Kpg Lifestyle

It has been 4 months being adapting to kampung lifestyle. Truthfully at first, i wasn't able to cope with it because i was really a town gal. I was not able consume a few things such as:

1. Necessity

It was the Gawai tym where there are lots of family members come back to celebrate the holidays together. Then, you would expect that the road going to your house is block by not 1 , 2 but many cars. 1st of all, you will not have two way street road for a kampung road, but a small fit-for-1-car width. Can you imagine the 'jam' you have to go through just to get to your house. By the tym u reach ur house, you will find no more parking space as it was taken up by your overly crowded neighbour. U have no choice but to park in the middle of the road, knwing that you will hv to move ur car every 5 min for the car going to and frm the Bau town.

Another things is water. Especially during the 1st 2 days during gawai tym, you can 100% guarantee that you will not hv water supply becos the water source are frm the 4 dams around the kpg and when every household open their watertaps, there will definitely not enough pressure for the water to go to the household in the valley. And it so happen my house is at the valley. Can you imagine going to the "Bori Gawea" with crowds that did not have their bath just so they can save water for the evening? Or even tons of cloths which u decided not to wash because no water. It was challenging and was really a knock to my senses.

Food choices are limited here as you do not have McD, Sugarbun, high-end restaurant foods to savour by your taste buds. However, you will see more of exotics food which is a fortune in town. I was served frogs, squirel, snake, bats and many more which i do not wish to know what is serve in front of me on the dining table, as it will take away my appetite. Don't get me wrong, I love the food, high end and exotics. Pork is a everyday food here and I love pork. However, i need to slow down pork intake as i am concern for my cholesterol level and being fat... (hey, it is hard to maintain my BMI as it is, ok?)

2. Kampung Style Thinking

Kampung people are very patient and layback where as I , town gal , is always looking for fast result, fast response and fast movement of progress. Once a week meeting is too much for kampung people but too little for town gal like me. If i were to compare decision making process, town has a longer procedure than kampung committee, but kampung committee has the tendency to prolong the work to a completed result and in the end of the day, it all come to the same timeline. Decision making is also difficult because you have to consider the spirit beliefs, culture, do's and don't of a time period e.g. Mourning, and many more. For example, it is not ok to play with gongs or drum during mourning period or at any day because to do so, you have to ask permission or bribe the spirit in order to play the instrument. So, we town gals may belittle this beliefs but it meant a lot to the kpg folks in making decision according to customs beliefs.

In terms of accepting changes, it is also hard because of native set of priority. 1st - Farm (Kebun), 2nd - Beliefs / Religions, 3rd - Money / Necessity, 4th Health, last Education / community development. It is hard to penetrate to community with the focus of education or development because farming is their way of living and has not seep in their mind on how education and development can change their state of living. IN my eyes, kpg folks can see physically what the results are, fruits and vege's for sell and to provide food on the table instantly, but for education and development result is something abstract and can only be seen after few years and something that the folks are not ready to wait and see. As a development and eduction centre for the folk, it is quite a challenge and install the mind set of a ready set go thinking to involve in something they think is a waste of time. It may take a while for them to realise and hopefully in the future, my folks can surf internet through their mobile phone and buy grocery online. in 10years tyme, maybe...(finger cross)

3. Politics.

I always say "Hey, look at the bright side, you will never get involve in politics if you stay in Kpg!"... I regret saying so because in a small community like this, you will find greater politics because 1, it is a small community and 2, everyone knows everyone and everything you do. I have seen heated environment amongst the kpg folks where just after the State election was commencing and that week was full with activities from both democrat and opposition parties were involve. YB Peter Nansian and YB Anuar Ibrahim were here to give their speeches... Promises were thrown like they were true and sure, money were given out like they were grown from trees... After the campaign were over, and we know de result of the election, lets just say, the leaders don care about the social impacts are after the elections. People turning against each other, promises were not fulfil as said, suddenly depletion of money supposedly given for the community bodies e.g. JKKK, Women's group...

But as my forth month here, i am still observing my ppl and trying to understand the mismatch info and time and also foreign contributors which ignites the difficulties faced by many rural communities, in hope for the future, they will be more educated and more EI in tackling impacts from the more developed side of the country. Do you have a light bulb to help me to push them to the speed of development? ... PM me