Orang Asli kids dived into after-school activities we organised

I joined a youth group to visit three Orang Asli villages in Broga, Negri Sembilan.

The goal was to engage Orang Asli children from primary schools and pre-schools in educational activities.

As a former teacher, I am interested in such outings. Let me share my experience.

We supplied the children with white papers and cards, colour pencils, scissors, erasers and water glue to do the drawing, colouring, cut and paste exercise.

The children showed great enthusiasm.

They were either seated on the floor of a room or standing around a table outside a house.

The afternoon sun did not bother them. They eagerly drew the shapes.

Colouring what they had drawn was bliss. They cut out the shapes drawn on paper.

The “art pieces” were glued onto a card and cut out accordingly.

It was a simple activity but there was so much fun.

This made me realise that these Orang Asli children might not have many extracurricular activities at school or at home.

When we distributed pictorial story reading cards and materials, they were so engrossed and absorbed in it, echoing our words as they moved their fingers along the lines on the books.

We also brought exercise books to be distributed to the children.

I was surprised that at first they were not keen to receive the books.

After much coaxing, they accepted them.

I realised that they were hesitant because they thought we might want them to write “lines” in the exercise books.

Writing lines is a punishment meted out in primary schools for misdeeds.

Orang Asli children may have experienced this in school, causing them to fear these books.

The children accepted the exercise books happily after we assured them that there would be no homework and they were free to use the exercise books as they please.

Also, we had brought baked buns to share with the community.

The children were in the midst of an activity when we announced that food was ready.

The boys quickly finished their tasks and came to the table to eat the buns.

On the other hand, the girls were not distracted.

They focused on their tasks and completed them before having their food.

I think it is imperative that we organise more after-school activities for Orang Asli children.

Like all children, they have a natural curiosity and are eager to learn and experience new things.