APOSL & Good Will Walk 2015

by Pepper Lim

I met The Flying Singh last year at Mantin. This year he told me about his plan to raise money for Food Bank Malaysia to help needy people like the recent flood victims in Kelantan. His plan was to raise money by walking from Perlis to Melaka.

I asked the APOSLs if they were interested to help and a few stepped forward to donate while a few said they would walk. We raised RM510 among ourselves and 5 APOSLs volunteered to walk.

Terence, Lyana, Izzudin, Arvinder and I met the Good Will Walk team at Tanjung Malim on Saturday, 9.5.15. The meeting point was at the Tg. Malim Gurdwara. Everyone including the men had to cover their heads. The gurdwara had scarfs and bandanas for visitors. We made Terence wear a pink scarf.

All the walkers were resting when we arrived at 3.30pm. So, we amused ourselves by telling stories.

At 4.00pm, the gurdwara served hot tea with crackers. Then, it was time to start walking. Our target for that afternoon was to walk about 12 kilometres towards Kuala Kubu Baru.

The walk was quite easy. There was no rush. The GWW team was more interested in the safety of the group and ensuring everyone was enjoying themselves. Some of the local teenagers joined us.

We walked along the old trunk road. It was a one lane and narrow. We had to pay attention to the on coming traffic. At the front of the pack was old uncle Jagtar Singh. He constantly gestured the traffic away from us during the entire walk.

There were kampong houses along the road we were on. There were no fences surrounding the homes and I noticed the garden was usually swept and kept neat.

I had a talk with Dendi Johari, an Orang Asal from Kampung Jader, Gua Musang, Kelantan. He is a youth leader of his people. He told me many stories about his kampong life and his vision for his kin. While we walked, he told me something interesting. He said, they walked to know what it feels like to suffer like the poor who had to walk everywhere.