KUCHING: Local NGO Barefoot Mercy will hold its first Ladies Charity Tea Dance this Sunday in support of a rural Penan kindergarten.

Guests attending the event will get to groove the afternoon away in different dance genres including calypso, belly dance, salsa, modern jazz and freestyle, with professionals on hand to lead the dancing.

There will also be a small pop-up market with products from Barefoot Mercy and other vendors.

Barefoot Mercy will be offering items sourced from rural communities such as baskets, mountain spring salt, dehydrated fruits, tuak and honey.

Also available will be jewellery from Sarawakian artisan Ramsay Ong and natural soaps from entrepreneur Amily Chia. Chia led a soap workshop recently in Puneng Trusan, Lawas, under Barefoot Mercy’s economic growth initiative, and will give a brief demonstration on soap-making at the dance event.

In addition, bags from Helping Hands Penan will be on sale with proceeds jointly benefitting this NGO and Barefoot Mercy.

Proceeds from the Ladies Charity Tea Dance will go towards Barefoot Mercy’s Kindy Project in aid of Tadika Pawah, a pre-school with some 30 children aged two to six years old from the Penan community of Long Lamam. The pre-school is run by Persatuan Perkembangan Pendidikan Orang Pribumi.

Specifically, proceeds will go towards funding the construction of a permanent home for Tadika Pawah, currently in temporary premises.

The building’s design, provided pro bono by Kuching-based architecture firm DNA, has been finalised. The focus is now on the next phase of fundraising and pulling together a construction team consisting of both Long Lamam workers and urban volunteers.

Further details and the progress of the project can be found on Barefoot Mercy’s Facebook page.

The Ladies Charity Tea Dance will take place at The Granary here from 3pm to 5.30pm.