It’s been another busy week
this week.
The children are fully in their
school routines, and they are both doing after school activities on Tuesdays
and Wednesdays. Lachlan does golf and ten pin bowling and Danae does cooking
and creative design. Lachlan is learning an instrument this year and is playing
the clarinet (though that wasn’t his first choice, Steve is happy!) and he
bought it home this week.
I was told by one of the other Mum’s here at
Dua that Lachlan’s photo is on the homepage of the school website. It’s http://www.aism.edu.my/ and he is in the
second photo.
Steve has been doing well
with his studies and had a quiet week this week, especially toward the end of
the week and was home in time for us to have lunch together Thursday and
Friday.
I had a few activities on
this week as well. On Tuesday a few of us went to visit some organisations that
help Burmese women refugees. Here is some of the article I wrote about our
visit for the High Comm families newsletter:
On Tuesday 28th Feb four of us went to visit Mang
Tha and Kaoprise in Pudu.
Mang Tha is an organisation created to help improve living
conditions of Chin refugee women and their families. Chin is an independent state
of Myanmar (Burma). An estimated 50 000 chins have fled from persecution and
come to Malaysia, where they are recognised by the UN as refugees, but not by
Malaysia. They can wait up to 5 years, or even longer for their applications to
be processed.
Mang Tha help empower Chin women by teaching them to sew,
learn English and use computers. They make lovely hand woven products on a loom
that took over a year to assemble. One
of their best selling products (and the one that has the biggest profit) is
their Ring Sling for babies and children.
Kaoprise is a Bath and Spa just across the road from Mang Tha
set up to provide shelter, income and skills training for Mon women refugees. The
Mon are another ethnic minority from Myanmar. They make beautiful soaps and
oils using traditional recipes and natural ingredients.
While we were visiting both places I heard many personal
stories about not only the financial help and skills the women had received,
but also the way they have been empowered. It was a very humbling experience
and one I will remember long after I return to Australia.
Wednesday I went to Chinatown with Kyla to have a look around Central Market, Peter Hoe and get some fresh flowers.
On Thursday I went to a
morning tea shoe party at Gail’s, just around the corner. I had heard about
Jackson the shoe man from some other women, he makes custom shoes for $50. You
can show him shoes you already have to replicate, or pictures of shoes you
like, or choose from shoes he has already made. Shoes in Malaysia are quite cheap
and there are plenty to choose from! They generally cost between $10 and $35
for your everyday shoe store type shoes. But finding size 10s here is rare, so
I ordered 3 pairs from Jackson and I get to pick them up in 2 weeks.
 | |
| Soap making at Kaoprise; antique store in Chinatown; suckling pig; clarinet lesson from Dad; weaving at Mang Tha |
We had a busier weekend this
weekend. On Friday Lackshmi, our cleaner and babysitter looked after the kids
and Steve and I went out for dinner. We went to a restaurant called El Cerdo,
which is Spanish for “pig”. As Malaysia is 60% Muslim, most restaurants are
non-halal and don’t serve any pork products. We ordered half a suckling pig,
watermelon and tomato salad and a half carafe of pear sangria. It was one of
the best meals I have ever had!! When they bring out the pig, they show you how
to cut it with a plate, and then you have to smash the plate for good luck! It
was very cool and the whole meal was under $100, amazing!!
Saturday we went to the
Elephant Sanctuary about 100km out of KL. It is home to orphan elephants. They
give out 100 tickets a day to ride and help wash the elephants. It took us a
little longer to get there that we had thought, but Lachlan and Danae got
tickets (Steve and I didn’t, but that was ok as we had ridden elephants in
Thailand before). So after registering, we had a picnic lunch and got to feed
the elephants. Then the elephants had a swim with the staff riding them (the
water was way too high to allow people to help wash them and that was a little
disappointing, but we might go back later in the year). They did a little show,
then Lachlan and Danae got to ride on one. It was a great day, and although
Lachlan wasn’t convinced that it was worth the two hour trip there, Danae
thought it was great!
Sunday we went shopping at
one of the biggest malls in KL, Mid Valley Mall. Then we came home and the kids
had a swim. Lachlan spent the whole time with his “friend” Eve and Danae played
with the New Zealand girls. Then we went out for sushi for dinner at Times Square.
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