For our charity drive we chose Pos Simpor, a orang asli settlement in Gua Musang, to receive the basic daily requirements. Encik Shamsul, a regular in visiting orang asli settlements, led the expedition organized by NGO and 4x4 gang.
With eleven(11)4x4 vehicles, we started our journey approximately at 9.00pm and re-group at R&R Behrang. 2 vehicles were overloaded and we had to redistribute some of the items to other vehicles. We then stopped at Simpang Pulai for re-fuelling and supper. When nearing to Lojing, we experienced thick fog with poor visibility and decided to stop. Coincidently one of our colleague was exhausted and rested, while some made coffee to keep awake and warm.
We reached Masjid Gua Musang in time for subuh prayers. After freshening up, we were called for a briefing. After breakfast we continued 60km to our destination, Pos Simpor. The journey itself was very challenging, the road leading to Pos Simpor was slippery uphill and downhill. A few days before our expedition it rained heavily and that explained the slippery road. Nevertheless all had a good time polishing up their skills on handling off roading.
We were about 20km to Pos Simpor when we met Jabatan Kesihatan staff who informed us that the road leading to Pos Simphor was impassable. Even with equipped vehicles they had to wait for 2 nights to come down. We still had another 20km to reach Pos Simpor and had a discussion with our group on the next plan. Everyone agreed when Encik Shamsul proposed for us to visit Pos Tohoi, a settlement which we passed through earlier. We made a u turn and proceed our journey to Pos Tohoi which houses 120 families with a population of 500 people.
It was Saturday late afternoon when we finally reached Pos Tohoi. Everyone sighed with relief, tired but determined to carry out the charity work. After arranging the vehicles, we unloaded the contributions to an allocated spot. While that was happening, some help setup the kitchen and cooked a simple dinner for the volunteers. Saturday night was wet, cold and after dinner most of us slept early to catch up on sleep and rest after a long tiring day.
Sunday was bright and sunny and a celebration day at the settlement. The orang asli were feted to coqcodok for breakfast(fried anchovies balls). After breakfast, our group packed ready the contributions and later the volunteers and orang asli assembled at the school hall to give away the packed donations. In the late afternoon, some of the volunteers visited their homes and had sessions with the children while other volunteers helped out to cook nasi beryani ayam for the special dinner. The orang asli were early and waited patiently for dinner time scheduled at 6.00pm. It was sheer satisfaction to see them enjoying dinner and felt really good to be able to be with them.
On Monday morning, we had early breakfast and dished out food to orang asli during breakfast. After eating, some volunteers and orang asli went round to ensure the areas are cleaned and rid of rubbish. Others packed and loaded their belongings onto the vehicles as we had to travel quite a distance back to Kuala Lumpur. Before we departed, we took photographs for memories and bade them farewell. We hope that some day we will be back to visit them again.
For more photos .......
https://picasaweb.google.com/PAKMID/CharityDriveToPosTohoi2528Nov2011TheBeginning https://picasaweb.google.com/PAKMID/CharityDriveToPosTohoiGuaMusang2528Nov2011AndTheJourneyBegin https://picasaweb.google.com/PAKMID/CharityDriveToPosTohoiGuaMusang2528Nov2011MakingThru40KmOffRoading https://picasaweb.google.com/PAKMID/CharityDriveToPosTohoiGuaMusang2528Nov2011OrangKampongGetTogetherhttps://picasaweb.google.com/PAKMID/CharityDriveToPosTohoiGuaMusang2528Nov2011DinnerWithOrangKamponghttps://picasaweb.google.com/PAKMID/CharityDriveToPosTohoiGuaMusang2528Nov2011TillWeMeetAgain
