Monday, October 05, 2009

H1N1 Talk in SK Kampung Pek

Salam..

It was a great pleasure and a great experience to give a talk on H1N1 to primary six pupils of SK Kampung Pek in Machang. This was one of the activities to fill in the free sessions after the UPSR exam.

Considering the target group were primary school pupils, thus the talk should be simple and chewable for the hungry young minds. I hope mine was. I focussed more in the practical ways in personal hygiene and how to spot symptoms of influenza. It did not take longer than 25 minutes, yet at that moment, I could clearly spot some wondering minds.

It was hope that they could practice and share the knowledge with others, especially their parents and siblings at home. It is sad to see people still coughing unscrupulously, sneeze like a typhoon without ever closing their gaps.

I told them about their responsibilty towards the country in curbing the pandemic.

I told them how they could show love to their parents and siblings.

I told them to share and repel kiasu-ness.

To make things interesting, I gave them 3 questions to answer from the slides. All three winners were girls and each received RM1 as the winning prize money. (I wonder if it was enough?)

Talk with the headmistress was an interesting one. There were a few things that we talked about. The mention of Kampung Pek was one.

After staying for a fews days in Kota Bharu, one would notice a chain of eateries called the "Mee Kampung Pek". Although I have not tasted it, it seems popular here. I have seen a few branches each in Kota Bharu, Bachok and Machang. Not too sure if there were any branches in Pasir Mas, Pasir Puteh or Kuala Krai since they are all quite linked up.

Both my driver and the headmistress had a different version on how the chain had evolved. There might be elements of some people who uses the name today to garner popularity from its olden days. Whatever it is, both agreed that the taste had dwindled. Both even suggested to try the up and coming "Mee Paloh Rawa". Well, may be some day.

SK Kampung Pek is a primary school sitted next to its bigger sibling, SM Seri Intan Kampung Pek. The latter is a secondary school. Previously, SM Seri Intan was known as SM Kampung Pek. In Malay, "kampung" means village. Putting the word "kampung" in a name of a school gives an impression that the school might be located in a humble village with small number of students, not so impressive facilities or dilapidated building.

When the notion to change the name of SK Kpg Pek was made, a few locals were against the idea as they wanted to keep the name of their village in the name of the school, so much so that they wanted to "claim" that the school belongs to their village. And so, the name retains. Only the bigger brother managed to get its name changed by its previous principal. "Intan" means diamond while "seri" means beautiful. For a record, this "village school" has got its own website accesible at http://www.skkp.edu.my/index.html.


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