and Wayne walked around and spontaneously mingled with the crowd. Both being multilingual, they spoke in various languages, Mandarin, English, and Bahasa Malaysia, as well as the local Chinese dialect used in Bentong, which is Cantonese.

The event was graced by the presence of State Legislative Assemblyman of Ketari District, Bentong, Yang Berhormat Lee Chin Chen, the Council Member of Majlis Perbandaran Bentong, Yang Berusaha Lim Sang Hong as well as the Vice President of Kechara House, Pastor Kok Yek Yee. They arrived at the event at 6:30 p.m. To officiate the event, there was a simple ribbon cutting ceremony for Yang Berhormat Lee Chin Chen, Yang Berusaha Lim Sang Hong and Pastor Yek Yee, together with the EmCees. The VIPs and the hosts were very spontaneous during the Q & A session of the costume competition.

Many children, especially the students of KSDS, came prepared with costumes and make-up. They created a Japanese ghost lookalike, which is suitable for the costume competition theme of “Asian Ghosts”. For the guests, the event team had arranged for two make-up artists, Wong Yew Kien and Sharon Ong, to apply special make-up on them so that they could really feel the spirit of Halloween and take part in the competition too. Many children queued up for the make-up and the artists did a wonderful job!

Based on the criteria of effect/impact of the costume, level of creativity and also their expression, there were three winners in the competition. The second runner-up was JokerZombie (Jarren Chow), the first runner-up was Wednesday Friday Addams (Natalie Chow) and the first prize went to The Ghost Bride (Lauren Chow). Each of them walked away with a prize, presented by Yang Berhormat Lee Chin Chen and Yang Berusaha Lim Sang Hong, sponsored by our generous benefactors.

After the costume competition, the VIPs took the opportunity to walk around and check out the haunted house and horror cinema, despite the rain. They had no qualms about getting their feet dirty, literally. At the end of the tour, their feet were full of mud but from the look on their faces, we believe that Yang Berhormat Lee Chin Chen and Yang Berusaha Lim Sang Hong had a good time too.

We were very pleased to have Yang Berhormat Lee Chin Chen, Yang Berusaha Lim Sang Hong and Pastor Kok Yek Yee to officiate the opening ceremony of the Halloween Charity Night 2016 event.

Thank you Yang Berhormat Lee Chin Chen, Yang Berusaha Lim Sang Hong, Pastor Yek Yee, Li Kim and Wayne for officiating the opening ceremony of our second Halloween event.

Wayne and Li Kim were the emcees.

Wayne and Li Kim were very good emcee partners. They were cheerful and entertaining.

Emcee Wayne with other ghosts.

The talented Wayne and Li Kim on the stage to introduce the Halloween Charity Night event.

Wayne was the favourite among the Orang Asli who attended the event.

Li Kim was mingled with students from Khai Mun school.

Wefie session: Wayne with an orang asli teenager

Wayne was showing his Gangnam style skill to the children. There were so much fun and laughter!

Wayne was very friendly with the participants.

Pastor Adeline explained the objective of the Halloween Charity Night event to the RTM 2 reporter. It was not just a night of celebration, but also a night to show our care and concern for our community.

Group picture for the costume competition participants. Everyone was so eager to perform and win.

Yang Berhormat Lee Chin Chen and Yang Berusaha Lim Sang Hong with the costume competition participants.

The top three winners of the Halloween Charity Night’s costume competition

Bride Killer was the winner of the costume competition

These were the games that we used to play 30 years ago, but still a favourite among children these days.

Group picture of Persatuan Kebajikan Untuk Kanak-Kanak with Yang Berhormat Lee Chin Chen and Yang Berusaha Lim Sang Hong.

Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/ReadyToBeScared.mp4

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The Event Team

The event team was entirely made up of volunteers who had day jobs in different industries and businesses. Many hours of planning, discussion, persuading third parties, re-planning, sourcing for materials, and working together were required. Multiple trips between the Klang Valley and Bentong as well as countless phone calls were made to sponsors and guests.

The team of volunteers took time off from their work, families and leisure to contribute in whatever way they can to make this event a success. The majority of them were teachers from the Kechara Sunday Dharma School, some were Bentong residents, others were friends of friends and the rest were Kechara members. They came with constructive ideas, a heart of gold and a wealth of effort to ensure the event took place as planned by the core team.

We would like to express our thanks to Ray Thing, Stella Cheang, Victoria Lam and Callista Tee who were the core team members of the event; the Event Organising Advisor, Pastor Adeline Woon, who provided guidance, ideas and solutions; Grace Tan and Boon Seang Lim, who took time off from work to coordinate activities for the children; Alice Tay, who was the main coordinator working from Bentong; Kevin Lam who introduced the funfair suppliers to us; Christine Yeo, Melissa Chin, Steve Chin and Jason, who came to help from the planning stage to the day of the event and Jason Chu from Kechara Kuantan Study Group, who travelled from Kuantan to help with the preparations starting Friday night.

The parents of Kechara Sunday Dharma School, for example, Sharon Ong, Mooi Kwan, Josephine Woon and Kar Ling, either helped personally or allowed their children to give a helping hand. Members of the public, Miss Thou, Mr Yong and his family and friends, came early to help with the preparation and they manned the games booths throughout the event. Senior students from Kechara Sunday Dharma School who helped out were Benjamin Lau Teck Yew, Caroline Ann and Kai Mun. Aiden Poh, 13 years old, who attended the KSDS WOAH Camp last year, also came to assist as a volunteer.

Last but not least, we would like to express our gratitude to all the volunteer teachers from Kechara Sunday Dharma School, who contributed in too many ways to be mentioned here. They are Victor Choi, Wong Yew Kien, Lee Lin Mun, Jayce Goh and her husband, Serena Boon, Jesvin Ng and Loh Kwai Yee.

It is really amazing that, as a result of great team work, we were able to organise this Halloween party from scratch. Thank you everyone, for making Oct 29, 2016 a memorable night for the children!

Lots of prizes to be won for participating in the games. The children were eager to win more points.

Kien was so attentive in putting on the Halloween make-up for the children.

Ray Thing: “No, I am not giving up because of the rain!”

Jason and Callista quickly removed the food when the rain pour down suddenly.

Ray was praying for the rain to stop and the event to go smoothly without any interruptions.

No matter how heavy the rain was, all the volunteers continued work on the preparation process.

Setting up the stage for the grand opening of the Halloween Charity Night

Callista, despite her fever, still honoured her commitment to help in the preparation for the Halloween Charity Night event. There was great teamwork shown by the team.

Good job Benjamin and Kar Ven for helping to set up the bunting for the stage.

Thank you Sharon for being so helpful with the children’s make-up. There were many children who wanted to enjoy your creative make-up. Thank you for bringing so much joy to them.

The volunteers made sure that the stage was decorated in a timely manner.

Jason and Kevin made sure the muddy soil was covered. Good job guys!

Steve and his sister Melissa worked harmoniously in handling the food and cleanliness of the venue.

Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/The100EffortsBehindHalloween.mp4

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