20
Experience
City outing for orang
asli children
by Faith Labunda
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
THEIR faces flushed, a large group of orang
asli children got on the “moving stairs”
at Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC),
squealing in excitement and fear, to the
amusement of shoppers.
The indigenous participants of the Great
Eastern ChildrenCare Camp 2008, aged nine
to 14 years, were clearly enjoying themselves
as they made their way to the Skybridge.
Accompanied by 10 volunteers and
four teachers, the 49 children, dressed in
eye-catching red T-shirts, attracted a lot of
attention on their three-day outing in the city
earlier this month.
The camp, jointly organised by Great
Eastern Life Assurance (Malaysia) Bhd,
Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli and Persatuan
Siswazah Malaysia, was to give indigenous
children from the rural areas of Ulu Perak
and Pahang an experience of life in the city.
Themed “Living Life to the Fullest”, this
year’s camp catered to the children from the
Jahai and Semai tribe, known to be peaceful
people living in the remote areas.
“This visit to Kuala Lumpur is for them to
enrich their knowledge of arts, science and
development .... We hope this programme
will inspire the orang asli children to
continue learning,” Great Eastern executive
vice-president Bruce Lee Yee Lam said.
On the second day of the camp, the
children were given a view of the capital city,
allowed to enrich their minds and shown
Amber Chia spreads cancer awareness
by Syarifah Syazana
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
THE recently ended Passionately Pink 2009
campaign to spread awareness of breast cancer,
its treatment and cure, raised RM100,000 for the
Assunta Foundation Social Welfare Fund in aid of
breast cancer patients and the underprivileged.
With model Amber Chia as ambassadress, the
campaign, designed to celebrate the fighting spirit
of all cancer victims and survivors, was a joint
effort and collaboration between Jaya One, Asia
Assistance, PJ Live Arts and Assunta Hospital.
“During the campaign and workshop, doctors
conducted breast examinations on about 400
women and detected 10% with breast lumps.
This is higher than the Malaysian statistic of
about 5%,” Assunta Hospital CEO Choy Wah Wei
said at the official signing ceremony between the
committee and Chia.
The 2009 campaign will turn to cultural ref-
erences and amazing survival stories to better
reach out to young women and equip them with
the knowledge that with breast cancer, one has
to take charge to protect oneself.
In conjunction with her ambassadorship for
the campaign, Chia launched a calendar and
pledged all proceeds from the calendar sales to
the campaign.
“She is truly a beauty with a big heart,” Asia
Assistance Network managing director Sharon
Tan said.
Participants
of the Great
Eastern
ChildrenCare
Camp
admiring
the city
view from
the KLCC
Skybridge.
the beauty of the sea when they visited the
KLCC Skybridge, Petrosains and Aquaria
KLCC respectively.
They were also given a ride on the
monorail for them to get a feel of public
transport, and shown more city sites
and landmarks before they visited Finas
(National Film Development Corporation)
for the Kung-Fu Panda movie experience.
Besides field activities, the children also
had fun attending quizzes, storytelling, and
arts and craft sessions during their stay at
the Flamingo Hotel Kuala Lumpur.
Much effort was put into making the
camp a true learning experience for the
children.
Camp facilitator Datin Hajjah Fauziah
Ramly said even the 12 group names
like KLCC, Petrosains and Aquaria were
meant to make it easier for the children to
remember their city experience.
Great Eastern Life Assurance has
sponsored an estimated RM50,000 for the
ChildrenCare Camp 2008 since its launch in
1995.
Apart from youth camps, ChildrenCare
also organises projects and events for
special and needy children, such as child
forums, art therapy sessions and concert
recitals. Since its inception, almost RM1.1
million has been donated to more than 120
charity homes and organisations across the
country.
Chia with (from left) Tetap Tiara Sdn Bhd executive director Charles Wong, Choy and Tan at
the signing ceremony.
theSun | WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 17 2008
Yuletide
magic at
1 Utama
YOU won’t need fairy godmothers or the
ghosts of Yuletide past to experience the
magic of Christmas this year. Just drop by
1 Utama.
“For our 2008 Christmas theme, we
present ‘The magic of Christmas’ which we
have adapted from the all-time favourite
children’s classic story Alice in Wonderland,”
1 Utama director Datuk Teo Chiang Kok said at
the launch of the mall’s Christmas celebration
on Dec 3.
The shopping centre has transformed
seven locations within its premises into
Christmas Wonderlands inspired by the Lewis
Carroll classic.
Characters from the book – Tweedledee,
Mad Hatter, Christmas Hare, Snow Queen
and even Alice – will be making appearances
around the mall to hand out treats.
Shoppers can take pictures at all the Won-
derlands. Just pick up 1 Utama’s Christmas
scrapbook (free with any purchase) and stick
the photos in the scrapbook to redeem a com-
plimentary Christmas towel set. Free 3R photo
printing is available at the Fotokem shop.
Throughout the celebration up till Jan 1,
the Oval concourse boasting 20-foot wintry
Christmas trees will also become a stage for
shows and performances, including carolling,
Christmas ballet and jazz bands.
There will also be events like count the
candies contest, enchanting Disney princess
contest, Parkson Christmas tree decoration
competition, Christmas tea party and High
School Musical 3 exchange party.
As part of its contributions to society,
1 Utama works with United Nations Children’s
Fund ((Unicef)) to collect donations and recruit
monthly pledge donors keen on supporting
Unicef’s global projects at a booth on the
ground floor Promenade.
The shopping centre also encourages
shoppers to go green this Christmas and is
distributing free “Go green without wrapping”
stickers and gift tags to discourage use of
wrapping paper.
Also present at the “The Magic of Christ-
mas” launch were 1 Utama directors Datuk
Teo Chiang Liang, Datuk Teo Chiang Hong,
Maybank executive vice-president Mohd
Hanif Suadi, Panasonic sales director Jeff Lee,
Unicef representative Youssouf Oomar and
Unicef celebrity supporter Asha Gill.