Called to Serve

Despite the shortage of volunteers, Datin Aseema Singhal continues her mission with the orang asli children in Cameron Highlands, writes Sangeeta Devi

After a fourhour road trip, we arrive at Datin Aseema Singhal’s residence in Cameron Highlands, Pahang. We are greeted by a kind voice as Datin Aseema appears at the entrance of her cosy hilltop abode, welcoming us in with an endearing smile. While she preps for our photo shoot, the gracious host ensures we are lavished with a lunch spread of delicious home-cooked Indian dishes infused with herbs from her garden. We’re also treated to delightful cups of Cameron Valley tea, which are sourced from her family’s tea plantation. With an unobstructed view of the Bharat Tea Plantation, combined with the refreshing breeze, the spacious balcony area where we sat allowed us to appreciate the magnificent scenery—a pool of lush greenery that seemed to stretch endlessly, evoking a sense of calm and serenity. “My husband’s family has been in the plantation business since the late 1920s. The business was started by my husband’s grandfather, who bought his first tea estate in Kuala Terla,” Aseema informs us, pulling us away from our wandering thoughts. We discover that Aseema moved from New Delhi, India to Malaysia after meeting her husband, Dato’ Vinod Agarwal. Here she fell in love with Cameron Highlands and decided to become a permanent resident of Malaysia. “This place has grown on me over the years; its physical beauty and being surrounded by the scenic tea gardens in the morning. I feel very blessed,” she confesses. However, once her two children had grown up, Aseema felt restless in the empty house while her husband was out at work. “I didn’t have to set my alarm clock anymore and start the ritual of waking my daughter. The house became very still, with an almost eerie silence. A few birds chirping and an occasional noisy car passing were the only sounds that broke the stillness of the morning. I began thinking how fast time goes by—first my son and now my daughter, who kept my days busy all these years, had also gone to boarding school. There was no one left to schedule my time around, to reprimand and to run after,” she says. “I came to realise what is most important in life during this time. The children that I spend a lot of time with are my lifeline.” The children who Aseema refers to are the orang asli or aboriginal kids living in Cameron Highlands. When she discovered that they needed help, she instantly knew what she should be doing with her time. Aseema discovered her passion for working with children when she first moved to Cameron Highlands 30 years ago. She had volunteered at a kindergarten run by Catholic nuns and enjoyed it tremendously. During our visit, Aseema took us to an orang asli village near Sungai Ubi to visit the children, who she has started a reading programme with. She and two other friends had gathered other volunteers to set up a small library in the village. “We would go there as a team and work with the children on a weekly basis, doing basic reading and arithmetic,” she says. “When we started working in the orang asli village, we were overwhelmed by the response we received.” According to her, the children turn up in droves, numbering from 50 to 70, for these weekly programmes. After school, the children head to the library to enjoy activities like colouring or educational talks. Most come with their younger siblings tugging along, so it’s important to entertain the young while the older ones learn. With more than 15 kids running around, as we first enter the library, it is quite a chaotic sight, albeit a fun one. Then Aseema whom they respectfully

“Getting hope by giving hope, that’s what volunteering is all about”