The Kampong Kids

This photo was taken during our last trip to my village. My colleague Ms. Rieeta and Ms. Yap was so kind to share some of their art knowledge with the kids. Not to mentioned the books and goodies that contribute by Rieeta. May our good Lord bless both of you!

We took over the class right after their Sunday school end. The kids are so hunger of knowledge, very attentive and independent. We give them five minutes to get a stone from the river nearby. Later, we asked them to colour any design on the stone. You will not believe it, they come out with such a beautiful work. These kids are very smart but unfortunately they do not have much reference or opportunity at home.

We are planning to set a small library at our new church. Now we are collecting books from friends and colleagues. Hope this little effort will bring some benefits to the village kids in future.

Opening Ceremony for Our Church on 6.6.2010

Finally, we come to the day that we have been waiting for so long. Now we are busy planning for our church Opening Ceremony Our people been working so hard to build this church.

There was a tremendous response from our people in term of support, contributions and prayer from beginning until today. May our good Lord will continue to blessed this Church, our peoples especially the Kenyah Leppo' Ke community.

I am working with few friends to collect old books, used toys and whatever is suitable for the Sunday school. If you do have any unwanted toys or books at home. Please e-mail us at mlcecilia@gmail.com for collection.

He who waters shall be watered also himself. Proverbs 11:25

Public Phone and Internet At Home

I was suprised by a teacher who leave a message on my Facebook one sunday morning. So quickly check if he is surfing from school at my village and he replied yes!..was very excited about it.

There are a lots of new development at home lately. During my time, we have nothing at all. To buy a slipper at nearest shop, we have to travel for two days. Just shared with my colleagues and boss recently why I am not so much interested in hiking activities. I have been hiking all the times during my childhood time. We have to carry few gantang of rice to another village and sell it at five or four ringgit per gantang to get a pair of slipper or a toothbrush! Not to mentioned the road conditions and danger that we went through.

My parents now can call us anytime using the two public phone at our village . Hope that soon they able to use mobile phone like rest of villages around us.

Windows Problem

I have been struggling to solve my laptop problem. Can browse all the websites except my blog page. Therefore, unable to update my blog for sometimes now. Will get this problem fix soonest possible as I cant wait to share our trip to Long Banga with all...

Mara Rian River

Mararian Opening Ceremony 2005 at Long Loreh, Melinau

The looks of Sigau Melan welcoming the Guest of Honour

Mara Rian is name of a river where the Kenyah Leppo' Ke once live in harmony and peacfully according to folks tales and stories from the elder. Now this river Called Alo Berini which located between Apau Ping and Long Kemuat in Kalimantan Timur, Borneo.

The folks tales great hero Sigau Belawan and Awing Bilung the most beautiful women on earth are from the mouth of Mara Rian River. Most of the great stories happened along Mara rian river.

The Kenyah Leppo' Ke community have a family event once every two years where all the families from Kalimantan and Sarawak come together. They name this event as MARARIAN. They have lots of activies for a week where you see all the elders sing, dance and the young will busy preparing foods and serve all guests.

The members will have meeting and sharing on how to take care our cultures, how to improve the future of our young generation and etc. I had attended the 2005 Mararian gathering in Long Loreh Melinau, Kalimantan Timur. It was great trip, I captured over four hunders photos and finish five films of video cassette. I make used every memory I had on my video cam and digital cam.

Planning to visit next year event and hope to collect more stories especially old folks songs which I am very much into for the moment.

Ting Galing - Xylophone

Taping Madang with his Ting Galing

Ting Galing are made from seven bars of light wood and is approximately 20-50cm long and 5-10cm wide. Normally there are two instruments are used, one plays the melody and the other accompaniment. It is also possible for two players to play the melody and the accompaniment alternately to give variation to the song.

The Ting Galing is played sitting on the bench and both hands hold two round pieces of wood as beaters. Both hands are equally active.

The music of Ting Galing is often heard during festival. Those days, our people play Ting Galing during the planting season, from the time when the fields are burned until the end of the harvest Since former times, this musical instruments has been made for playing during leisure time. It was made from dry piece of woods left over from the burning of the fields. Also, it is played to chase away pets animals (pigs, deers, monkeys, birds and others) that threaten to crops.

Today, this instruments often used to accompany dancing or singing, along with the sambe'. Our people play Christmas and New Year songs on Ting Galing during Christmas day.

Music: Lutung (A Zither)

This articles was published few months back. Yesterday, I was arranging my store and found my lutung. It was untouch since my mother left. Next weekend, my uncle from Long Loreh, Kalimantan Timur will visiting us. Looking so forward to meet up with him and hope he will play some music. Promise will capture some video and publish on here.

The Lutung is a plucked instrument. It has six strings on a pentatonic scale. The size of the instrument depends on the preference of the user. We have two at home, one my mom uses while the other one is for my use. The Lutung is made of lightweight boards and its strings used to be of steel wire but lately size 2 guitar strings are more commonly used. This instrument is played when cultural dances are performed. It can also be played as a form of self-entertainment when one feels lonely or sad. The scales of the Lutung vary according to the songs played. Tuning is done by shifting the position of the frets or supports for the strings. This determines their notes.

Unfortunately only a few ladies can play this instrument at home. However my Mum is an expert on the Lutung. I am trying very hard to inherit this talent from her that is why I keep one with me here in Kuala Lumpur. For me, tuning the Lutung is quite complex but I am slowly getting better at it. I hope one day I will be able to perform in public just like my Mum.