On 21st July 2017, Picket Fence Tampines invited parents and caregivers to commemorate Racial Harmony Day. Children from all levels were dressed in colourful and vibrant ethnic clothings. You can hear the laughter and giggles that hung gaily amongst the crowd. A young Chinese girl donned on a baju kurung whilst a pretty Malay teacher was challenged to put on a glittering fuschia sari. With a big bang, the celebration began with a song “Sing our Wishes” and proceeded with a short presentation of the purpose of the celebration.
For the young children, it was a learning experience. For parents and caregivers, it was like an old dusty photo album that took them back to the old kampung days. Parents were invited to the front to demonstrate or try out clothings such as the kain pelekat or kain samping.
With the aid of a non-teaching staff, we had our Principal to come forward to be the next Bollywood model to put on the Indian blouse and sari. Everyone was so amazed of the length of the sari!
In the next item, a male parent was asked to play the chapteh. A chapteh is a traditional game, played to keep the weighted shuttlecock in the air, using legs or any part of the body except hands. In this case, the parent was asked kicked the chapteh 5 times. In awe, the audience counted excitedly up to ….6! Woah, everyone cheered for him!
As the fun continued through the morning, the K2 children are proud ambassadors of Racial Harmony Day. In a group of 5, the K2 children taught the younger children to play the congkak, pick up sticks and five stones. We also roped in the parents to join in the games.The most favourite game the children liked was the long-forgotten bubble blowing. It was the old version of todays’ balloons. Short straws were distributed as they tried blowing the gooey liquid on a straw.
In the next part of the activity was, in fact, the yummiest - tasting traditional foods! The aroma of epok-epok, roti prata and the lotus buns were the few delicacies brought by parents. The children pointed that they had eaten the kueh baulu before or shared with everyone that the putu mayam is best eaten with red sugar. However, we highlighted to the children that some of the food such as the pineapple tarts can also be seen in Chinese as well as Malay homes during festive celebrations.
Hey, did I hear someone’s stomach is gumbling? Let’s dig in!
