JOHOR BARU: Every year, Ramah and her four children would go looking for clams and other seafood at a nearby mangrove forest to make their favourite dishes for Christmas.
The Orang Asli from Simpang Arang in Gelang Patah said her family always looked forward to gifts and good food during their Christmas gathering.
“We try to get some new clothes and gifts for the children. My children are hoping for a Christmas tree this year,” she said when met at her wooden home here.The housewife, whose children are aged between six and 17, said they would also visit relatives to mark the occasion.
Hers is among the 48 families in the village who celebrate Christmas.
For this year, their celebrations were made extra special with groceries provided by the Johor Baru Calvary Community Church (CCC) under its “Sekilo Kasih” programme.
Ramah, 37, said this would help ease their financial burden during the festive season.
Another recipient, Helin, 24, who lives with her sister in the area, said they would have the chance to savour seafood such as crabs, mussels and fish on Christmas day.
What we got: Cecelia (right) with Ramah and her two children Yiting, 17, and Yiru, 13, showing some of the seafood caught near their home in Simpang Arang in Gelang Patah. — THOMAS YONG/The Star
“We will look for the seafood early and then prepare the dishes for lunch. The Christmas meal would usually feature sea snails, mussels and crabs,” she said.
“Sometimes, we play some Christmas carols to liven up the festive mood.”
Pastor Cecelia Ningkan, who helped distribute the groceries, said many of those in the village are fishermen and factory workers.
“We hope this will help ease their expenses during the festive season,” she said.
More than 100 volunteers from CCC came together to spread Christmas cheer to some 1,000 families in Johor Baru, Simpang Renggam and Melaka.
The church has been organising the charity project since 2018, providing bags filled with groceries to those in need.
Pastor Cecelia Ningkan (right) presenting a Sekilo Kasih bag containing groceries to Ramah at Simpang Arang orang asli village in Iskandar Puteri. looking on is Pastor Brett Chandra (forth from left) together with volunteers who distributed aid at the village.
Project leader Jeffrey Ryan and his wife pastor Crystaline Deborah Nagarajan said the volunteers visited 10 locations to donate the goods to families of all races and religions.
“This is an annual project during the Christmas season. This is also a way for us to empower the community to help the needy by donating money or groceries,” he said when met at the church in Jalan Mahmoodiah.
Ryan said about 100 volunteers came forward this year to pack and distribute 1,000 bags of goodies to the families.
Each bag contained groceries worth about RM100, such as cooking oil, instant noodles, biscuits, canned sardines and dry food.
“We have volunteers from all walks of life coming together to spread kindness, from children as young as nine to senior citizens in their 70s,” he said.
Besides providing aid to the Orang Asli, they also gave out the bags to the Rohingya community.
As for their Christmas service, it will be held at the Danga Bay Convention Centre today while the New Year service will take place at the EduCity indoor stadium on Dec 28.
