Inculcating a passion for heritage

In this episode of DiGi’s Amazing Malaysian programme, scores of school children unravel the secrets of Brickfields and learn that it is a perfect microcosm of Malaysia, writes RACHAEL PHILIP

ARCHITECT Chen Voon Fee would have been proud. In Brickfields last month, about 60 children from five schools gathered in the field of the Methodist Girls’ School for the last event of The Treasure Keeper Of Kuala Lumpur of DIGI’s Amazing Malaysians programme.

Chen, the co-founder of heritage conservation organisation Badan Warisan Malaysia, was the Amazing Malaysian. Sadly, by the time the project kicked off in February, Chen was too sick to get involved. Sometime in late April, he passed away at the age of 77.

Nevertheless, the children of SMK Sri Pantai, SRK La Salle (2) Brickfields, SMK Vivekananda, SJK (C) St Teresa and SK Perempuan Methodist (1) were in the capable hands of the volunteers of Badan Warisan.

Personal friends of Chen, they worked tirelessly to keep his fire burning through projects and workshops that inculcated a passion for culture and history.

The result of their hard work was compressed into a two-hour fun-filled presentation of dance, songs and drama-multimedia performance staged by the students on showcase night.

Earlier in the evening, the guests (mostly family members and friends of the students) walked through classrooms, learning about their three-month weekend adventures through arts and crafts, fun and games.

The students handed out Braille word games and made laminated Braille bookmarks for visitors in their names. They got their parents to grope their way through a dark classroom to feel what it was like being visually impaired.

They also hung their best artworks of the town’s plan and landscape, painted on handmade lamp shades and engraved onto clay plaques.

Like most of his classmates, Arvindan Kanagasabai, 14, has always lived in Brickfields but it was only in the past three months that he learned so much about his neighbourhood.

Brickfields played a big role in the development of the city and it was the bricks manufactured here that shaped the city in the 19th Century.

Home to the Malaysian Association for the Blind (MAB), Brickfields has a large number of visually-impaired residents. The students made a total of six visits to the MAB in the past three months and learned many things about the visually-impaired and their world.

They also participated in a Blind Leading The Blind Walk around their neighbourhood and learned that more could be done to ensure the visually-impaired could move around safely and confidently.

Another group went to the Temple of Fine Arts, that bastion of Indian culture in the heart of Brickfields, and learned to dance to a different tune.

Both girls and boys spent many hours perfecting the dandiaras, a Rajasthani traditional stick dance which they performed on showcase night.

Yet another group roamed the streets of Brickfields taking in the rich medley of architecture in this vibrant enclave.

They took pictures and even made a digital documentary of the major landmarks.

They observed and recorded in their notebooks the rich details of the various architectural styles featured on the many striking buildings like Sam Kow Tong, Sri Kandaswamy and Buddhist Maha Vihara temples.

And when they were tired from all that walking and taking notes, the students were deliciously rewarded when they were allowed to take part in another popular facet of Brickfields — food.

The children had the chance to stand behind the large stainless steel counters and swirl a roti canai or two into perfect circles. They also tried their hands at pulling tea to make a frothy glass.

“Voon Fee would have been so proud of what the children have done,” says Elizabeth Cardosa, executive director of Badan Warisan.

Speaking to the crowd that turned up for the showcase night, Elizabeth said that Chen was very passionate about Brickfields and that he was very keen about educating people about our heritage.

“He would have loved the way the children spent time talking to the people and really getting to know the area. As the children discovered more about Brickfields, you could see that they became more and more proud of their ties with this amazing microcosm of Malaysia,” she adds.

DiGi’s Amazing Malaysians is a corporate social responsibility programme launched in January 2005. It identifies individuals who work passionately to preserve the country’s natural, cultural, art, built and social heritage. DiGi provides the resources for these ordinary people doing extraordinary things to share their knowledge and skills with school children. Besides strengthening individuals and building character, the programme works to preserve culture and heritage for future generations.